macbook photos not connecting with iCloud

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Level 1

8 points

macbook photos not connecting with iCloud

In an effort to save space on my macBook pro 16, I copied all my photos to an external hard drive. Now, the MacBook photos album seems disconnected from iCloud. Even when I connect the external hard drive and open photos, the MacBook does not update the photos. I am signed in to the same apple account on all devices. When I click on the preferences in photo and click on the iCloud tab at the top, I get a message that 'iCloud features for photos are only available in the system photo library. After I did the transfer I found a comment that external hard drives could not be used as the system library - don't know where I saw this. If true, how do I re-establish the system library.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 14

Posted on Jan 5, 2021 9:50 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,954 points

Jan 5, 2021 10:04 AM in response to TonyCollinet

But also important:

Is the external drive correctly set up for using with a photos library? (If not, you'll be storing up trouble for the future)

It must be formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled), and not be (or have been) used for time machine. It must have the 'ignore ownership" checkbox ticked. It should not be on a memory stick, SD or similar. It stands to reason that if you want any sort of reasonable performance it should be a fast drive with a fast connection.

It must also not be a network drive (a direct connection is required - eg USB or Thunderbolt) 

See

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517

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Answer 2

piratediver Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 5, 2021 1:35 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Tony, thanks for the reply. First, formatted MacOS extended, ignore ownership checked. It's a 1T Seagate drive connected via USB. If I use the Seagate as the system library it does not seem to want to connect to iCloud and sync with other devices. As soon as I disconnect the Seagate and restarted Photo I got a message that no library was found and did I want to look for another. I clicked yes and found the original library on the MacBook. I changed it to the system library and everything synced from iCloud. I'm back to using the library on the MacBook and not the external drive and things are fine. What this is all about, it me trying to figure out how I want to use systems. I just signed up for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and am trying to figure out the best way (for me) to store and work with photos. Finding a good source of information is hard, there is so much out there. Thanks for the help

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2021 10:03 AM in response to piratediver

Hi

External drives can be used for the system library.

Go into photos (with your library open), then photos>preferences

Click the button "use as system photo library"

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Answer 4

Jan 5, 2021 2:43 PM in response to piratediver

Hi

If you are intending to use lightroom, there is not much point using photos. They are two applications doing the same job.

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macbook photos not connecting with iCloud

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