dominikmayer

Hi, original author here. Not sure about the issue when whole files are gone but regarding content being deleted inside the files Time Machine doesn't help. The problem is that you won't know which files have been changed. And Time Machine will gradually phase out old backups, only keeping one per week, month, year or whatever the policy is. So at some point the files with your content will be gone and only backups of the files without your content will be stored.

Hi, original author here. In my case it's not that I want to use git. I just need a way to see which files got changed. At least until I can move the last ones out. I still rely on one app that only syncs via iCloud Drive.

Thank you! I didn't know. I'll research and move the folder.

In case anyone at Apple is reading this: I filed feedback FB11889594 in December 2022.

Can I store the hidden git folder outside of the repo content? Not sure how to say.

My problem is, that for the time being, some of my files needs to be on iCloud Drive because I rely on one app to edit/create them. Everything else I moved out of iCloud Drive.

Hi, original author here. The problem is not the lack of a backup. The problem is that the content deletion happens silently. So you won't know that you need to restore from your backup because you don't expect the content of your file to disappear. And over time your correct backups are deleted and the only ones left are those with the missing content.

Hi, original author here. Thanks for sharing.

My problem is, that I need to use iCloud Drive for some important files because the app I need to use doesn't support another way to sync.

Without git I wouldn't have figured out which files have changed. (And even with git, I can't be sure that I caught everything. I guess git content can also be altered by iCloud sync conflicts…)

Agreed. I'm not saying the Dropbox approach is the best. It is better than silently deleting content, though.

A different approach would be to add a way to see files that have issues. Similar to how Dropbox shows files that fail to upload.

Hi, original author here. Maybe I wrote it a bit misleading. The thing is: It's independent of the editor. Even if you use an editor that _does_ support conflict handling you can lose the content.

Just assume you write something, save, close the editor and never open it again. iCloud might replace the content of that file and there is no way for you to know.

The only way to prevent losing your data is setting up a Git repository or open _every important file_ regularly in an editor that supports conflict handling.