https://www.dominikmayer.com/2023/09/icloud-drive-silently-deletes-your-content/

ICloud Drive Silently Deletes Your Content | Dominik Mayer -
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Dominik Mayer

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ICloud Drive Silently Deletes Your Content

The first time it happened, I was writing a paper. The paragraphs I
had just typed vanished into thin air, faster than Time Machine or
Backblaze could save them. Gone. The next occurrence was during app
development; Xcode suddenly flagged numerous errors in previously
error-free code. My recent changes to several files were erased.

Months later, the mystery is solved: iCloud Drive detected a file
conflict. It assumed different versions of the same file existed on
my Mac and iPhone and couldn't merge them automatically. This was
impossible; the affected files were never opened on the iPhone. But
they were in iCloud, as I had moved my Mac's Documents folder there.

Dropbox manages version conflicts by storing all conflicting files
side by side, labeled as "(John Doe's conflicted copy)". iCloud
Drive, however, doesn't show these conflicts in the file system. If
you open the file in an editor that supports conflict handling, a
popup appears asking which version to keep. Editors like Textifier,
Xcode, or Obsidian, lacking conflict handling, leave iCloud to decide
which version to store on your disk and in your backup.

Over time, newer backups overwrite older ones containing the correct
version; your content is gone for good. The only way to get it back
is to open the file with an editor that supports conflict resolution.
^1 Once moved out of iCloud Drive, even that won't help. The content
is lost.^2

Masking version conflicts might appear user-friendly, but it has
catastrophic consequences. You might not discover the data loss until
years later, when reopening significant but infrequently used
documents.

Until iCloud Drive exposes version conflicts in the file system or a
central, easily accessible location, my strong recommendation is to
move all crucial data out of it. Meanwhile, set up a Git repository
to monitor your critical files; you might uncover surprising changes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

 1. I use iA Writer. -[?]

 2. In my tests, moving the unchanged file back to iCloud brought
    back the conflicted version popup. This may not happen if the
    file has been edited or if you've continued working on a copy. -[?]

september 23, 2023 * apple icloud productivity products

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