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User profile for user: jab09
jab09 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Photos taking up different amounts of space based on my machine

Hi there, I have iCloud and photos active on both my personal and work machines. Both are 2013 MacBook pros with retina display, except my work machine has substantially more memory.


I'm curious as to why photos takes up more space on my work machine than my personal machine. I'm worried because if I wanted to download a very large file, say a few movies or games, I'm worried that photos would take up too much space.


Like many people, I'm paying for iCloud specifically so I can remove files from my machine HD. I'm also aware that photos are automatically uploaded to iCloud to save space on my HD. I guess my question is how is that regulated and is there a way to "maximize" my free space (I rarely check photos).


Thanks!

Posted on Aug 20, 2019 8:41 PM

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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
211,063 points

Posted on Aug 21, 2019 10:49 AM

Like many people, I'm paying for iCloud specifically so I can remove files from my machine HD. I'm also aware that photos are automatically uploaded to iCloud to save space on my HD. I guess my question is how is that regulated and is there a way to "maximize" my free space (I rarely check photos).

The iCloud Photos Library is only a syncing service. All devices using the same Apple ID and has the iCloud Photos Library enabled will have the same photos in their libraries. It's not and off machine storage facility. Also any change to the library on one device, including deletions, will be done on the other devices and in the online library.


To save space on your MBP you can enable "Optimize Mac Storage" in the Photos Library. What what does is tell Photos to monitor the free space on the boot drive and when it gets down to about 20% start using optimized versions of the photos on the MBP.



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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
211,063 points

Aug 21, 2019 10:49 AM in response to jab09

Like many people, I'm paying for iCloud specifically so I can remove files from my machine HD. I'm also aware that photos are automatically uploaded to iCloud to save space on my HD. I guess my question is how is that regulated and is there a way to "maximize" my free space (I rarely check photos).

The iCloud Photos Library is only a syncing service. All devices using the same Apple ID and has the iCloud Photos Library enabled will have the same photos in their libraries. It's not and off machine storage facility. Also any change to the library on one device, including deletions, will be done on the other devices and in the online library.


To save space on your MBP you can enable "Optimize Mac Storage" in the Photos Library. What what does is tell Photos to monitor the free space on the boot drive and when it gets down to about 20% start using optimized versions of the photos on the MBP.



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Photos taking up different amounts of space based on my machine

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