How do I delete all my photos in the cloud for a reset

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Level 1

15 points

How do I delete all my photos in the cloud for a reset

Hello

Since I have been having problems syncing my Mac and my IOS devises via my iCloud Fotos application, I would like to to a full reset on all devices, and then re-upload everything from my Mac (where I still have all the pictures in original resolution).

I have tried doing that, however I was asked to undo my delete. Since then I have the following issue:

On my Photos application (on my mac), I have 2 different number of pictures (each >30.000), one no. of uploads, one different number of downloads.

This is all pretty weird, and therefore I would like to do the full reset, then re-upload everything clean from my mac. I however cannot find the option of deleting fully asap (it always says they will be deleted in 30 days....)

Any suggestions?

Thanks, appreciated!

Posted on May 24, 2015 2:56 AM

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Answer 1

May 24, 2015 3:02 AM in response to man-ngai

When you open the recently deleted album, click the 'Delete All' button in the top right corner of the window.

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Answer 2

man-ngai Author

Level 1

15 points

May 24, 2015 3:04 AM in response to Winston Churchill

It's not just an album I want to delete. But every photo I have in my cloud.

An where do I delete all? on iCloud.com? or the Photos app?

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,641 points

May 24, 2015 4:28 AM in response to man-ngai

Since I have been having problems syncing my Mac and my IOS devises via my iCloud Fotos application, I would like to to a full reset on all devices, and then re-upload everything from my Mac (where I still have all the pictures in original resolution).

Just an addition to Winston Churchills advice:

Don't start to delete on any device that is syncing with iCloud Photo Library, while your Mac is still syncing with iCloud Photo Library, or the photos on your Mac in your System Photo Library will be deleted as well. As I understand it, you will want to use them to start over.

Check, that your Mac Photos Library is not showing "Downloading", so all photos are in the library in all resolution, and then disable iCloud Photo Library for this library, see this Help Page: https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/phtf5e48489c

(the paragraph: Stop using iCloud Photo Library)

Then delete the previously synced photos from all devices.

To quickly delete all photos in iCloud Photo Library you could create a new, empty Photos Library on your Mac and enable it temporarily as the new System Photo Library and sync with iCloud. Don't enable "download to this Mac" in the iCloud Preferences, it will be a waste of bandwidth and time.

Just go to the "All Photos" album and select all photos that will appear and delete them with ⌘⌫.

Then delete from the "Recently deleted". Repeat, until you are no longer seing photos on the icloud web page at www.cloud.com.

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Answer 4

man-ngai Author

Level 1

15 points

May 24, 2015 4:43 AM in response to léonie

Thank you Leonie

oh boy, I think I just created more problems that I wanted to solve..... I did all the stuff simoulateneously, and now my Photos App doesn't even close anymore (it freezes at "close library", even a repair of database didn't solve this).

OK, what I have done:

1) deleted all the photos on all my IOS devices

2) deactivated and deleted the cloud photos

3) undid my deletion of the cloud photos

3) then my Photos app started to go haywire, so I repaired the library and tried to reactive (i.e. cloud) -> then I got the error reading: no more space on your mac for redownloading the photos from the cloud

I suspect I can save everything by:

1) deleting my old iPhotos/Aperture and old Photos libraries on my mac (saved it on a second mac to be sure)

2) then download all the photos again from the cloud (there should be enough space on my mac now) in original resolution, assuming that all the photos are still there after un-doing my iCloud photos delete

3) then reactivating all my IOS devices.

4) pray

correct?

In other words, my iCloud photos (after un-doing the deactivation) re now my original master photos.

Can you also help with the crash of photos? When I try to exit it freezes on "closing library".... and I do not know what else to do but repair the library database (CMD+OPTION while starting photos), which has not helped.

Thanks!

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Answer 5

May 24, 2015 5:15 AM in response to man-ngai

I wouldn't delete your iPhoto and Aperture libraries just yet, doing so won't save any space, but may remove an avenue for rescue at a later date.

Photos, iPhoto and Aperture use a method that means they effectively all use the same original photos, so if you've converted (say) an iPhoto library to a Photos library the 2 libraries now use the same originals, deleting the iPhoto library won't delete the originals and therefore won't save a whole lot of space, but will delete the structure you created to organise the photos, which might at some point be helpful to go back to.

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Answer 6

man-ngai Author

Level 1

15 points

May 24, 2015 6:05 AM in response to Winston Churchill

I deleted both from my Mac (but have a Time Machine Backup), because it was counting my old libraries (and the re-download of my iCloud Pictures) double. Effectively therefore I couldn't re-download, as there is not enough HDD space.

So now I will wait for the deletion of the libraries (safe delete) is done and then try to re-download the originals from the Cloud.

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

194,641 points

May 24, 2015 7:31 AM in response to man-ngai

A change of plan?

Originally you said:

I would like to to a full reset on all devices, and then re-upload everything from my Mac (where I still have all the pictures in original resolution).

Now you are saying:

So now I will wait for the deletion of the libraries (safe delete) is done and then try to re-download the originals from the Cloud.

I thought, your problem was, that the iCloud sync did not seem to be complete and was inconsistent on all devices? Now you want to use the iCloud contents to restore the library on your Mac?

That is risky. If not all photos have been uploaded in the first place, and you interrupted the upload, the originals for some photos may be missing in iCloud. And when you download the library from iCloud to restore it on your Mac, all Faces, all slideshows, and all products (books, cards, calendars) will be missing. It will be like syncing the library from a second mac as described here:

Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support

Are you sure, the iCloud version of your Photos Library is complete? Would the missing faces, slideshows, books matter? Otherwise it would better to migrate the original Aperture/iPhoto libraries again.

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Answer 8

man-ngai Author

Level 1

15 points

May 24, 2015 9:23 AM in response to léonie

Hi Leonie

yes, indeed, change of plan. Because it didn't seem to work to re-activate the Cloud pictures (i.e. undo the deactivation). It did however show me the full number of original photos and movies. And then the reactivation basically caused a re-download, which was then not possible due to limited HDD space.

So if I consider the Cloud Photos and Movies to be complete (like I said, the full number of pictures and movies were shown and that was the correct number, and I can see everything on iCloud.com), I decided to create a new, clean system version of the Photos library and delete the old one (+ the old Aperture and iPhoto ones). And then re-download the originals from the Cloud.

I didn't know the slideshows would be gone, and the same for the faces. While The faces missing would be sad, it would not be much of a problem to redo the faces.

And if all else fails I can always recall the aperture/iphotos libraries from my Time Machine (I hope). Correct?

The Movies and Photos in the cloud will be full resolution, correct? If my plan works, it will only the faces and slideshow issue?

Thanks

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

194,641 points

May 24, 2015 12:26 PM in response to man-ngai

And if all else fails I can always recall the aperture/iphotos libraries from my Time Machine (I hope). Correct?

The Movies and Photos in the cloud will be full resolution, correct? If my plan works, it will only the faces and slideshow issue?

You can restore Aperture libraries and iPhoto Libraries from Time Machine, yes. Have you ever checked your Time Machine backups, if you can restore from them, to see, which backups are available?

And yes, iCloud stores the full resolution originals. And all media will sync back with the full resolution.

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Answer 10

man-ngai Author

Level 1

15 points

May 25, 2015 4:17 AM in response to léonie

This is all such a nerve wrecking exercise......

Yes, I checked my Time Capsule and the original Aperture/iPhoto Libraries still seem to be available. However I have included 500+ pictures since I transferred to Photos. So if I restore, they will be gone. The least hassle then will be to re-download from iCloud.com and pray. And then re-do the Faces.

Two further questions if I may:

1) there seems to be a different number of pictures/videos shown on iCloud as there are shown on my IOS devices. Not off by much, but about 100 pictures of 35.000. How can this be?

2) My Mac now shows "downloading 35.000 +++ pictures"..... however the do not seem to be downloading. The no. never changes (it should be steadily reducing). How can this be? Are the pictures in fact being downloaded without the number of pictures reducing from 35.000 to Zero? The photos are showing up in Photos, albeit only the version which downloads to full resolution once you view it.

Thank you

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