iCloud Photo Library on my Mac

Question

iCloud Photo Library on my Mac

I accidentally moved my Photo Library from Pictures to my iCloud folder on my new Mac Sonoma 14.6.1. I now cannot open it on my Mac. I have tried to drag it back to my Pictures and I get the message that "This item will not longer be in iCloud Drive on any of your devices." I have an iPad, iWatch and iPhone and they sync well provided I am now logged into iCloud Drive on the internet.

I nominated to move it by drag and drop to Pictures and after 4 days, it had only downloaded a 64G of my 211.44 GB Library and initially could not open it so I deleted it. Should I try this move again and be more patient to let it run and if so, how can I then make it available in iCloud Drive and view and work on the Library on my Mac without signing into iCloud on the internet and allow it to sync with my other devices?

Frustrated Carol

iMac 24″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Sep 18, 2024 7:35 AM

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Answer 1

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FoxFifth

Level 10

475,461 points

Sep 18, 2024 8:51 AM in response to carol needs help

Photos are designed to sync with your other devices via iCloud Photos rather than iCloud Drive.

Move your Photos library on your Mac back to the Pictures folder and wait for it to download. 211.44GB is a very large download and can take quite awhile.

Then setup iCloud Photos on your devices as described in Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

If you want to reduce the storage space needed for iCloud Photos on your devices, be sure to turn on Optimize Storage on your devices. If you don't, it will attempt to download all 211 GB to each device but if you do turn that option on it will only download much smaller optimized versions of the photos. See details in the "Turn on Optimize Storage" section of Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Sep 18, 2024 5:56 PM in response to FoxFifth

Thank you all so much. I woke with new resolve! I dragged the library into Picture Folder (which I already had in the cloud) and this time it took 10 sec. I waited until it received all perhaps 10 mins and all is as it should be. I have not needed to reset Photos to get it into the cloud and just tested it while it was open to see if it would sync and new iPhone pic just taken and presto, there it is and it now opens on my computer and I can also work on it there. Thank you all for all your tips. Carolxxx

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Answer 3

Sep 18, 2024 10:26 AM in response to FoxFifth

FoxFifth wrote: ... Move your Photos library on your Mac back to the Pictures folder and wait for it to download. 211.44GB is a very large download and can take quite awhile.

So far, it seems to me that iCloud Drive doesn't really accept a Photos Library. If I move a Photos Library to my iCloud Drive folder, it shows a little line through the cloud indicating that it is not copying it to iCloud.

But it won't work there, though. Dragging it back to the Pictures folder doesn't seem to take any time, since it's just moving from one folder to another. Of course, since I've only tried this with relatively small Libraries, I may be missing something…

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Answer 4

FoxFifth

Level 10

475,461 points

Sep 18, 2024 10:42 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

It has changed over time. With some older macOS versions it was possible to move the library to iCloud Drive and it would sync with iCloud but Photos would object and wouldn't open it. Dragging it back could require a long download if the library was in iCloud Drive with no local copy. I wasn't aware that Apple has taken another step and prevented moving it to iCloud Drive. I don't think you're missing anything and think what you are describing is correct -- but not sure how that fits with the original poster's experience which she states is with 14.6.1.

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