How to reduce the space that BT Cloud takes up on my internal Hard Disks (Mac and PC)?

[MightyMin]

Both my Surface Laptop and my iMac have small SSD internal drives and both are 'gummed up' for want of disk space

Investigations show that BT Cloud has over 90GB parked there

I don't need all this to be stored for off-line access so if I delete them, will they still be held in the Cloud and available for downloading on demand?

How can I set things so that the default is online storage and files are uploaded to BT Cloud and only downloaded, to specific devices, only when required?

My One Drive folder has little icons to show whether a file is in the cloud or stored locally. Does BT Cloud have this function and if so, how please is it enabled?

Is there a guide that explains the various BT Cloud settings?

All advice gratefully received

Mike

[Earthling]

You need to disable Sync and only enable Backup for the folders you want included.  That will meet your requirements - mine too 😉

[DavidM]

Hi @MightyMin and welcome.

Thanks for posting about the Cloud storage. @Earthling advice is spot on here. You'll need to delete the unwanted files etc and then set up as per earthling instructions which should solve the problem. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers

David

[mog_catto]

Don't delete the files on your harddrive until you've disabled sync in the settings.  If you delete anything in the sync folder it will delete it on server too!  Make sure you untick Enable Sync before deleting any files!

[DavidM]

Exactly right @mog_catto . Sorry if my post wasn't clear on that.

Cheers

David

[MightyMin]

Thanks for both responses - very much appreciated

Sorry if I seem a little stupid on this subject but I am finding that working on assumptions quite often is getting me into issues with cloud storage and so, in the absence of any help or guidance on the 'Settings' screens, I'd ask for the following advice and confirmation

I am on an iMac running the lates OS (Big Sur)

When I click BT-Cloud on my Task Bar and then Settings and then Sync, I see:

TICKED - Enable BT Cloud Sync and below it, the path to my internal BT-Cloud folder

Q1 - I UNTICK this, correct?

Then I have two options to choose from:

Option 1 - Selected - Make all BT-Cloud content available on this computer

Option 2 - Not Selected - Make only the following folders available on this computer

Q2 - Is this the correct selection where I want everything in the BT-Cloud to be accessible on this computer but stored in the Cloud?

Q3 - All the above said, if SYNC is turned off, will files that I add to the BT-Cloud folder, on my iMac, be replicated within the cloud?

Many thanks,

Mike

[Earthling]

That should do it, but we need to correct a misunderstanding.  Files in your BT cloud are also on your hard disk.  It is not an either/or situation.  Those in the cloud are simply copies of files on your hard disk.  When you are using two computers, as you are, and have Sync turned on, as you have, then both computers will have both their own and the other computer's files, obviously using greater disk space.

Once you have turned sync off, turned backup on and deleted the cloud folders on both computers, your disk usage will be the same as it would be if not using cloud at all.  Any new files you create in your selected folders will be backed up to the cloud and should you then decide to release some disk space by deleting other files on your disk, the cloud copies will not be deleted and will remain available for downloading again if needed.  Personally I don't find that either useful or practical but it is how BT cloud works.

[MightyMin]

Hi Earthling

Many thanks for the clarification - I had always thought of cloud storage as simply that, storage in the cloud just as I have storage on my NAS - somewhere to put stuff and have access to as required.

Clearly I was wrong and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

So to check I've now got it right:

a. If I create a folder called say BT-Backup which has a hierarchy of folders within it

b. In Settings/Backup, I point to that root folder

c. Any file I want archived, I drop in the relevant sub-folder and it is then periodically archived in BT-Cloud

d. I can then either keep or delete that file in my BT-Backup folder depending on need and the need for space

That leads to two questions before I press ahead

1. Can all my logged in devices still see what is in the BT-Cloud and then open or download any file as required?

2. As all I'll have on my hard disk is the BT-Backup folder, how then will I then see what is in BT-Cloud - would that just be through the App or on the web?

Thanks for the guidance

Mike

PS I'm seeing a message that says I've embedded HTML when clearly, I have not - any ideas?

Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied.

[Earthling]

You can do it that way if you want but you are making it needlessly complicated as there is no need to mess about with your file structure at all.  I only use the Windows version of the app and all you have to do is add the folders you want routinely backed up and for each, how frequently.  That's it, and I guess it's similar in iMac

For Q1 the answer is yes and  for 2 you access the web cloud via the app for all other operations.  Once in the web cloud you can also push copies of any non-routine stuff you'd like a copy of.  I use that extensively.

I think you've just about exhausted my knowledge but ask away if you still have questions.

[MightyMin]

It is all becoming clearer now

Wouldn't it be great if such a simple **bleep**-free explanation was provided at the outset?

So from where I am now, with a BT-Cloud folder already on my desktop, once I switch of SYNC, is the best thing to just back up the BT-Cloud folder (as it's already all backed up)?

Then, to free up space, all I need do is bin the larges files within

Is that an okay plan?

Mike