Mac Photos - which ones are optimized, back-up concern.

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Mac Photos - which ones are optimized, back-up concern.

How can I tell which photos have been optimized?

I have plenty of room on my hard-drive, is it still optimizing some of my photos?

If I drag a photo to an email does it go out and grab the full-resolution photo in iCloud?

If I drag the file photo.library over to an external drive for backup, is it going to grab the full-resolution photo version from iCloud.

I know I could choose to not optimize and avoid all these issues. But, am curious about the above.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Apr 29, 2020 9:20 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Apr 29, 2020 1:42 PM in response to relieflp_

Photos does not have a tool to tell you which photos have been optimised.

You cannot backup an optimised Photos Library by copying it.

When you copy the library to an external volume, the copy will be incomplete. When you open the incomplete copy of the library, the optimised originals will be missing. In Photos 4 or older (on macOS 10.14 Mojave) Photos will remove all optimised versions from the library. The albums and projects will be incomplete. The copy of the library will be nearly useless. In Photos 5 on catalina the incomplete evrsions will appear as blank thumbnails showing he gaps in the albums.

To back up an optimised iCloud Photos Library you need to download the library with "optimse stairage" disabled. Create a full copy on an external volume. I would do this from a different user account, for example: How to back up an optimized iCloud Photos Library - Apple Community

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Answer 2

relieflp_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 29, 2020 4:55 PM in response to léonie

Thanks Leone. Will avoid using the optimization tool and make sure the originals are downloaded to the computer.

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Mac Photos - which ones are optimized, back-up concern.

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