Reactivate iCloud one month later after reinstallation ?

[Denver2000]

Hi,

I'm a beginner with iCloud, I try to really be careful with it.

I've got:
1 Macbook Air with Monterey,
1 iMac with Ventura,
And 2 iPhones.

Everything work with iCloud on 1 account.
iCloud Drive,
iCloud Photo,
Contacts,
Calendars,
Notes
Safari
iCloud Keychain
Mail

My iMac get slow day after day...
I do a clean install of Ventura.
But before I do a manual save of everything on an external hard drive and after
the installation I use it and I don't activate iCloud.

One month later, if I activate iCloud on my iMac, what will happen ?
After the synchronization it will erase something on iCloud ? or on the iMac ?

I know my question is complicated, thanks in advance for your advice to do it right.

Best regards

 

[Rod]

What will happen to changes you have made while iCloud was unactivated? I think that is your basic question.

The answer is that because iCloud is a "Syncing" service anything you have erased on your iMac while iCloud was not activated will be erased from your iCloud data and anything you have added to your iMac will be added to iCloud.
Because iCloud is designed to keep all your device's data the same (in sync) any device that changes your iCloud data changes it for all devices with the same Apple ID.

So, yes any changes you made, additions or removals, will be reflected in iCloud but iCloud will not delete anything from your iMac.

 

[Denver2000]

Thank you very much Rod for your help.

I don't want to delete anything form iCloud.

I want all I have on iCloud on my iMac, to see the same thing I have on my Macbook and, my iPhones.
iCloud Drive,
iCloud Photo,
Contacts,
Calendars,
Notes
Safari
iCloud Keychain
Mail

I don't want to make mistake.

I just find:
Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant

But my Time Machine backup is from one month ago.

After a search I read:

Apple offers iCloud Backup for iPhones and iPads but not for Mac computers. You can sync data from a Mac to iCloud but there isn't a "restore" option as the synced data is the same on iCloud as on the Mac.

It is possible to sync data from a Mac to iCloud if you turn on those options (e.g., iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive including the Desktop & Documents option). Syncing has some of the benefits of a backup (and the benefit of being offsite) but is not the same as a backup. Major differences include the fact that not everything on your Mac can be synced and the fact that if you delete something, accidentally or otherwise, there is only a limited time period (30 days in most cases) during which it can be recovered.

So how can I do ?

Thanks for advice.

Best regards

 

[Jimmysb]

So, yes any changes you made, additions or removals, will be reflected in iCloud but iCloud will not delete anything from your iMac.

at least it shouldn't, but how does work with multiple devices, that have been added to and taken away, so are different, then synced to iCloud - make my head ache thinking about it.

 

[ferrarr]

You can use a browser to sign in to iCloud, to see what data is saved there. Any data that is there and you want, you can download to your device to keep safe.

 

[Rod]

You can see on any device which native and third party apps are synced via iCloud. Say Contacts for example, you can tick it or untick it in the list. If you untick it it won't sync via iCloud for that device only.

Ideally all devices should be logged into iCloud and all apps ticked, that way any change in our example (Contacts) on any device is reflected in the others. So, if you suddenly connect iCloud to a device like an iPhone where you have made many changes to Contacts these changes will occur on all the other devices.

So things deleted in contacts on this iPhone will be deleted on your other devices. If say you didn't want those contacts deleted on your iMac then just untick Contacts in iCloud Sync Settings on the iMac. Then Contacts on the iMac will operate seperately to Contacts on all your other devices.

 

[MacInWin]

My iMac get slow day after day...

How full is the internal storage? Full drives will really hammer performance.

WHat model iMac? You mentioned Ventura, which is macOS 13. Apple is now up to macOS 15. Can your iMac handle that?

EDIT: THe Monterey MBA is probably pretty old, but tell us about it as well, please. And while you are at it, what are the details of the iPhones? The more we know the more we may be able to help.

 

[Denver2000]

Thanks to all for your help.

MacInWin
"How full is the internal storage? Full drives will really hammer performance.

WHat model iMac? You mentioned Ventura, which is macOS 13. Apple is now up to macOS 15. Can your iMac handle that?

EDIT: THe Monterey MBA is probably pretty old, but tell us about it as well, please. And while you are at it, what are the details of the iPhones? The more we know the more we may be able to help."

Update, there's just 1 iPhone:

iPhone SE iOS 18.1.1 64 Go

MacBook air 13 inch 2017
1,8 Ghz Intel Core i5
8 Go
Monterey macOS 12.7.6
Disk 121 Go

iMac 21.5 inch 2017
2,3 Ghz Intel Core i5
8 Go
Ventura macOS 13.7.2
Disk 1 to (133,01 use, 867,63 Go Free)

iCloud 200 Go (164,19 Go use 82%)
Documents 105,6 Go
Photos 14652 Vidéos 363 42 Go
Messages 3,1 Go

iCloud ticked apps:
- iCloud Drive
- Photos (iPhone)
- Contacts (MacBook air, iPhone)
- Calendars (Macbook air, iPhone)
- Reminders (Macbook air, iPhone)
- Safari (MacBook air, iPhone)
- Notes (MacBook air, iPhone)
- iCloud Keychain (MacBook air, iPhone)
- Find my Mac (MacBook air, iPhone)

Rod
"So, if you suddenly connect iCloud to a device like an iPhone where you have made many changes to Contacts these changes will occur on all the other devices."

ferrarr
"You can use a browser to sign in to iCloud, to see what data is saved there. Any data that is there and you want, you can download to your device to keep safe."

Can I export Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari, Notes, iCloud Keychain in iCloud with a browser, to import on the iMac and then ticked those apps in iCloud on the iMac ?

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks for the info on the machine. I don't know why it is slowing down, you have plenty of space free on the drives and nothing looks out of place.

Reinstalling Ventura may or may not make any difference in performance. It might be worth running Etrecheck to see if there are any specific things making it slow. Etrecheck is free to use and can be found here: EtreCheck

 

[IWT]

Small matter really; but you might like to bring your iPhone up to date. It is currently iOS 18.3

There have a few small updates and 2 main updates since iOS 18.1.1

Ian

 

[Denver2000]

Thanks for the info on the machine. I don't know why it is slowing down, you have plenty of space free on the drives and nothing looks out of place.

Reinstalling Ventura may or may not make any difference in performance. It might be worth running Etrecheck to see if there are any specific things making it slow. Etrecheck is free to use and can be found here: EtreCheck

I think it get slow with time, because:
Mojave + update Catalina + update Big Sur + update Monterey + update Ventura...

It's better to do a clean install every time.

One month ago I reinstall Ventura and it goes better.

But I don't logging in with my Apple ID and I don't enabling iCloud on the iMac.
I use my manual backup from my external hard drive.

But I do a seach and I find this:
How to Transfer Your Data to a New Mac With iCloud

I can do it on a clean install, but not now ? because:

Rod
"So, if you suddenly connect iCloud to a device like an iPhone where you have made many changes to Contacts these changes will occur on all the other devices."

at least it shouldn't, but how does work with multiple devices, that have been added to and taken away, so are different, then synced to iCloud - make my head ache thinking about it.

Yes, when I get a look on iCloud Documents = 105,6 Go
My manual backup for Documents = 43,33 Go

So...

Small matter really; but you might like to bring your iPhone up to date. It is currently iOS 18.3

There have a few small updates and 2 main updates since iOS 18.1.1

Ian

Thanks IWT

 

[ferrarr]

It may be time consuming, but you might be able to Share the data right from your iPhone?

Export contacts on iPhone

In Contacts on iPhone, you can export some or all of your contacts to another device or app.

support.apple.com

 

[Denver2000]

It may be time consuming, but you might be able to Share the data right from your iPhone?

Export contacts on iPhone

In Contacts on iPhone, you can export some or all of your contacts to another device or app.

support.apple.com

Thanks