I have a few questions about photos and iCloud: (1) is it possible to view the photos on my iMac (taken before iCloud) on another device (a PC, my iPhone)? If so, how? (2) some photos downloaded on the iMac are not showing up on my iPhone photo stream
Thanks in advance for your answers!
iMac
(1) is it possible to view the photos on my iMac (taken before iCloud) on another device (a PC, my iPhone)? If so, how?
Follow the instructions for setting up iCloud on all your devices including computers here > Apple - iCloud - Learn how to set up iCloud on all your devices
(2) some photos downloaded on the iMac are not showing up on my iPhone photo stream
On the iMac, open System Preferences > iCloud. Make sure Photo Stream is selected.
Thanks, Carolyn. I've already done your suggestions prior to posting my questions. Perhaps I'm confused about the iCloud's ability, or just not asking the questions right. I read from another user that they use sugarsync, and from its descriptions, I thought iCloud works like sugarsync.
Welcome to the Apple Community.
Photostream is for sharing the last 1,000 photos you have taken, between iPhoto and your iPad/iPhone/Apple TV etc etc.
If you have older photos that you want to include in Photostream for sharing with other devices, you can add them on each device, i.e. in iPhoto select a group of photos and choose Photostream from the share menu.
Thank you. Your reply helped me realize that I didn't have a clear understanding of what iCloud can do for me:). I thought I could view the photos on my iMac just like I can view my calendar by logging on to icloud.com.
Oh, one more question...does this mean that the photos on my iMac before iCloud are not backed up, only the ones taken on my iPhone after iCloud and other photos I placed on Photo Stream?
Thanks, again!
jasheath wrote:
...does this mean that the photos on my iMac before iCloud are not backed up, only the ones taken on my iPhone after iCloud and other photos I placed on Photo Stream?
That's correct, except that PhotoStream is not a backup facility - it's purely a conduit, and photos are deleted from it after 30 days. iCloud provides no backup facility for your Mac, only for your iOS device.
Can I suggest you get yourself an external hard drive and start using Time Machine or another back up utility. Data loss is often sudden and unexpected and far too late to do anything about in many cases.
Thank you for the clarification.
I have an external hard drive and have not been successful at using Time Machine so I gave up on it. The photos and videos on my iMac are my dearest and irreplaceable possession and would hate to lose them. I have been manually copying the iPhoto library to my external hard drive. Unfortunately, the exif data does not carry over.
I'll try the Time Machine again. Perhaps things have gotten better the last few months.
Thank you very much!
I use Tri BackUp 6, but there are plenty of other back up applications.
photos on my iMac and iCloud
