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User profile for user: junobear
junobear Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Tons of Video and Photos - sit on tons of iCloud space - and on my MacBook and iPhone..

But now, my MacBook Pro storage is under 10%. I love how when I go to either my 12 Pro phone or Macbook Pro, I can call up this giant library and work with the materials. However, must now I archive the Photo library on my MacBook so that there's more available room?


I have lots of external drive space available. (You can see I like redundancy) However, if I removed the photos/videos (or archive them, really) from my MacBook Pro, how may I still keep my photo library up to date both devices (and iCloud).


On my legacy iMac, I have several Photos libraries inside, though those are not on the cloud. These are separate from my newer devices (iPhone and MacBook Pro).





MacBook Pro

Posted on Nov 5, 2022 4:41 PM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
11,052 points

Posted on Nov 6, 2022 9:28 AM

In Mac Photos>Preferences>iCloud, do you have "Optimize Mac Storage" checked? This would be a good thing to save space on the Mac. If this is checked, then the Mac will hold smaller, lower resolution copies of the pictures stored in iCloud. Full resolution copies will download automatically when you want to print or edit a picture.


If you've already optimized storage, and you're still running out of space, you might think about making a smaller photos library that has only the very best stuff in it. You make that smaller one your system library to keep on your Mac. You would then archive the massive complete library on an external drive.

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
11,052 points

Nov 6, 2022 9:28 AM in response to junobear

In Mac Photos>Preferences>iCloud, do you have "Optimize Mac Storage" checked? This would be a good thing to save space on the Mac. If this is checked, then the Mac will hold smaller, lower resolution copies of the pictures stored in iCloud. Full resolution copies will download automatically when you want to print or edit a picture.


If you've already optimized storage, and you're still running out of space, you might think about making a smaller photos library that has only the very best stuff in it. You make that smaller one your system library to keep on your Mac. You would then archive the massive complete library on an external drive.

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User profile for user: junobear
junobear Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Nov 8, 2022 11:56 PM in response to Yer_Man

By 'less available', I mean that it would no longer be on the cloud. I would have to consciously connect to the EXT HD to access it. I have done that, and then often forgot about checking the EXT HDs until I am looking for something specific. I guess I need to remind myself to revisit the external hard drives more often.

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Tons of Video and Photos - sit on tons of iCloud space - and on my MacBook and iPhone..

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