Ensure you always have access to key files by preventing them from being evicted when storage space is low
When you buy a Mac, you have to work out how much local storage space you're likely to need. Once you've made your decision, there is no going back because Apple Silicon Macs don't allow you to upgrade the internal hard drive. Trouble is, the space given as standard is low: you're looking at 256GB of storage and, if you want to upgrade, it can be costly.
One way around this is to buy an external drive or make good use of iCloud Drive when space is running low. That's no bad thing -- some of the best external hard drives have lots of capacity and iCloud Drive is among the best free cloud storage options around. With some decent file management, these arrangements can work well.
With iCloud Drive, in particular, you have the advantage of files being available on your other devices and, with a feature called Optimize Mac Storage, you can be sure that when space on your Mac is running low, you're still going to have access to all of your files -- they'll be evicted to iCloud Drive so long as you have sufficient space.
But what if there are some files that you always want to keep on your Mac -- files that you need to access at all times, including when you don't have access to iCloud Drive? You can now pin files that you don't want iCloud Drive to evict, ensuring they are always kept downloaded on your Mac. Here's how it's done.