sarah-needs-mac-help1e34r wrote:
MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is running very slowly, and I’m having trouble accessing my files. iCloud is driving my crazy! Constantly getting full and its getting so expensive.
Sounds like your MBAir may be running out of Free storage space and you are trying to use iCloud to gain more storage which won't really help since you must eventually download the files from iCloud which you want to use.
The only useful & accurate storage value is the Free space value which is only shown correctly in Disk Utility. Ignore the very misleading "Available" storage value shown everywhere in macOS since it is not synonymous with Free. People should keep about 80GB to 100GB of Free storage space at all times for the normal operation of macOS since even that 100GB can sometimes disappear very quickly even for seemingly simple workloads.
Keep in mind local storage is what is important. iCloud storage space is irrelevant here and buying extra iCloud storage is unlikely to solve any problems.
When moving or deleting items from an APFS volume of your internal SSD....those items may remain in hidden APFS backup snapshots for 24-48 hours after the backups have been successfully transferred to external media.
having trouble accessing my files, some wont open at all. A local computer store suggested I may need to replace or upgrade it. I dont really know what I am doing here... What would you suggest?
I’d appreciate suggestions for steps I can try to diagnose the slowdown and regain access to my files before considering a replacement. I want to avoid deleting anything important, so advice on backing up my data first would also be helpful.
Try running the third party EtreCheck and posting the complete report here so we can examine it for possible clues.
How to Post an EtreCheck Report -- Apple Support Communities
