Recently, I discovered that iCloud had deleted all of my photos (prior to May 27, 2019). I have no idea why as I pay for the monthly backup. I reviewed the steps that Apple recommends and the images are no where to be found. Has anyone else had this happen where the photos were deleted without any prompting by the user. Of course, I did not backup my photos to a storage device but I will from now on.
As per this article https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204570
What happens when I go over my iCloud storage limit?
If you exceed your iCloud storage limit, photos and videos won't upload to iCloud and your library won’t stay up to date across your devices. To continue using iCloud Photos, upgrade your storage plan or reduce the amount of storage that you're using.
Reduce the storage for iCloud Photos by deleting photos and videos that you don't want to keep from your iOS devices or on iCloud.com. Your device will immediately remove any photos and videos that you delete and they won't be available for recovery in your Recently Deleted album.
If you're out of storage, your devices won't back up to iCloud, and new photos, videos, documents, and your information won't stay up to date.
See this https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT205966
Back up your library - in future if the photo data exceeds .
Before following any of these steps, it's a good idea to create a backup of your photo library, even if you use iCloud Photos. You can use Time Machine, use a third-party backup solution, or copy the library to an external drive. By default, your photo library is stored in the Pictures folder within your home folder.
Thanks for the reply. The Time Machine is a great idea although I really just need to remember to use my own external storage. One problem: I was not even close to reaching my storage limit when all of the images disappeared.
See this article https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204264
Turn on iCloud Photos
In photos preferences see this https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/photos/pht5156cc968/4.0/mac/10.14
Missing photos from iCloud backup
