iCloud Drive

I have been experimenting with a test database on iCloud Drive on yosemite. What I was hoping I would be able to do was to use it to have my DT databases available on both a desktop and a laptop - not synchronously, but alternately.

The short version is that is doesn’t work. I am staying with dropbox sync.

Here was the methodology followed:

  • put a small database of seven documents (1.2Mb) of mixed pds and rtf into the iCloud directory, closed the database and closed DT
  • waited until the progress bar indicated the database package had synced, and then waited another hour to be sure and because I was not sure precisely how accurate the progress bar was.
  • waited for the database to show up on the second machine. This took no more than a minute, the package being small. To be sure I waited another hour.
  • opened the database on the second machine … and … several of the files in the database were missing.
  • closed the database on the second machine and opened it on the first … and … all the files showed up

I tried opening the database over the course of several days on the second machine and could never get it to sync the missing files. I am going to dig around in the database package I bit more to see if I can work out what is going on.

Your results may vary and being server side, Apple is probably changing a lot behind the scenes as they work out the niggles.

This is just a warning that unless you have thoroughly tested your scenario with a test database and are happy it works, keep DT databases off iCloud drive.

Frederiko

I should point out, that when I opened my DT on Friday, i saw that Christian had added a new script called ‘ICloud Drive’ which indexes the folders on iCloud Drive.

http://blog.devontechnologies.com/2014/10/index-icloud-drive-with-devonthink-pro-office/

This definitely seems a safer way to share docs on iCloud Drive

Thanks Christian (on top of things as always !)

Frederiko