D'Fish'N'Seas
Level 2 (326 points)

Q: iCloud Photo Library help

I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to 10.10.3.  I have the latest iPhoto version (9.6.1?) and saved the a copy of my iPhoto library to an external drive, so if I don't like Photos, I can return to iPhoto.  I have a few questions, please, to make sure I don't mess up the move from iPhoto to Photos.

 

I followed the instructions and chose my iPhoto Library when I first opened Photos.  Now when I look in my Pictures folder on Mac, I have iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary and Photos Library.photoslibrary.  Do I need them both?

 

Old Toad's Photos vs iPhoto comparison mentions referenced and managed image files.  I believe my iPhoto was managed.  Is there a way to tell how Photos is handling the images?  My goal is to import photos from my camera to my desktop, with the images to stay on my desktop and shared with other devices (multiple iPhones and iPads).

 

Right now my iCloud preferences are My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing.  I have not yet checked iCloud Photo Library because the size of my library exceeds my current storage.  Photos taken on my iPad/iPhone would automatically show up in my Mac iPhoto Library  as PhotoStream pictures.  Is it the same with Photos?

 

If I don't upgrade my storage, can I still put some of my photos from my Mac onto my other devices?


If I upgrade my storage, is there anything I need to do to make sure that the iCloud Photo Library contains the photos from the Mac and will not be overwritten by a small library on one of my iPads/iPhones?

 

Hope that's not too rambling.  :-)

 

Thank you so much,

Barbara

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 17, 2015 12:58 PM

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D'Fish'N'Seas

Q: iCloud Photo Library help

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  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie May 17, 2015 1:08 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas
    Level 10 (108,906 points)
    iCloud
    May 17, 2015 1:08 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas

    followed the instructions and chose my iPhoto Library when I first opened Photos.  Now when I look in my Pictures folder on Mac, I have iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary and Photos Library.photoslibrary.  Do I need them both?

    The iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary  is your original iPhoto Library and you can still use it with iPhoto.

    Photos Library.photoslibrary  is your new Photos library.  Keep both, until you are very sure about the move to Photos.  The second library may look large, ut both libraries are sharing the original image files by hard links,  see:

              Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

      I believe my iPhoto was managed.  Is there a way to tell how Photos is handling the images?  My goal is to import photos from my camera to my desktop, with the images to stay on my desktop and shared with other devices (multiple iPhones and iPads)

    If your iPhoto Library was managed, the new Photos library will be too. That is perfect, if you want to upload to iCloud Photo Library. Referenced images cannot be used with iCloud Photo Library.

    Photos taken on my iPad/iPhone would automatically show up in my Mac iPhoto Library  as PhotoStream pictures.  Is it the same with Photos?

    Yes, with My Photo Stream enabled.

    If I don't upgrade my storage, can I still put some of my photos from my Mac onto my other devices?

    Yes, create more than one Photos Library.  A small one to use with iCloud Photo Library, and a large one to hold the build of your photos.

    See this help page:   https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht6d60b524

  • by D'Fish'N'Seas,

    D'Fish'N'Seas D'Fish'N'Seas May 17, 2015 2:06 PM in response to léonie
    Level 2 (326 points)
    May 17, 2015 2:06 PM in response to léonie

    This is very helpful, Leonie.


    Another question about iCloud Photo Library.  If I upgrade my storage and put my whole library on iCloud, there are way too many photos to fit on my iPad/iPhone.  Will the device fill up with photos, or is there a way to limit the ones that go on the smaller devices?


    Creating a smaller Photos Library to use with iCloud seems like doing double the work, not to mention being confusing (to me, anyway), importing photos to my main library and then to the one I want to use with iCloud.  Or am I missing something? 

     

    Sorry for all the questions. 


    Thanks!

  • by LarryHN,Helpful

    LarryHN LarryHN May 17, 2015 2:20 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    May 17, 2015 2:20 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas

    You can not limit the number but the size of the local coy will be automatically downsized to fit getting the large version ffrom iCloud whenneeded

     

    LN

  • by D'Fish'N'Seas,

    D'Fish'N'Seas D'Fish'N'Seas May 17, 2015 4:02 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 2 (326 points)
    May 17, 2015 4:02 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks, LarryHN.


    My Photo library is over 200GB.  I have plenty of room on my Mac for that and more, but what about my 16GB phone or 128GB iPad?  Will the photos be downsized to fit on each device, or will a limited number of photos be accessible?


    Barbara

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 5, 2015 9:16 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 5, 2015 9:16 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas

    On devices with inadequate store small thumbnails are shown - I guess there may be some situation where they can not be small enough to fit, no idea what that would be or what would happen

     

    The basic answer is that on each device all photos will be available and they will be downsized to fit

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 5, 2015 11:20 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas
    Level 10 (108,906 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 5, 2015 11:20 PM in response to D'Fish'N'Seas
    I have plenty of room on my Mac for that and more, but what about my 16GB phone or 128GB iPad?

    Your iPad should be fine, unless you want to fill it with a huge music library as well.  My iPad has 64 GB and the thumbnails of my 40000 photos do fit onto the iPad.  But you should be aware, that keeping the library in iCloud and thumbnails on the iPad will slow down browsing your photos. On my device the thumbnails are very blurry. It is a pain on the nice Retina screen. And the delay until the full version is downloading is very noticeable. I cannot say what will happen on the iPhone, however with only 16GB.