System photo library

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Level 1

8 points

System photo library

I want to move my system photo library from its default location in the Pictures Folder on my Mac to a cloud drive, so that should my Mac ever be lost or stolen or damaged, I can quickly access the library on a new device. I'd prefer to use iCloud but I could use One Drive. I know with One Drive you can select to have any folder always available on my Mac, can I also do that with iCloud? Does anybody know of any reason why I shouldn't do this and if I do, should I use iCloud or one drive?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 19, 2021 1:57 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

May 20, 2021 5:35 AM in response to jeremy0776

Hi jeremy0776,

Thanks for posting your inquiry here! We'd be glad to check this out with you. We understand that you're attempting to move your System Photo Library into iCloud for safekeeping. iCloud Drive is set up to sync and store your files and documents. If you'd like to do this for your photos, iCloud has a separate feature to do just this. We'd recommend enabling iCloud Photos, which will sync and store the photos directly from your System Photo Library into iCloud. To set it up and learn more, check out the articles listed below:

Set up and use iCloud Photos

Get help with iCloud Photos

We hope this helps! Take care.

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Answer 2

jeremy0776 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 20, 2021 6:42 AM in response to MoonJ.

Thanks so much for this reply. I do already have iCloud photos enabled. My question was motivated by wanting to understand what happens if my Mac gets lost or stolen or breaks down. I know that because of everything I have set up will ensure that I would be back up and running quickly on a new Mac but will all my photos automatically download onto the new devices system photo library?

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Answer 3

victorial_

Community Specialist

May 20, 2021 9:56 AM in response to jeremy0776

Hi again jeremy0776,

Thanks for the additional information! If all your photos are synced to iCloud Photos, then they would also start to sync and redownload onto a new Mac once the option has been enabled. To check and make sure your photos are being stored properly, you can login into iCloud to view them.

Cheers.

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Answer 4

jeremy0776 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 21, 2021 12:11 AM in response to victorial_

That's really useful, thanks for letting me know. It just makes me a bit anxious that I can't see the photo library in iCloud Drive. There are too many photos to be able to check if they are all there. - but iCloud photos is enabled on all my devices and I do regular time machine back ups so if anything goes wrong with the iCloud photos I always have that as a fall back. Thanks again

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Answer 5

karina184

Community Specialist

May 23, 2021 9:24 AM in response to jeremy0776

Hello again jeremy0776,

We appreciate the update and we're glad to hear that you have everything backed up and stored properly!

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Take care!

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System photo library

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