Is there a way to back up all of the photos in my iCloud library in the order they appear in Photos? They have dates in Photos that don't seem to transfer when I try to back up to an external hard drive. I have tried exporting unmodified originals and the order always ends up being a huge tangled mess.
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.5
Ideally you sync your photos to your Mac in the photos app. Then, you back up your Mac. If your library is substantial, you can store it on an external hard drive and still sync with iCloud (just make sure that you have a second one for a Time Machine backup). This is how I've set up my photos. Main album is on an external drive, synced to iCloud, with a Time Machine backup (and additional backups too). Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
It's best to have three copies of your data, made 2 ways, with 1 copy kept offsite.
Ideally you sync your photos to your Mac in the photos app. Then, you back up your Mac. If your library is substantial, you can store it on an external hard drive and still sync with iCloud (just make sure that you have a second one for a Time Machine backup). This is how I've set up my photos. Main album is on an external drive, synced to iCloud, with a Time Machine backup (and additional backups too). Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
It's best to have three copies of your data, made 2 ways, with 1 copy kept offsite.
If you're making a Time Machine backup, your photos are included as part of your photo library. You do not need to export (and you'll probably want to keep the photo library in tact should you need to restore).
My photos are all in iCloud (not on my actual Mac because I have a LOT of photos) and I don't backup to Time Machine. If I did backup to Time Machine, would it automatically backup my iCloud library? I didn't think it would do that. I am new to this so I am still trying to really figure this out. My worst nightmare is something happening to my Apple account and losing all of my photos of my kids. I would like it backed up offline somewhere, but every time I try to back up it seems to go out of order and not maintain the dates the images were taken even though in the Photos app it has that information.
Yes, I have more photos than I have space available on my Mac so I can't sync all my photos from my iCloud to my Mac. If I understand correctly, Time Machine won't actually be able to backup my iCloud library properly. This leads me back to the issue of backing up to a hard drive and getting the files in a jumbled mess, which was my original issue I still can't figure out. I appreciate your help very much, thank you.
Is there a way to back up all of the photos in my iCloud library in the order they appear in Photos?
