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iCloud Photos Downloaded?

I bought a new Macbook and it downloaded all of my photos stored in iCloud. I'd like to stop it from syncing and remove them to save space, without affecting any of my other devices. I realize there's a feature that converts the locally stored files to smaller versions if my mac starts to get full, but I'd like to keep it mostly empty as I need working space for files before I move them to a hard drive.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 28, 2020 4:46 PM

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Posted on Sep 28, 2020 4:52 PM

Just turn off iCloud Photos. It will ask if you want to keep the data or delete it. Chose the delete option.


I strongly advise a local Time Machine backup to an external hard drive. In fact, I even recommend archiving your Photos database yet another, separate hard drive. Time Machine is a great backup system, but it is not an archive.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 28, 2020 4:52 PM in response to DuxLacrosse

Just turn off iCloud Photos. It will ask if you want to keep the data or delete it. Chose the delete option.


I strongly advise a local Time Machine backup to an external hard drive. In fact, I even recommend archiving your Photos database yet another, separate hard drive. Time Machine is a great backup system, but it is not an archive.

iCloud Photos Downloaded?

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