MacOS – iCloud Drive not working after El Capitan upgrade, files not in com~apple~CloudDocs

icloudmacos

On one of my computers, iCloud Drive is not working after upgrading to El Capitan. The iCloud Drive folder is missing all my files in finder. Normally, these files are stored in ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/ for me locally. However, even this folder is empty. My iCloud Drive shows up fine on another one of my computers. I thought a fix may be to disable and reenable iCloud Drive in System Preferences, but when I do that I get the following message…

iCloud Drive disable screenshot

I have important files on iCloud Drive, so a cautiously click cancel. I have about 40 GB of files on it. I'm wondering if I should just be patient. I installed El Capitan two nights ago and need to access my files. I've been riddled with problems with iCloud Drive. After some misguided tinkering, many of my files take a ridiculously long time to load, but that's another thread. Does anyone know how I can safely get my iCloud Drive files back on my computer?

edit: In reponse to the first answer. brctl log --wait --shorten gives

[note] 0.000 [2015-10-02 19:59:14.231] sqlite.clientTruth sync-down.periodic-sync BRCPeriodicSyncOperation.m:137
scheduled a useless periodic sync
[note] 717.386 [2015-10-02 20:11:11.617] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 0 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 723.513 [2015-10-02 20:11:17.743] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 200 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 2317.776 [2015-10-02 20:37:52.007] xpc.activity.com.apple.bird.configuration-server-update user-defaults BRCUserDefaults.m:335
downloading iCloud Drive configuration
[note] 2508.863 [2015-10-02 20:41:03.093] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 0 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 2514.711 [2015-10-02 20:41:08.941] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 200 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 4009.626 [2015-10-02 21:06:03.856] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 0 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 4016.041 [2015-10-02 21:06:10.272] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 200 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 5433.434 [2015-10-02 21:29:47.665] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 0 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs
[note] 5440.516 [2015-10-02 21:29:54.746] sqlite.serverTruth zone.server BRCServerZone.m:771
received 200 edited items from the cloud for com.apple.CloudDocs

Best Answer

The first step is using brctl log from terminal to see what activity is happening and if you have errors.

From there, you can be patient or call AppleCare or post a follow on question with some specifics on what's happening to your cloud sync.