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Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

andykong.org

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Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#41

Post by isodev »

mft_ wrote: post #18

Okay, so it could be a bug, but it is possible that iCloud is secretly storing more than one version of the file in some cases? (After all, Apple does similar things with other media files.) The example given at the end is interesting: > So iCloud says the video is 128MB, I download it and the video is actually 48MB, and my free storage increases by ~170MB when I deleted it. Interesting! This suggests that iCloud isn…

I think the confusion here is also rooted at the fact that photos and videos in the Photos library are not simply files copied to storage. Photos also stores metadata about edits, renditions and thumbnails and other data needed for various functions of the Photos app.

So when you’re syncing photos to iCloud, it’s not just the individual files that get synced but it’s the “Photos Library” managed container of the Photos app.

If you add individual files directly in Finder or the Files app then their size matches exactly both in iCloud and on the local file system.

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#42

Post by asdaq1312512 »

msh wrote: post #39
cnicolaou wrote: post #11

Surprisingly, I've received a similar storage notice from Apple before the holidays and I decided to download all photos/videos into my own media server instead of hosting it on iCloud. There is not an easy, straight-forward way to download your archive from iCloud. I am slowly getting there using multiple machines and devices. The issue with the recent changes with Apple is that they increase the prices for no good…

There is an easy way to get your Data. It's just kind of hidden. It's works the same way as Google Takeout. To get to it do this: Sign in to your Apple ID account page at appleid.apple.com on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or PC. Go to “Data & Privacy” and select “Manage Your Data and Privacy.” On the following page, go to “Get a copy of your data” and select “Get started.”

privacy.apple.com is a neat shortcut, it's the first option there.

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#43

Post by isodev »

atlas_hugged wrote: post #2

Am I reading this right? If this is widespread, this could be seen as apple bloating figures to push people to upgrade, which could lead to a lawsuit, no? IANAL

> this could be seen as apple bloating figures

No, the OP doesn’t take into account that adding media to Photos is not a simple “copy and store a file”. The Photos app (like all apps) has its custom Photos Library file format. So when one ads a picture or a video, the Photos app analyses it and stores all kinds of metadata that’s needed for the Photos app to work, including edit history and other bits. This is what eventually gets synced to iCloud.

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#44

Post by jahnu »

AnonC wrote: post #28
saagarjha wrote: post #6

I kind of hate opaque cloud solutions like this, because their storage usage is inscrutable and their interfaces are basically never optimized to help you clear things out. Whether that’s intentional and malicious or just not a priority, I don’t really care, I just want to be in control of the stuff I’m using. I have a very similar issue with iMessage in iCloud, and unlike photos, there’s no web interface. You have t…

Search on the messages app is broken for me on iOS and macOS. It really can’t find things that are there. So I have to scroll and look around. The sizes reported are also inaccurate. While iCloud will report some large number, when I dig into the largest messages section it doesn’t show anything close to that size (with just a few items in that list). Since the macOS Messages app is some Catalyst abomination, it won’…

Why are message apps like this? Tons of effort for almost useless stuff like stickers but super basic media management.

Even in open source apps where in theory we can contribute functionality like Signal it’s difficult. E.g. it’s impractical to delete lots of media in groups in the iOS app. I added a PR last year to help this but still waiting for a merge even though it has been approved :(

Edit: PR for the curious

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/pull/5685

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#46

Post by Alifatisk »

baz00 wrote: post #31
captn3m0 wrote: post #23

The thing I detest the most is the weird tier that jumps from 200GB to 2TB. There’s no way to pay for incremental storage for 500GB or 1TB, which would be perfect for many families. In today’s age where storage is a commodity, this ought to be priced per GB used.

You can chuck as many 50GB increments on your 200GB if you need it.

Really? How? I can only jump from 50 GB to 200 GB when I look at the available plans

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#47

Post by sgt »

Havoc wrote: post #3

Good timing..I've been getting the same warning mails (though 50gb). Was planning to go through photos but checking vids first makes sense

Been getting the same warning emails (200GB in my case). So I tried this now, but it doesn't seem to highlight anything after pasting in the gist into Chrome. Does it work for you?

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#48

Post by baz00 »

Alifatisk wrote: post #46
baz00 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can chuck as many 50GB increments on your 200GB if you need it.

Really? How? I can only jump from 50 GB to 200 GB when I look at the available plans

Actually I may be wrong there. I was on 200Gb with Apply Family but have stuck 50GB on top of that for £0.99 month.

I can only swap that out for a 200GB increment. This is weird because I'm sure you used to be able to do that.

Re: Cleaning up my 200GB iCloud with some JavaScript

#49

Post by Alifatisk »

I've tried iCloud, Onedrive, Google Photos. Out of all these three, I stuck with Google Photos on my Iphone.

iClouds bad pricing and storage issues led me to switch to Google Photos, It's way better. The lack of native support on iOS can be a little cumbersome though.

The only thing I wish these cloud providers offered was a way to deduplicate photos / videos. That would make my life so much easier.

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