Are iCloud Drive files backed up?
 

I just did a backup of a new Catalina machine. I'm running SD 3.3.1.

After backup, I'm looking for iCloud Drive files but see no folder for it on the external drive. I did a search on a filename but nothing came up.

Do iCloud Drive files get backed up?

Thanks.

Files actually on the drive are all backed up. Did you start up from the backup? The iCloud Drive files are all buried in the user Library...

Thanks. I had to do some serious digging. I can't seem to access them because they are buried so deep but the clone size matches closely with my internal drive. I haven't booted up using the external but I will check that out.

Thanks.

Can I just clarify this for my own peace of mind? I’m backing up Big Sur with the older version of SD. So as I understand it, any new files that are saved to the cloud on the iCloud Files (the icon on the sidebar in a Finder window) are downloaded and added to my local backup drive each time I do a new SD backup?

Whatever files are on the drive we're copying are backed up. Anything that's only in the cloud wouldn't be (but, of course, it's in the cloud).

So is there a way to use SD to back up my iCloud files onto an external drive?

If they're local, yes, they're backed up, as I said. So, if you're not on a network, and you can access the files, they're backed up.