Transfer of Photos library to new iMac

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Transfer of Photos library to new iMac

Hi

I'm trying to transfer the Photos library for my husband from his old iMac (21.5" late 2013, running High Sierra 10.13.6) to his new iMac (24" M1 2021 running Big Sur 11.4).

I tried Migration Assistant first. Not all of the photos came over.

Then I copied the Photos Library (stored in the Applications folder of old iMac) to a hard drive, then copied the library to same location on new iMac. Same problem: Only some of photos transferred. Library size was 236.58Gb on old iMac and external hard drive, but only 227.78 Gb on new iMac.

He does use iCloud, and the Photos app is ticked on his old iMac. The size of his Photos library when I log on to iCloud.com is 441.11 gB.

On the new iMac the Photos app is not ticked on the iCloud preferences and when I try to tick it I get the message 'checking library' for a few seconds, then nothing. The Photos icon remains unticked.

So, we can't use iCloud to sync the photos.

Help please!

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jul 23, 2021 6:17 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

muguy

Level 10

81,613 points

Jul 23, 2021 6:34 PM in response to susie12

Perfect!

Only the system library will sync with iCloud photos. I think the easiest thing to do is the following:

Since we don't know how copying over the library or the migration went (although the images may all be there the file sizes may not match exactly), it might be best to create a new library from scratch

Quit Photos

Hold down the Option Key and Open Photos (hold the key and click the icon)

You'll get a dialogue box:

Select Create New

Name the photos library something memorable (so you know which it is for later steps)

Once open

Go to Photos > Preferences > General

Click "use as system library"

Then go to id and enable iCloud photos

This will make the library you create the new default system library and then download all pictures from the cloud. Should be a win/win.

Once done, you can delete the other albums on the new Mac (those will be in your pictures folder).

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Answer 2

susie12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 23, 2021 9:09 PM in response to muguy

Thank you. I did this and the photos stored in iCloud are now downloading to the new iMac. Will take a while and hopefully they'll all download. Once this is done, presumably I can delete the Photos Library I copied from the old iMac?

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 10

81,613 points

Jul 23, 2021 9:11 PM in response to susie12

Yes. Once complete you can delete the extraneous libraries on the new Mac (the ones you copied over).

If you delete the photos from the old Mac, be sure to disable iCloud photos on the old Mac first. Otherwise, they'll delete everywhere.

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Answer 4

muguy

Level 10

81,613 points

Jul 23, 2021 6:24 PM in response to susie12

On the new Mac.

Open Photos

Go to the menu bar and select Photos > Preferences

Select iCloud

Is there a message there?

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Answer 5

susie12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 23, 2021 6:28 PM in response to muguy

Yes, Under general it says 'iCloud features for Photos are only available in the Systems Photo Library). When I click on the the iCloud button beside general nothing happens

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Answer 6

susie12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 23, 2021 9:14 PM in response to muguy

Thanks!

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Transfer of Photos library to new iMac

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