An internet connection is required to download larger versions of these items for printing.

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An internet connection is required to download larger versions of these items for printing.

I am getting this error trying to print a small copy 10x15 from the Photo application. I'm not that worried about the resolution.

I do not seem to be able to export or open the photo in another application. There are also a lot of photos in this album - a rather old album, that seem to have disappeared.

I have tried to find the possible problem. And the only thing that may be relevant is 'Optimise Storage'. At one time, many years ago, I selected this option, as the hard drive on my Mac always seems too small. What I didn't realise until a short time later was that all my photos were being removed from my devise. I turned off optimise storage, and would have selected any option available to return files to my local device.

This is very frustrating, and makes me much less inclined to trust iCloud solutions if it has taken files off my device and not returned them. 'Optimise storage' to me, at the time meant to compress files, not remove them entirely.

Is there a way to properly diagnose the issue here? And if the photos are not on my device, is there a way to get them back from Apple?

iMac Pro

Posted on Dec 17, 2020 12:07 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 17, 2020 12:33 PM in response to XofDyer

Do you still have the missing images in iCloud?

If so we can easily create a new empty library, sync it with iCloud and get them back that way. Let me know if that is the case.

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Answer 2

XofDyer Author

Level 1

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Dec 17, 2020 1:45 PM in response to TonyCollinet

No, there is nothing there.

Meanwhile, I have found an old copy of my iPhoto Library from the same year. I unpackaged the contents and dragged everything from the 'Master' folder into a new Photo library. Thank goodness, this seems to have restored the photos!

I wouldn't waste more of your time, but there is one last thing that makes me wonder if this is an iCloud issue. The size of the original Photo Library is 42G, and the size of the reconstructed library is 40G. This seems weird if my photos are uploaded to iCloud. I wonder more if the database is somehow confused and can't actually find the photos - maybe due to the experiment with Optimise Storage, maybe not. Maybe I could have unpackaged that library and copied it into a new library? Would you recommend trying this if people have a similar problem?

Thanks for your help btway. Nighty night.

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Answer 3

XofDyer Author

Level 1

14 points

Dec 17, 2020 12:51 PM in response to TonyCollinet

If I look at my iCloud Drive in Finder, I do not have a Photos folder. I have what looks like a temporary export of photos, from a 2018 library. The photos that are missing are from 2013.

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Answer 4

Dec 17, 2020 12:53 PM in response to XofDyer

Hi - they won't be in iCloud drive.

if you go to www.icloud.com

and log on with your apple ID, you can see all your photos that are in iCloud by clicking on the photos icon on the web page. If you haven't somehow deleted them, or downgraded your icloud space, then everything that was uploaded from your mac should still be there.

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