mmikem
Level 1 (4 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: problem moving photo library to ext drive

i have moved my photo library to an external drive following the instructions in earlier threads, i copied the library to the external drive then relaunched photos holding down the alt key then selected the copied library. i then set the copied library as the system library and re enabled iCloud photo library. but i then get a message saying i have insufficient storage available on iCloud. my library is nearly 600gb and i am on the 1tb storage plan. it looks like photos is trying to upload the entire copied photo library as a new library. is there a way to stop it doing this and make it recognise the copied library as the original as i don't want to upgrade my iCloud storage simply to have 2 copies of everything in my library plus i don't want to have to wait for 600gb to upload to get the library on the mac back in sync. I think i could just start a new system library on my mac and then download everything from iCloud but I'm not sure if i do this i will loose all the faces info i have added to my existing library.

while we are on the subject of faces is there a way to sync them across devices as i have this library on my mac mini and also i have the photos app on my macbook pro synched to the same iCloud account and photo library but the "faces" info does not seem copy over iCloud, is this correct and is there a way to sync faces

 

thanks

mike

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 18, 2016 4:23 PM

by LarryHN,Solvedanswer
LarryHN LarryHN
Level 10 (85,007 points)
Photos for Mac
A:

Upgrades are for a min of 30 days - if you can not continue you may have to upgrade until it finishes and then downgrade again paying for the additional for 30 days

 

LN

Posted on Sep 19, 2016 7:00 AM

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mmikem

Q: problem moving photo library to ext drive

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  • Helpful answers

  • by LarryHN,Helpful

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 19, 2016 4:59 AM in response to mmikem
    Level 10 (85,007 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 4:59 AM in response to mmikem

    No you can not stop it and it will not upload everything but is checkin to be sure the library is in sync - Nothing will be duplicated

     

    Yes you could start a new library and yes you would lose your face albums but retain the face tags making re identifying them quicker - and when OS X Sierra is released Photos will handle faces totally differently but until the software is released no one knows exactly what it will include or how it will migrate

     

    LN

  • by mmikem,

    mmikem mmikem Sep 19, 2016 5:04 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 5:04 AM in response to LarryHN

    Hi Larry

     

    thanks for the reply

    so am I right in thinking that photos compares the icloud library with my copied library and only uploads (and downloads) the differences?.

    the problem is I can't start this process without upgrading my icloud storage to the 2tb plan which i don't actually need as my current usage is less than the 1tb i current subscribe to, is there a way of continuing the sync without upgrading my icloud storage?

  • by LarryHN,Solvedanswer

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 19, 2016 7:00 AM in response to mmikem
    Level 10 (85,007 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 7:00 AM in response to mmikem

    Upgrades are for a min of 30 days - if you can not continue you may have to upgrade until it finishes and then downgrade again paying for the additional for 30 days

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 19, 2016 7:16 AM in response to mmikem
    Level 10 (107,795 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 19, 2016 7:16 AM in response to mmikem

    Mike,

    see this document on what is syncing between Macs with iCloud Photo Library:

    Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204486

     

     

    I am using the work-around to assign to all photos in a faces album a keyword with the name of the person. This way I can see in the Info panel for a photo which name I assigned and simply copy the keyword into the name field; this way the names will be written identical on all Macs.

     

    If you do not want to upgrade to the 2TB storage plan for a month, your only option would be to reduce the size of your current Photos Library. 

     

    Make sure, iCloud Photo Library is really disabled. Make a backup copy of your Photos Library.

    Then delete 100GB of photos, preferable photos that do not have faces assigned. If you can reduce the size of the library, but keep photos with faces, enable iCloud Photo Library and the deleted photos will come back from iCloud.