iCloud photo library will be deleted from iCloud in 28 days

Question

Level 1

3 points

iCloud photo library will be deleted from iCloud in 28 days

This is a little complicated. Please bear with me.

I had many many photos in iPhoto, like > 8000.

Initially when I started using Photos, I did NOT migrate the iPhoto library to Photos.

Later, when there were 94 images in the new Photos, due to phone cam uploads and whatnot, I figured out how to migrate to Photos. I think I did that part properly. I shut down Photos, and dragged my iPhoto library onto Photos icon. Photos started up, and began importing images. It took a long time, but the photos eventually migrated over, and now they are all in Photos.

However, in the iCloud photo library, there were still only the 94 images. I tried many things to try to get the iCloud photo library to update to all the images. Nothing has worked.

Somewhere along the line I got frustrated enough tp try to delete my iCloud photo library from iCloud.com, thinking that if the library was gone completely, I could start fresh after it deleted.

Now, as you see in the title, no matter what I do in terms of turning on and off the cloud photo library in Photos, this message stays the same and my 8000 photos STILL do not show up. I even bought more storage to be sure there would be enough space.

What I want is for that message to GO AWAY, and for my photos to SHOW UP in the iCloud photo library, and for there to be no danger of anything being deleted and making my photos go away.

Please help!

Regards,

Warren

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 1, 2015 4:37 PM

Reply

Answer 1

markwmsn

Level 6

14,987 points

Sep 5, 2015 12:05 PM in response to wetaylor8763

It sounds like you now have two Photos library -- the first one you created with a few photos from "phone cam uploads and whatnot" (call it "first") and the second one you created from your iPhoto library (call it "second"). Only one library at a time can be associated with your iCloud Photo Library; normally that would be first one you created.

While you are in the library with the photos you want ("second"), pull down the Photos menu and select "Preferences..." (or hit command-comma) to open the preferences window. Select the "General" tab if it is not already selected. Under the "Library Location" line there should be two buttons: "Show In Finder" on the left and "Use as System Photo Library" on the right. Click on "Use as System Photo Library" to choose this library ("second") as the one to be synced to iCloud Photo Library.

While in Photos Preferences, click over to the "iCloud" tab and make sure "iCloud Photo Library" is checked.

Once both of those are done, Photos should start uploading items to iCloud Photo Library. 8,000 photos will take quite a while, depending on your local uplink speed, how busy the servers are, and whether you allow your Mac to sleep. Don't be surprised if it takes a week with the Mac awake all the time.

Disclaimer: I have never found myself in the pending-deletion state. As a result, I cannot say for sure that this procedure will get you out of it. If it does not, maybe waiting out the 28 days and trying again will be your next step. Others here in this forum have suggested contacting Apple Support for assistance in short-circuiting the wait, but I don't recall anybody coming back to say it worked.

Reply