BT cloud management

[thewall58]

I have with my broadband provider BT Cloud with 200gb storage which i can access on any device, being new to this type of storage i didn't know that it stores the files on my Mac taking up space is there a better system or are they all the same.
Sounds silly but can i move it to an external drive and still access it.

 

[ferrarr]

You are syncing the files you moved there. Until you delete them, they are still on your hard drive for instant access. Once you delete the files from your Mac, will you have a backup of those files, just in case? Then to access those files, you will need to use their App, or the website.

 

[thewall58]

Ok at this moment in time BT cloud is syncing do i let it run until it has finished then i'm able to delete the files from the BT Cloud folder in the finder

 

[MacInWin]

I don't know how BT cloud works, but I suspect that you cannot delete them from the BT Folder and keep them in the cloud. Most cloud systems that put a folder on the machine sync those files to the cloud, so that what is in the folder is matched in the cloud. The idea is to make it possible for you to then access those files in the cloud from other devices, either PCs, Macs, iDevices, Android devices, etc. But if you eliminate them from the host folder, they go away in the cloud. So, before you take that step of deleting them, check with BT to see if they will somehow be kept in the cloud if you do that.

 

[thewall58]

Hi i understand what you are saying but i thought being new to this cloud thing the idea was to save space on the HDD but if i have to keep them seems pointless, i will have to investigate the instructions are not in layman's terms

 

[chscag]

Hi i understand what you are saying but i thought being new to this cloud thing the idea was to save space on the HDD but if i have to keep them seems pointless, i will have to investigate the instructions are not in layman's terms

Jake is correct. I just read thru BT Cloud help and instructions. All it really does is provide a backup and a way to sync and access your data across other devices. Notice that it states it will mark what has been synced or updated in your Finder. That clearly means that a copy of everything still remains on your Mac.

If you wish to offload data from your Mac, buy a good quality large external hard drive and use it instead. Of course if you need to have your data synced and available across other devices you own, then BT Cloud would be useful.

 

[thewall58]

Thanks that's what i thought, for what i want to use it for it's next to useless i need it to store photos but it will only store a certain file and thats low res.
I have a couple of external HD's but i thought this would be handy.
Does anybody think or know if i could use BT cloud to direct to a ext HD

 

[chscag]

Does anybody think or know if i could use BT cloud to direct to a ext HD

If you're referring to syncing what data you have stored on BT Cloud to an external hard drive, I don't believe that's how it works. Like already mentioned, you will be able to access your data from say, another Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, etc, but not from an external hard drive.

You may be able to restore what data you have in the Cloud to an external hard drive. But then, why do that when you can do it just as easily from your Mac?