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User profile for user: sorensondss
sorensondss Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Problem with Photos syncing with iCloud on MacBookpro

My photos was syncing fine with iCloud a week ago. I have since moved from iMac to MacBook Pro with more disk space (4TB), and increased the size of my photos system library to about 1 TB of photos and videos. It is in a mode now where at the bottom of the photos I get the message 55,871 photos, 4,283 videos ("286 Items on this Mac Only") and the message "Syncing with iCloud". The "syncing with iCloud" message has been displaying for the last 12 hours. I have the box checked for "download originals to this Mac", but for some reason it shows only 286 items on this mac. I have 2TB for iCloud storage so have plenty of space in iCloud. Could it be when I enlarged my photo system library (by about 300GB) it is just taking a long time? Not sure if things are stuck, or I just need to wait (a few days, a week?). Thanks, Dan

MacBook Pro (M2 Max, 2023)

Posted on May 4, 2023 6:26 AM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,303 points

Posted on May 9, 2023 11:46 AM

When you moved to your new Mac did the system version change? Or did you use the same system version on your old iMac as on your new MacBook Pro?

to find out why you are having "286 Items on this Mac Only" you may want to create the smart albums described here: Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS - Apple Support


Items "on this Mac only" are usually items with missing original files or referenced images. If you can find them with a smart album, you should remove them from your library, because they can be blocking the iCloud syncing.


And yes, the first sync of a library with 300GB new items can take more than a week, perhaps more. When I have to sync my library with more than 50000 items again, it takes usually more than ten days.


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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,303 points

May 9, 2023 11:46 AM in response to sorensondss

When you moved to your new Mac did the system version change? Or did you use the same system version on your old iMac as on your new MacBook Pro?

to find out why you are having "286 Items on this Mac Only" you may want to create the smart albums described here: Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS - Apple Support


Items "on this Mac only" are usually items with missing original files or referenced images. If you can find them with a smart album, you should remove them from your library, because they can be blocking the iCloud syncing.


And yes, the first sync of a library with 300GB new items can take more than a week, perhaps more. When I have to sync my library with more than 50000 items again, it takes usually more than ten days.


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User profile for user: karina184
karina184
User level: Community Specialist

May 9, 2023 10:33 AM in response to sorensondss

Hey sorensondss,


We'll be happy to help with this iCloud Photos issues that you are having. Have you tried performing those actions to see if you have the same response in safe mode? After testing, go ahead and restart normally and test again because sometimes just starting in this mode and then restarting normally can resolve issues: How to use safe mode on your Mac. Let us know if the message is still stuck on syncing after testing in safe mode.


Keep us updated!

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User profile for user: sorensondss
sorensondss Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

May 13, 2023 6:06 AM in response to léonie

Thanks. Everything is working fine now. After I rebooted. And waited, I got a message that x number of files were synching, and the number would decrease. After a few days it went to zero, and all was synched. I will deal with the x number of files remaining on the Mac as you have pointed out. Having the message displayed indicating the number of files that are being synched tells you that something is happening. Thanks again

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Problem with Photos syncing with iCloud on MacBookpro

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