CloudyDupe FAQ

When macOS optimizes storage, the local copies of your cloud files are evicted and what remains is a placeholder that downloads on demand. That is fine until you want your own copy: on a drive, offline, independent of an account or a subscription. CloudyDupe walks a source folder, downloads the cloud-only items, and writes them as ordinary files to a destination you choose.

The real files. For each cloud-only item CloudyDupe asks macOS to download it, waits for the download to finish, copies it to the destination, and then asks macOS to release the local copy. Items that were already local are copied directly and left alone.

An ordinary folder tree of ordinary files, mirroring the structure of the source. There is no container, no archive format and no database. You can open the drive in Finder on any Mac and read your files without CloudyDupe installed.

You can select any folder you have access to, and files physically present on disk are copied normally. On-demand downloading of files that are not present is built around the macOS file provider mechanism that iCloud Drive uses, so iCloud Drive is the case CloudyDupe is designed and tested for. With other providers, the safe approach is to make the files available locally first and let CloudyDupe copy them.

No. Copies move one way, from the source you choose to the destination you choose. Changes you make on the destination are never sent back to the source or to your cloud account.

Because it is not really copying, it is downloading. Every cloud-only file has to come down over your connection first, and cloud providers limit how quickly that happens. A large library takes hours, and a very large cloud-only library can take days. Slow progress is normal and is not a sign that anything is stuck.

Later runs are much faster, because CloudyDupe compares the destination with the source and copies only what changed.

Raise the processing speed and the concurrent download count in Settings, and give the temporary disk space limit more room so the queue is never waiting for space. Beyond that you are limited by your connection and by the provider. A wired network and an SSD destination help; running overnight helps more.

Yes. Lower the processing speed if you want it to stay out of your way, and close the window: the run continues from the menu bar. You can also hide the Dock icon and run it as a menu-bar-only app.

Yes, though sleep pauses the work, because macOS suspends the downloads and the file copies. When the Mac wakes, CloudyDupe continues with the items it has not copied yet. For an unattended overnight run, keeping the Mac awake and the drive connected finishes sooner.

The scan is marked incomplete and CloudyDupe picks it up again the next time you start a run. Files already copied to the destination are not copied a second time.

The run stops and the status says the destination is unavailable. Files already written stay on the drive. The file that was in flight may be incomplete, and it is copied again on the next run. Turn on auto-resume when drive reconnects and simply plugging the drive back in continues the run.

APFS is the best choice on a modern Mac, HFS+ is fine, and exFAT works for a drive shared with a PC. Avoid older FAT-formatted drives: they cannot store files above the FAT size limit and they reject characters and lengths that macOS allows.

Almost always the destination file system. A FAT or exFAT drive will refuse a name with characters it does not support, a path that is too long, or a file larger than its limit, and CloudyDupe reports the failure per file instead of hiding it. Reformatting the destination as APFS, or excluding the affected folder, resolves it. The failed items are listed with their errors so you can see the pattern.

Yes, if the volume is mounted and writable. Expect it to be slower than a directly attached drive, particularly for Thorough integrity checks and for Photos verification, which read the copied files back over the network.

No. CloudyDupe reconciles the destination against the source and copies the difference. Use Destination Reconciliation to re-scan a drive that received files outside CloudyDupe, or after resetting the app database, so existing files are recognized rather than copied again.

It is designed not to. The temporary disk space setting caps how much downloaded data may sit on your Mac at one time, and the queue waits for space rather than exhausting the disk. With Remove temporary downloads after copying enabled, each downloaded file is released once it has been copied.

They are held as waiting on space rather than failed, and the menu bar says so and shows how much space would let them through. Free some room and they continue.

It is an aggressive opt-in. Beyond releasing the temporary downloads CloudyDupe requested, it also asks macOS to release local copies that were already on this Mac, including in synced Desktop and Documents. macOS decides whether to honour each request. Leave it off unless reclaiming space is the point of the exercise, and only after you have verified your copies.

The Photos library is a managed library, not a plain folder, so CloudyDupe asks the Photos framework for each asset and writes the full-resolution original to your destination as a normal file. You choose the scope: all photos or selected albums, photos or videos or both, and optionally a date range.

Because macOS requires explicit permission before any app can read Photos. Without it the Photos tab cannot see your albums. You can grant or revoke it in System Settings under Privacy & Security.

It reads the photos you have copied back off the destination and compares checksums with what was exported. You start it yourself, because on a network volume it can run for hours. It is a check on the copy, not a promise about the future.

No. It is a one-time in-app purchase, and it supports Family Sharing. Continuous Mode is the only subscription, and it is optional.

It adds an automatic rescan every 5 to 60 minutes while the app is open, so a drive you leave connected keeps receiving new files without you pressing Start. It is a convenience. Manual runs are always available without it.

Yes. Sign in with the same Apple Account and use Restore on the purchase screen. Both in-app purchases support Family Sharing.

Use Report a Problem in the app. You describe the issue, review on screen exactly what will be sent, and choose whether to send it. It attaches the diagnostics that actually help: app and macOS version, configuration, status counts, error details, and the destination drive's format and free space. The names of files that failed are included by default because they usually explain the failure, and one toggle leaves them out. The contents of your files are never included.

You can also use the contact form or email support@vertolini.com.

No. There is no CloudyDupe account, no sign-up and no password. The app talks to your Mac and to Apple's purchase system, and that is all.