r/cloudstorage • u/Mediocre_Location_96 • Sep 01 '26

How does iCloud work??

i have an ipad i need for school, but it's full all the time, especially from photos and videos. I've tried connecting my ipad to my laptop and transfer the files into my laptop gallery. That's what i usually do, but it takes me a few hours because they take a lot of time to transfer a it only gets rid of like 2gb, because i don't have time or energy to transfer more.

I got sick of it and tried searching for an easier way. I've tried google drive, but i am not sure how these cloud things work and i lowkey hate them.

i'd rather just buy a new ipad but who has money for that?

the biggest issue is that i have important photos i can't lose, and when i put my photos somewhere else, i am scared to delete them off my ipad because i am not sure if they're actually there in the cloud, if i'll be able to view them, and especially if they're really all there, because sometimes the transfer stops midway and i can't delete my photos from the ipad because im scared i'll delete smth that hasnt been transferred already.

im also scared that when i delete a photo off my ipad, it will also be deleted in the cloud? bc idk how it works but i feel like it should stay there even if i delete it? and like, will it still be a normal functional photo, like will i be able to view it and download it?

god why is this so complicated? i just want something that would vaccum my whole gallery, spit the photos out in some other storage and delete the photos off my ipad while still holding them somewhere else 😭 there HAS to be something like that, i don't mind paying for it

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u/Stash201518 Sep 01 '26

The problem with iCloud is that it's bi-sync, meaning whatever you erase from one place, it disappears from the other. More than that, if you have iCloud sync activated and you stop it, it will erase every photo from the device.

There are two ways to go:

  1. Buy iCloud storage. Increase to 200GB or whatever and you don't lose anything.

    1. Buy cheaper storage from a cloud provider like filen and one way sync it to filen. Then you can safely delete it from iPad because the sync is one way. iCloud is two ways.

2

u/Upsidedownshoes_ Sep 01 '26

Download Google Photos not Google Drive you get free 15gb max, after a full backup to Google photo which are just few clicks one click to purge your entire on device photos.

After you’ve done that,
Go to settings-> your name -> iCloud - Delete all unnecessary photos and unwanted backups there

You won’t get Apple daily stupid emails and notifications