Can I backup my iCloud Photo Library?

Question

Can I backup my iCloud Photo Library?

I had 4 photos libraries in my Pictures folder on my iMac. I turned on iCloud and uploaded them one at a time, They are all accessible to all my devices. This is an example of one of them. It is still intact in my Pictures folder on my iMac.

After the 4 uploads I can now view them on Photos app on my iMac and they all show as if they are in one, combined Photos iCloud library. I guess that's the point of doing all of this and making it available to my other devices.

Is that combined library viewable as a library like my 4 original libraries still are?

For example can I see something in some location on my iMac that looks like something like below?

I would like to see it so I can back it up for additional protection rather than just having all my Photos only in iCloud.

iMac 21.5", 10.15

Posted on Apr 11, 2020 3:46 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

tygb

Level 9

64,628 points

Apr 11, 2020 11:47 PM in response to ElGuadPaso102018

Photos can’t be transferred directly from iCloud to an external hard drive for that you need to set up iCloud photo library see the article https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204264

And its preferences https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/photos/pht5156cc968/4.0/mac/10.14 , open finder > Go > home > your user name > pictures either drag and drop Photos Library.photoslibrary to an external hard drive , the second method is right click on Photos Library.photoslibrary and click on show package contents in the upcoming column , you can also drag and drop complete masters folder to an external hard drive that is connected .

Also as per the article https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/photos/pht6d60d10f/mac

Manually copy your library to an external storage device: Drag the Photos library (by default in the Pictures folder on your Mac) to your storage device to create a copy.
See this article also Photos library - Move your Library to an external storage device

Read this : Back up the library in Photos on Mac - Apple Supportsupport.apple.com › en-in › guide › photos › Mac

Restore a library from Time Machine in Photos on Mac - Apple ...support.apple.com › en-in › guide › photos › mac

Reply

Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,587 points

Apr 13, 2020 1:34 AM in response to ElGuadPaso102018

Your current system photo library will be syncing with iCloud Photos.

If you launch Photos, look at the Photos > Preferences > General. The first line "Library Location" will be showing you the path and name of the library you are currently using and if it is your system photo library (use as System Photo Library" should be greyed out.

You can only backup your iCloud Photos Library, if "Optimise Storage" is not enabled. If the library is optimised, many photos will be missing. When you restore an optimised library from the backup, the optimised versions will be removed, many photos will be missing, and your albums will have gaps. You can only recover the albums and photos, that are still in iCloud - essentially the same you are seeing in your current iCloud Photos Library. A copy of the optimised library does not suffice as a backup. But if "Optimise Storage" not enabled, a copy if the library will be perfect. Just make sure, that you wait for all originals to have been downloaded from iCloud.

See: How to back up an optimized iCloud Photos Library - Apple Community

Reply

Answer 3

Apr 12, 2020 12:23 PM in response to tygb

Thanks. My problem is that I can't find a library called Photos Library.photoslibrary. When I try the first option - open finder > Go > home > your user name > pictures either drag and drop Photos Library.photoslibrary - this is all I see in Pictures:

So I can't find the photos library that I want to drag to an external drive. I'm not technical, so must be missing something. Where else can the Photos Library.photoslibrary be?

Thanks for your help so far.

Reply

Answer 4

markwmsn

Level 6

15,125 points

Apr 12, 2020 8:41 PM in response to ElGuadPaso102018

If you used the usual method of combining libraries via iCloud Photos (connecting them sequentially and allowing each to sync fully), they should have combined cumulatively with both uploads and downloads. Whichever library you connected last (fourth) should contain all of your photos.

Reply

Answer 5

Apr 13, 2020 1:21 PM in response to markwmsn

This whole cloud, upload... process is new to me.

When I open Photos on my iMac it looks like all of my libraries have been uploaded. And the name that show as the library that is open is the name of my fourth and last library to upload. So based on what you are saying, it looks like the process worked OK in that sense. But when I look at that library in Pictures folder. the size (92GB) and date on that file are the same as those before the upload. So, I'm wondering where the combined photos library which should show 130 GBs is.

Reply

Answer 6

tygb

Level 9

64,628 points

Apr 12, 2020 11:07 PM in response to ElGuadPaso102018

Combine the photo libraries see this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8536957

Reply

Answer 7

tygb

Level 9

64,628 points

Apr 12, 2020 5:18 PM in response to ElGuadPaso102018

In finder preferences , if picture box is checked then open finder > pictures you can find photo library .

Reply

Answer 8

Apr 12, 2020 7:08 PM in response to tygb

That is what I did. And this is what displays. Only the libraries that were in the Pictures that were uploaded show. There is no library other than those.

Reply

Answer 9

Apr 13, 2020 1:23 PM in response to tygb

Thanks for your response.

I was able to use iCloud Photos to do the merge for me. I upload my 4 libraries sequentially into iCloud Photos. And, all the pictures are up "there" OK.

Reply

Can I backup my iCloud Photo Library?

Similar questions