Mr_Noodle wrote:I'm not sure how you have your rules set up so I can't say. Why do you think Hazel will delete files?
I haven't set up any rules yet. Why am I worried that Hazel will delete files? I don't know how it will treat a file which is in the backup location when Apple chooses to replace the local version of the iCloud Drive file. Issuing the terminal command ls -al on a file which is physically located in ~/Library/Mobile Documents/Documents shows the file properties as normal for a locally stored file. If you do the same thing for a file which is not downloaded from iCloud (shows a cloud symbol with a down arrow), the result is 'No such file or directory'.
I've realised that I am thinking more of a sync operation (two way) rather than a one way process to copy the file to the backup location, which is what I have my existing Hazel rules set up to do. It certainly seems to work OK even with optimisation switched on, as the files stay local at least long enough for Hazel to move them to their specified locations, which currently are all on my MacBook Air SSD. I've now managed to download locally the contents of a very large folder and am in the process of copying it to my NAS. I'm taking the opportunity to tidy up the folder and, once I've finished that, will try modifying a rule to copy the file to the appropriate place in the NAS as well as moving it to its home on the SSD.
Here's another question: all my rules involve files which originally go into a folder which is outside of my Documents folder before they are moved into the appropriate sub folder in Documents. Can I set up a rule which looks for any addition to the Documents folder, even down multiple levels, and copies the file/folder to the same location on the NAS? I can see an option to Copy folder structure/from monitored folder - will that do the trick? If that worked, it would not only allow me to keep a copy of everything in iCloud Documents on the NAS, it would save my having to edit 46 separate rules.