How to get my iCloud synced Photos library to show up on my old Mac after migration to my new Mac?

Question

Level 4

1,358 points

How to get my iCloud synced Photos library to show up on my old Mac after migration to my new Mac?

My old Mac: late 2013 MBP with 512 GB. The Photos library wouldn't fit on the internal SSD, so it's been on an external SSD.

My new Mac: Brand new 2021 MBP M1 Pro with 2 TB internal SSD. After migration I moved the external Photos library to my internal drive.

I have 2 TB of iCloud storage and have been syncing my Photos all along, so they are in iCloud.

On my old Mac I changed my iCloud settings to "optimize disk storage." That's the only change I made.

If I open Photos it says it cannot find the Photos library. I tried finding it in Pictures, the new location on my new MBP, but it doesn't seem to be there.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Nov 13, 2021 6:10 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,909 points

Nov 13, 2021 11:49 PM in response to Doug Lerner2

Yes - it is looking for it where it has always been on the SSD - but presumably it is not there or the SSD is disconnected.

However if all your images are in iCloud, then by far the best way to get a new library on the old mac synced to iCloud will be to sync iCloud to a new empty library, as follows.

1 - Create a new EMPTY library in your pictures folder. (Hold down the option key while starting photos, and click "create new". Name it something that is easy to recognise).

2 - Open the new empty library in photos. (it should open after you click "create new" but if not, use the option key start again, and select the new library from the list.)

3 - In photos preferences set it to the system library (click the circled button)

4 - In photos preferences iCloud - turn iCloud on with (optimise mac storage in your case)

5 - Wait - for photos to download all your images from iCloud into your freshly minted library. It may take some time - possibly days. Leave the mac on with photos open while it is doing it.

Reply

Answer 2

Nov 14, 2021 1:17 AM in response to Doug Lerner2

Well at least one of the external drives (if big enough) should be set up as your time machine backup (if you don't already have one).🙃

Old macbook options:

Keep as guest machine
Keep to use when going somewhere you might not want to take your very expensive new mac
Donate to relative
Donate to community (eg elderly care home)
etc etc

Reply

Answer 3

Doug Lerner2 Author

Level 4

1,358 points

Nov 14, 2021 12:25 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Thank you very much. That solved my problem. In fact, I was able to just do "create new library" without even restarting Photos because when it couldn't find the library that was one of the presented option. It's syncing now - very quickly - from iCloud. Appreciate it.

Reply

Answer 4

Doug Lerner2 Author

Level 4

1,358 points

Nov 14, 2021 1:29 AM in response to TonyCollinet

All good ideas, except donate to relative. The only relative I have to donate it to would be my sister, who got my hand-me-down iPhone, iPad 5, and in the past an old MacBook. Even though she has a Ph.D. in physics she can barely use the features of the iPad. :)

Reply

Answer 5

Doug Lerner2 Author

Level 4

1,358 points

Nov 14, 2021 1:31 AM in response to TonyCollinet

One of the external drives actually is the old 1TB Time Machine drive I migrated from. But.. since that computer now has disk optimization turned on does it make sense to back it up with Time Machine?

I have a new 5 TB external drive for Time Machine for my new MB Pro.

Reply

Answer 6

Nov 14, 2021 1:42 AM in response to Doug Lerner2

No - backups from an optimised machine (at least for the photos) are not that useful, plus I guess all your data (especially photos) will be backed up on your new mac/time machine.

One thing I do though is export all my original photographs from photos (so I have a copy outside of a library), I then back that up, and keep one copy of the backup away from home to protect from fire/theft*. So perhaps you could use your external drives for that sort of a backup strategy.

*it doesn't get updated often enough - being away from home it is a pain in the ***. 😁

Reply

Answer 7

Doug Lerner2 Author

Level 4

1,358 points

Nov 14, 2021 1:48 AM in response to TonyCollinet

In addition to the Time Machine backup, I have a CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) daily backup, and a cloud backup in Backblaze. And on top of that, all my photos are in Google Photos.

Plus even though iCloud is more of a syncing service than a backup service, if disaster hit you can restore from that as well I think.

So even in a nuclear war I should be ok. :)

Reply