I have a new Mac. My old Mac uses iCloud for photos but there is also the copy on the Mac itself. Should I copy all files from old man to new Mac including the photos that duplicated in iCloud? Of should I not copy the old Mac versions of the photos to the new Mac. I worry that if I copy the photos from old Mac to new Mac, the new copied versions will get pushed up to iCloud which means I will end up with two of everything.
If you're happy that all your pictures are in iCloud, simply use a new, empty Library on the new Mac and designate it as the System Library. Then, provided you are logged in with the correct Apple ID, the iCloud contents will download into your new Library. This might take a long time depending on the size of the Library, but it worked very well for me.
It would be best if you select the option 'Download Originals to this Mac' as that seems to produce the most efficient handling, and sounds like that's what you have on your old Mac. iCloud will then keep everything synchronised, so your new Mac will exactly mirror the old. Disconnect the old one from iCloud before deleting anything, otherwise the deletion will synchronise across to the new one.
If you copy pictures from the old machine directly to the new, iCould will eventually sort out the duplicates, but it will duplicate everything first and will take forever. You do not need to ask how I know that!
Stephen
If you're happy that all your pictures are in iCloud, simply use a new, empty Library on the new Mac and designate it as the System Library. Then, provided you are logged in with the correct Apple ID, the iCloud contents will download into your new Library. This might take a long time depending on the size of the Library, but it worked very well for me.
It would be best if you select the option 'Download Originals to this Mac' as that seems to produce the most efficient handling, and sounds like that's what you have on your old Mac. iCloud will then keep everything synchronised, so your new Mac will exactly mirror the old. Disconnect the old one from iCloud before deleting anything, otherwise the deletion will synchronise across to the new one.
If you copy pictures from the old machine directly to the new, iCould will eventually sort out the duplicates, but it will duplicate everything first and will take forever. You do not need to ask how I know that!
Stephen
Thanks for the response! I took your advice did not move the photos but let them all download from iCloud. Took an entire day but they all go there and no dupes.
thanks again,
Copying photos from old Mac to new Mac
