Blackmagicrocks! wrote:I hope you're all well. I have in my settings to automatically back every video up to my iCloud Drive and made sure to double check before deleting them in the app. However, when I deleted the videos in the app, the videos in my iCloud Drive also disappeared. How do I retrieve them? How can this happen is iCloud automatically uploads the files into my iCloud Drive?
I see you haven't had any response to your question. I personally don't know the answer so I put your question into ChatGPT and this is the response I received:
Sync vs. Backup:
iCloud Drive synchronizes files between devices, meaning any changes (e.g., deletions) made locally will propagate to iCloud, including deletions.
The user may have misunderstood iCloud's sync mechanism as a "one-way backup" system.
Incomplete Uploads:
If the videos were still in the process of being uploaded to iCloud when they were deleted locally, the videos may not have been saved in iCloud.
App-Specific Behavior:
The Blackmagic app might manage its own storage independently, meaning deletion within the app could trigger deletion in iCloud for synced files.
Possible Solutions
Check iCloud Recently Deleted Folder:
Files deleted from iCloud Drive are often moved to the "Recently Deleted" folder in iCloud for 30 days.
To check:
Go to iCloud.com.
Log in and navigate to iCloud Drive > Recently Deleted.
If the files are there, restore them.
Check Local Device Backups:
If the user’s device (e.g., iPhone, iPad, or Mac) was backed up to iCloud or another system (e.g., Time Machine on a Mac), the videos might still be recoverable.
Restore the device from a backup predating the deletion.
Use a Data Recovery Tool:
If the videos were stored locally and deleted before syncing, tools like Disk Drill or EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard could recover the files from the device's storage
Note: This is more effective if done immediately after deletion.
Update Workflow:
For the future, consider using a dedicated backup service or workflow that doesn’t rely on synchronization. Example:
Export videos to a hard drive or a non-syncing cloud service.
Use a tool like Dropbox, Google Drive (non-synced folder), or Backblaze for backups.