KaiLanger

Q: Can't reactive iCloud Photo Library - thinks all my images are new ones

For whatever reason my iCloud Photo Library got deactivated on my mac.

Now I can't put it back on although I only shot 4 more images on my iPhone.

 

Reason: My Mac thinks that all of the images stored in the cloud do not match the ones within the photos app.

Therefore it both prompts be to upgrade my iCloud storage to 1 TB and also tells my that I do not have enough space on my mac.

 

What can I do about it?

Uploading everything back up is no option as I have 120 GB of images in the cloud.

 

Thanks for you help guys!

Posted on Jun 7, 2016 2:47 PM

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Q: Can't reactive iCloud Photo Library - thinks all my images are new ones

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  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Jun 7, 2016 2:53 PM in response to KaiLanger
    Level 10 (105,523 points)
    iLife
    Jun 7, 2016 2:53 PM in response to KaiLanger
    Uploading everything back up is no option as I have 120 GB of images in the cloud.

    It is indeed so.  When you activate iCloud Photo Library again, or after you move a library, restore it from backup, or simply repair it, the Mac will upload it again. That cannot be avoided.

     

    But during the upload Photos will compare the photos to be uploaded to the photos already in iCloud and essentially merge it into the existing library in iCloud. If the iCloud storage sufficed before, make a current back copy of your library and go ahead with the upload.

     

    I had to do the same after I needed to repair the library and move it to a different drive. Photos warned that the amount of iCloud storage would not suffice, but let me enable iCloud again nevertheless and it worked. No duplicates in iCloud.

  • by KaiLanger,Helpful

    KaiLanger KaiLanger Jul 3, 2016 5:34 AM in response to KaiLanger
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 3, 2016 5:34 AM in response to KaiLanger

    Finally I managed to get enough space on my external drive and upgraded the iCloud Storage to follow your recommendation.

    But now this happened Bildschirmfoto 2016-07-03 um 09.43.13.png

    Meaning... it just began uploading the complete library again and is creating duplicates!?

    What am I going to do now???

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jul 3, 2016 5:34 AM in response to KaiLanger
    Level 10 (105,523 points)
    iLife
    Jul 3, 2016 5:34 AM in response to KaiLanger
    Meaning... it just began uploading the complete library again and is creating duplicates!?

     

    Wait and see.  Are you actually seeing duplicates?  Or only the upload message?

     

    See this user tip:  Why is iCloud uploading my entire iCloud Photo library again after I moved its location?

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-9822

     

    I'm just watching my library uploading again after migrating it to a new Mac.  It is painfully slow - five hundred photos per hour, and that on a very fast cable network. It will probably take two weeks at that rate.

    But there are no duplicates.

    You can check the library in iCloud using the Photos.app at www.icloud.com and check, if duplicates are created.

  • by KaiLanger,

    KaiLanger KaiLanger Jul 3, 2016 4:29 AM in response to KaiLanger
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 3, 2016 4:29 AM in response to KaiLanger

    I think you are mostly right. After already having uploaded almost 4 GB, the number of images (according to my iPhone), rose by 120.

    So some are being mismatched I guess.

    Nevertheless, I really appreciate your help!!

    Apple however should really fix that...

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 3, 2016 5:04 AM in response to KaiLanger
    Level 10 (105,523 points)
    iLife
    Jul 3, 2016 5:04 AM in response to KaiLanger
    After already having uploaded almost 4 GB, the number of images (according to my iPhone), rose by 120.

    Could that 120 photos be photos you recently deleted from the iPhone, but are still in the Photos Library on your Mac?

     

    And yes, we need desperately a more efficient way to handle an iCloud Photo Library, without the repeated uploads. The continuous uploads are killing my internet.

  • by Knoddix,

    Knoddix Knoddix Jul 9, 2016 8:16 PM in response to léonie
    Level 2 (158 points)
    Jul 9, 2016 8:16 PM in response to léonie

    This definitely needs to be addressed there is no doubt about that I suggest you leave feedback at apple.com/feedback as the more people that request Apple do something about this the more likely they are to address it that being said guys if you don't have any new photos/videos on the mac that need to be uploaded you might be better off creating a new library where ever you want to store it and then make it the system library and then turn on iCloud photo library, the benefit of doing this is it will download everything rather than upload everything and pretty much regardless of who your ISP is and what type of internet connection you have the download speed is pretty much always at least 10 fold faster than upload speed.

     

    Support articles to help with this process :

    iCloud Photo Library FAQ - Apple Support

    Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support

    Photos for OS X: Use multiple libraries in Photos

    Photos for OS X: System Photo Library overview

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 10, 2016 12:31 AM in response to Knoddix
    Level 10 (105,523 points)
    iLife
    Jul 10, 2016 12:31 AM in response to Knoddix
    if you don't have any new photos/videos on the mac that need to be uploaded you might be better off creating a new library where ever you want to store it and then make it the system library and then turn on iCloud photo library, the benefit of doing this is it will download everything rather than upload everything and pretty much regardless of who your ISP is and what type of internet connection you have the download speed is pretty much always at least 10 fold faster than upload speed.

    It is an option, but downloading from iCloud will neither restore any faces lables nor restore the products - books, calendars, cards, slideshows.  So, if someone invested a lot of work into getting the persons named or creating products, we need to save the previous library.

    Recreating the products and naming the persons again is more trouble than waiting for the download, because Photos does not populate the titles in a slideshow or book automatically from the titles field of a photo. We have to copy and paste everything manually.

  • by Knoddix,

    Knoddix Knoddix Jul 10, 2016 4:51 AM in response to léonie
    Level 2 (158 points)
    Jul 10, 2016 4:51 AM in response to léonie

    You make a good point sorry I didn't even consider that mainly because I just use the photos app to store and sync photos and that's about it, In any case I would still recommend submitting the feedback as I know someone who knows someone that works there and basically every time I report a bug/make a feature request they direct me to that website as apparently they really do take the feedback on board and make changes according to it but they have to get a large percentage of people requesting a bug fix/feature before they will action the request.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 10, 2016 4:59 AM in response to Knoddix
    Level 10 (105,523 points)
    iLife
    Jul 10, 2016 4:59 AM in response to Knoddix

    Good point!    

    And the feedback really helps, even if we usually never get a reply.