Apple

How Much Space Does Optimize Mac Storage Use?

And what’s in that local storage?

I was listening to the Mac Geek Gab Podcast this morning and heard a short discussion where a listener wondered how much disk space Optimize Mac Storage takes up.

TL;DR: Optimizing Mac Storage helps you use iCloud storage when your disk is low on space and also tries to keep commonly accessed iCloud files local for quick access. This iMore post explains the details.

I started using these features years back when I was running out of storage on my laptop. I upgraded to a larger iCloud account, turned all that on, and was able to limp along with the laptop for a few more years.

Today I have the Apple One Premier Subscription, which gives me 2 TB of iCloud storage but I am only using 93 GB of that. My M1 Air came with a 250 GB drive and I am using about half of it, so the value of optimized storage for me now is having some iCloud files locally available while having access to those files from my iPad and iPhone.

So what’s local and what’s not?

That’s an easy one to answer. Call up Finder and click on iCloud Drive.

If you don’t see iCloud Drive, you never turned it on in iCloud preferences. Look closely at…