macOS 14.4 Destroys Saved Versions in iCloud Drive? Fix the Error and Recover Your Data

Released in the Fall of '23, macOS Sonoma has been installed and used by many Mac users. While it brings a lot of novelty to the design, it also has many macOS Sonoma issues. Numerous macOS 14.4 users reported in forums that the new version of macOS Sonoma destroys saved versions in iCloud Drive, especially when users turn on the "Optimize Mac Storage".

Many apps provide a feature that can save the previous versions of documents on their iCloud Drive so that they can revert the document to a previous state; for example, recover previous versions of Word documents. However, updating to macOS 14.4 may destroy this function.

Serious bug in Sonoma 14.4 will destroy saved versions in iCloud Drive
byu/favicondotico inapple

If this error occurs on your iCloud Drive, worry no more! This post will guide you on how to recover the saved versions of iCloud Drive data with the professional and trusted macOS Sonoma data recovery software.

Recover Saved Versions in iCloud Drive with Software💎

Some Mac Sonoma users said that macSO 14.4 has serious bugs that will destroy saved document versions in iCloud Drive. Suppose you own a Mac running macOS 14.4; worry no more! EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac can recover saved versions in your iCloud Drive.

The EaseUS Mac data recovery software can restore the previous version of iCloud Drive data, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other iWork documents. Here are the steps to recover your iCloud Drive data:

Step 1. Choose iCloud Recovery

Select the iCloud tab from the left list, choose the "Recover data from iCloud account" option to recover your iCloud Drive data, and click "Next" to log in to your iCloud account.

Step 2. Choose the "iCloud Drive" category

EaseUS software will quickly scan all the recoverable data from your iCloud account. Check the "iCloud Drive" category, and click the "Next" button.

Step 3. Recover iCloud Drive data from iCloud

Select the iCloud Drive data you want to restore, click the eye icon to preview the details, and then click the "Recover" button to get them back.

Step 4. Save recovered iCloud Drive data

Choose a safe storage location on your Mac hard drive to save the recovered iCloud Drive data. You can also save the recovered data to your cloud drives, such as DropBox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, etc.

Share this article on social media to help others learn how to fix the iCloud Drive saved versions destroyed issue and restore the lost data in iCloud Drive.

2 Solutions: macOS 14.4 Destroys Saved Versions in iCloud Drive

After saving your iCloud Drive data to a safe storage location, refer to the following two effective methods to fix the "destroy saved versions in iCloud Drive" error:

Fix 1. Turn off Optimize Mac Storage

Turning off the "Optimize Mac Storage" option may solve this error:

Step 1. Click the Apple menu and select "System Settings".

Step 2. Select your "Apple ID > iCloud" and toggle off the "Optimize Mac Storage" option.

Users tell us that the "Optimize Mac Storage" tab will sometimes change its status and turn it on again, so you should keep it in mind or check it twice.

Fix 2. Downgrade macOS 14

Another option is to downgrade from Sonoma to Ventura or other older macOS versions, as this behavior doesn't appear in macOS Sonoma 14.3 or Ventura.

Check out the following steps to downgrade your Mac:

Step 1. Create a Ventura USB installer on an external drive.

Step 2. Reboot your Mac when pressing "Option" to open the "Startup Manager".

Step 3. Plug the Ventura bootable installer into your Mac, select it as the startup disk, and click "Continue".

Final Words

This post introduces an effective iCloud Recovery tool, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, to restore your saved version in iCloud Drive. It also provides two proven methods to fix the "destroys saved versions in iCloud Drive" error: turning off the Optimize Mac Storage option or downgrading macOS Sonoma to older versions.

Destroys Saved Versions in iCloud Drive FAQs

Here are questions that people also ask when they search for how to fix the "Destroys Saved Versions in iCloud Drive" error. Take a look.

1. How do I restore a previous version of an iCloud file?

You can follow the steps below to restore a previous version of an iCloud file:

Step 1. Open the document and click the "More" button in the toolbar.

Step 2. Choose the "Browse All Versions" selection in the list.

Step 3. Select the document you want to restore in the history versions list and click "Restore".

2. Will turning off iCloud Drive delete everything?

Turning off iCloud Drive means stopping syncing files to your devices, including Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It may free up your devices' storage space, but the files synced to your devices will remain unless you choose to delete them.