roconn

Q: When uploading photos to iCloud Drive from external hard drive they eat up space on my iMac internal drive ...why?

When uploading photos from external hard drive to iCloud Drive they seem to use the same amount of disc space on my Mac internal drive.

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Aug 31, 2015 1:09 PM

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Q: When uploading photos to iCloud Drive from external hard drive they eat up space on my iMac internal drive ...why?

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  • by Kappy,Helpful

    Kappy Kappy Aug 31, 2015 1:18 PM in response to roconn
    Level 10 (271,708 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 31, 2015 1:18 PM in response to roconn

    Because your iCloud Drive maintains a copy in a folder on your computer.

  • by _Ty Cox_,

    _Ty Cox_ _Ty Cox_ Aug 31, 2015 1:50 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 31, 2015 1:50 PM in response to Kappy

    You can possibly save drive space by deselecting ‘Download Originals to This Mac’ in Photos’ Preferences settings. Unfortunately, the remaining option, ‘Optimize Mac Storage’ will still retain full-resolution photos on your drive if space permits. I’m unsure what the threshold is when the app substitutes a lower resolution (smaller file size) copy. Would be nice if One could choose to always store only low rez copies locally.

     

    Screen Shot 2015-08-31 at 4.33.01 PM.png

     

    Also, you can change the location of your Photos library and continue to store photos on another drive. Go to Photos’ Preferences>General.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Aug 31, 2015 4:16 PM in response to _Ty Cox_
    Level 10 (141,552 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 31, 2015 4:16 PM in response to _Ty Cox_
    uploading photos from external hard drive to iCloud Drive

    The OP is talking about the iCloud Drive not the iCloud Photo Library.  They are two totally different entities.

    OTsig.png

  • by _Ty Cox_,

    _Ty Cox_ _Ty Cox_ Sep 2, 2015 9:53 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 2, 2015 9:53 PM in response to Old Toad

    Wait, I'm apparently ignorant. How can One upload photos directly to iDrive? I thought iDrive only accomodated files uploaded from apps that utilize it?

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Sep 3, 2015 8:43 AM in response to _Ty Cox_
    Level 10 (141,552 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 3, 2015 8:43 AM in response to _Ty Cox_

    By dragging files to any of the folders on your Mac iDrive:

    iCloudDrive.png

    I added the OT's General Storage folder and get the following at iCloud.com

    iCloudDrive2.jpg

  • by _Ty Cox_,

    _Ty Cox_ _Ty Cox_ Sep 3, 2015 10:10 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 3, 2015 10:10 AM in response to Old Toad

    This is fantastic news. I have been beta testing the forthcoming desktop and mobile OS’s. Within the new iDrive folder, I saw another folder titled ’Test iCloud folder’. I dragged a file into it. It never synced to my phone or iPad. I assumed the folder served a development purpose and wasn’t for my use. After reading your post, I toggled iCloud Drive off and on on my mobile devices. The file synced!

     

    Does this mean iCloud Drive can be a replacement for services like Dropbox?

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Sep 3, 2015 10:20 AM in response to _Ty Cox_
    Level 10 (141,552 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 3, 2015 10:20 AM in response to _Ty Cox_
    Does this mean iCloud Drive can be a replacement for services like Dropbox?

    In a manner of speaking.  It's not an off Mac storage option because any change made on one device is reflected on all devices that are signed in to the same Apple iCloud account.  If you delete a file from your Mac's iCloud Drive it will be deleted from online as well as all other devices.

     

    It can be use to sync files to all of your devices. I Space is limited to the 5 GB of free space allotted to each Apple account.  Any more and you'll have to purchase additional space.

     

    More on the iCloud Drive is described here:

     

    iCloud Drive FAQ - Apple Support

    OS X Yosemite: Store documents with iCloud Drive