What's in your backup folder

Updated

Your backup folder is the folder you chose on your NAS or drive. CloudBak keeps three things in it:

Your backup folder/
  iCloud Drive/
  _Archive/
    2026-10-28 02.00.14/
  .cloudbackup/

The Destination screen shows the same layout under Folder Layout. To see the backup folder in Finder, click Show in Finder under Connection on the same screen.

iCloud Drive

An exact copy of what's in iCloud Drive, with folders named the way Finder shows them. Desktop, Documents and app folders such as Pages appear here under their own names. If iCloud Drive already has a folder with the same name, CloudBak adds (App) or (Mac) to tell them apart.

Each copy keeps the contents of the file it came from and both of its dates: when it was created and when it was last changed. Folders keep the date their original was created. Documents such as Pages files and GarageBand projects are kept whole, as single items.

_Archive

Older copies of files that were changed or deleted in iCloud Drive, in a folder for each backup, named for its date and time. See Where deleted and changed files go.

.cloudbackup

Copies on their way in. Each file is written here, checked, and then moved into place. CloudBak empties this folder when each backup starts. Because its name starts with a period, Finder hides it.

CloudBak's records of what it has backed up are kept on your Mac, not in the backup folder.

Names your NAS doesn't allow

iCloud Drive allows some names that NAS systems don't. With Rename files whose names the destination doesn't allow turned on under Folder Layout on the Destination screen, which is the standard setting, the backup copy gets a safe name:

  • the characters \ : * ? " < > | are replaced with _
  • a name that ends in a space or a period gets _ instead
  • names Windows reserves, such as CON, get _ in front
  • very long names are shortened, keeping their extension

The file in iCloud Drive keeps its own name, and restoring uses it. When this setting is off, those files are listed in Issues as Name Not Allowed instead.