NOT losing important family pictures

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Level 1

4 points

NOT losing important family pictures

Hello to all. I have a new grandson of which my wife and I have been taking an incredible amount of pictures and videos that are causing us to use up a lot of our space on our iPhones. I tried to remove some from my iPhone to save space BUT when I do- it also removes them from the iCloud?. I thought that the iCloud was supposed to be the space where you can keep things forever like when you used to develop film from a camera- the hard copy was forever. Not so with the iCloud?

So we have a dilemma.

I finally spoke with someone at Apple and here is what was suggested. On settings on my iPhone NOW I have on the iCloud setting - I have photos "ON". I was told by the rep at Apple to turn it off?? and he said this will put all pictures you take from that point on ONLY onto your iPhone. But then he said whenever I want I can do a MANUAL backup and that will put those pictures on the iCloud and then I can delete those pictures from the iPhone once the backup is done and then put the iCloud photos back to OFF? is this possible and will it work? What I am in need of doing again is-- to delete pictures from my iPhone to SAVE SPACE BUT not have them deleted from the iCloud?? Please advise. There has to be a way that we can hold these pictures forever . I mean I am sure we all have this problem with needing space and thus needing to delete some items from the HOLDER of the pictures which is the camera OR iPhone if you will BUT not lose them from your developed film like a hard copy????

iPhone 6s, 14

Posted on Oct 1, 2021 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Axel Foley

Level 10

151,056 points

Oct 1, 2021 9:11 AM in response to fmoffilmland

I would like you to realize and know one important thing and that is That You can purchase ➔ iCloud Storage from Apple where you create and save your iPhone backups and sync (Not Store) your Messages, Photos, Contacts, Calendars, Notes and Reminders. Note that iCloud Storage is NOT an extension of storage capacity of your iPhone. Just wanted you to know some facts and I believe that you have learned this during your exploration of the subject.

Having said that, you can choose to Optimize Storage on your iPhone for all the Photos. What this action will do is store your original quality photos on iCloud and a small size photo on your iPhone. This takes up less space on your iPhone while maintaining the actual size on iCloud. This will free up space on your iPhone while making good use of iCloud. If you would like to try this then open Settings ➔Photos ➔ Optimize iPhone Storage : Ensure that this option is chosen and has a checkmark on it. This will get you there where you want to be and that is keep small images of the photos on your iPhone while the actual, original size of the photos remain on iCloud.

The Apple rep that you spoke to is somewhat right. Yes, you can turn OFF icloud and all the photos will remain on your iPhone and in iCloud and no more syncing will take place. But, the minute you turn iCloud back on, then both places will be synced again putting you in the same dilemma.

One other option is to export the photos on to your computer every so often and then delete accordingly on your iPhone. The way to do that is shown here ➔ How to Transfer Photos, Videos from your iPhone.

Axel F.

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Answer 2

fmoffilmland Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 1, 2021 5:14 PM in response to Axel Foley

hey, I thank you for the reply and yes I figured that what the rep told me was only partially true. That I could turn the iCloud photos on or off BT in the end the same problem would have to reappear like losing any pictures that I delete from the iPhone.

I do have a large external hard drove that I could probably move most of my pictures to and keep there. I actually had purchased this Western Digital Hard drive some years ago for that purpose. I also took out a hard drive from my previous computer and purchased a connector (Rosewill) that allows me to like an old 8 track tape stick this hard drive into it and it also has become another external hard drive. But what I am worried about is- what if the computer crashes--will the external hard drives still have the information and photos on them that I will be able to transfer or see on any computer?

I also had purchased some very large USB sticks from Amazon- and transferred many pics of vacations years ago as well. But for some reason or another - sometimes (not always)- the USB sticks end up becoming bad?? I actually put in a USN stick that should have had photos on it and the stick said it was EMPTY??? How does that happen? So you can see why any procedure we may use to transfer pictures might not be a TRUE fix if something goes wrong?? Am I correct?? Please let me know.

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Answer 3

Axel Foley

Level 10

151,056 points

Oct 2, 2021 8:06 AM in response to fmoffilmland

One thing to note and that is that if the computer crashes for reasons other than the HDD then the HDD will be fine to move to another computer and retrieve the data (Your Photos etc.). Now, if the computer crashes because the HDD crashed then it is a different story. In the end, all HDDs have an end of lifespan. I will recommend that you invest in a SSD that is used solely for storage purposes. Maybe it can act as backup to the HDD.

USB sticks have always been unreliable as far as maintaining data. The odds agains data loss increase when you begin using them on multiple platforms (i.e. Windows, MacOS etc). At times, one the USB stick is formatted with one method, MacOS for example, then it cannot be read on a Windows PC (and Vice-Versa) and the stick appears to be empty on the other OS. The same applies to HDs as well however one does not move HDs around from one OS to another so does not notice.

If your end goal is to provide a safe storage place for photos, then I recommend getting a large capacity SSD and using it as a back up along with backing up photos on iCloud (you have 2TB subscription). These two methods should be enough to keep your data secure and at your fingertips when you need it.

Axel F.

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Answer 4

Axel Foley

Level 10

151,056 points

Oct 6, 2021 11:31 PM in response to fmoffilmland

Glad that you have a clear understanding of what has to be done. You mentioned iCloud membership for $0.99 per month and you are right that it fetches only 50GB and not 2TB. I had misunderstood your earlier post that you had a 2TB iCloud subscription.

In the end, you know what to do now to keep you photos safe and backed up.

Axel F.

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Answer 5

fmoffilmland Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 7, 2021 4:36 AM in response to Axel Foley

:) thank u for your replies

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Answer 6

Axel Foley

Level 10

151,056 points

Oct 7, 2021 9:11 AM in response to fmoffilmland

You are absolutely welcome.

Axel F.

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Answer 7

fmoffilmland Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 6, 2021 1:15 PM in response to Axel Foley

hello again-- Yes I spoke with someone from apple that once worked for Microsoft so he had great understanding. he also agreed that USB drives can be at times quite unreliable. But he said to go onto iCloud and select the pics I want( all of them) Ha ha-- and download them to one of my external drives which he said would be the safest( as you also had mentioned with the SSD )-- But the only discrepancy I have is that my iCloud membership that I pay 99 cents monthly for is ONLY 50 GB(2 TB??) and once again even if I back up my photos onto iCloud- if i delete them from my iPhone- then they WILL be removed from the iCloud as well. So I guess i will have to take up some off my 778 GB free on my external hard drive with these pictures.

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NOT losing important family pictures

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