Just upgrade to 50GB, now how do I get all of my photos and videos to my Mac?

Question

Just upgrade to 50GB, now how do I get all of my photos and videos to my Mac?

I just upgrade my iCloud plan to 50GB.

I want to be able to backup everything on my iPhone and iPad so if anything ever happens to either device, everything can later be recovered. I also want to synch all of my photos and videos, and downloaded images from either my iPhone or iPad to the cloud so I can than view them on my Mac and eventually transfer them from my Mac to an external hard drive, and delete them from the cloud. I am not interested in putting all of my photos and videos on all my devices using Photo Stream. I have been transferring photos/videos to my Mac using Image Capture on the Mac.

1. Under Settings > iCloud > Photos I have iCloud Photo Sharing turned on so I can make albums and share them with people. I currently have iCloud Photo Library on my iPhone turned off. I turned it on and it said it was uploading 448 photos, though I only have 256 photos? What else is it uploading? Is it uploading photos from shared albums?

2. To achieve what I want, are there any other settings I need to turn on?

3. Will these photos/videos be synched to any Mac with Photos installed that is logged into my iCloud account?

Thanks.

Posted on Jan 26, 2016 12:45 PM

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Answer 1

zinacef

Level 10

88,810 points

Jan 26, 2016 4:34 PM in response to southwestform

1. Not sure where the 192 difference is coming from. Monitor to see...

2. Make sure iCloud Photo Library & Upload to My Photo Stream are turned on and it should upload successfully to iCloud.

3. Yes, the photos/videos will be synced across all devices via iCloud.

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Answer 2

Jan 26, 2016 4:35 PM in response to zinacef

Why do I need My Photo Stream turned on? Perhaps I don't understand the concept of Photostream, though I just want my photos/videos available on my Mac so I can sort through them, delete bad ones and copy good ones to my external drive and than delete them from iCloud/my iOS devices.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

zinacef

Level 10

88,810 points

Jan 26, 2016 5:14 PM in response to southwestform

southwestform wrote:

Why do I need My Photo Stream turned on?

This will explain it --My Photo Stream FAQ - Apple Support and perhaps this too -- iCloud: Set up My Photo Stream

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Answer 4

Jan 26, 2016 5:17 PM in response to zinacef

Thanks for the links. I'm not fully clear on the need for both iCloud Photo Library and photo stream though.

for clarification

1. Once I delete a photo or video from photos on one Mac will it also delete them from my iPhone and from photos on my other macs?

2. Is dragging a photo or video directly from the photos program to a folder on an external drive the best way to get the highest quality out of Photos

and onto the drive?

Thanks!

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Answer 5

zinacef

Level 10

88,810 points

Jan 26, 2016 5:34 PM in response to southwestform

1. Yes, you are correct. iCloud is a syncing service and not a backup service, i.e. delete from one device, it'll delete from all devices including iCloud.

2. See if this helps -- http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/25/how-to-safely-move-your-macs-iphoto-li brary-onto-an-external-drive. I'm not sure if dragging from iCloud to desktop to drive would work and preserve quality at the same time.

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Answer 6

LACAllen

Level 8

43,590 points

Jan 26, 2016 6:48 PM in response to southwestform

Photo Stream is a convenience.

Photo library never ends... it just keeps replicating your phone's stored images until you manage them. Once your device is full, the syncing stops.

The photo stream only keeps 1000 images or an image for 30 days, whichever happens first. It does this automagically without you lifting a finger. Like having a photo album with you that only ever has the most cents images in it. Convenient.

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Answer 7

Jan 27, 2016 11:20 AM in response to LACAllen

I turned iCloud Photo Library on and it says it will automatically upload and store your entire library in iCloud to access photos and videos from all your devices.

1. Why do I also need to turn on Photo Stream if everything is being uploaded via iCloud Photo Library? Isn't Photo Stream for just sharing photos with other people?

2.I currently have it set to download and keep originals. I'm guessing that this just means on my iPhone and it means that it is keeping the highest resolution version on my phone and it will take up more space? I'm just overly cautious/concerned with iOS doing anything to change the quality of my photos/videos.

Thanks.

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Answer 8

zinacef

Level 10

88,810 points

Jan 27, 2016 11:31 AM in response to southwestform

1. Turning/togging on 'Upload to my Photo Stream' allows you to automatically upload new photos and send them to all of your iCloud devices when connected to wifi. See FAQ link I posted above.

2. You don't want to keep the highest resolution photos on the phone as that will drastically use up all of your space on your phone. You will want to choose Optimize iPhone Storage.

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Answer 9

LACAllen

Level 8

43,590 points

Jan 27, 2016 8:19 PM in response to southwestform

You don't need to turn on Photo Stream. It is all about sharing photos.

As we've written... Photo Stream and the iCloud Library are 2 different methods of photo storage for the same photos.

If you enable the library on multiple devices, other devices/people will get *all* of your photos. If you use Photo Stream, they will only get a maximum of 1000 photos at any time.

You can also just create albums to share with other devices/people, but that requires effort on your part to create and maintain the albums. The Photo Stream is automatic and requires no effort on your part.

Very different.

if you do not want to share your photos with other users, DO NOT think about Photo Stream. It has no value other than sharing with others.

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Answer 10

Jan 28, 2016 10:15 AM in response to LACAllen

OK, that is how I thought Photostream worked. I already create albums to share the specific photos that I like with others and my AppleTV.

I enabled the library on my iPhone and Macbook Pro, both logged into my same iCloud account, and it uploaded photos based on the message displayed. My goal is only to get photos and videos off my iPhone and into Photos on my Mac wirelessly so I no longer need to attach the cable and use Image Capture.

I now go to Photos on my Mac, though I do not see the photos and videos from my iPhone. Where do they go? I do not see them under Photos or in albums or shared.

Thanks for all the replies.

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Answer 11

LACAllen

Level 8

43,590 points

Feb 3, 2016 7:47 PM in response to southwestform

I enabled the library on my iPhone and Macbook Pro, both logged into my same iCloud account, and it uploaded photos based on the message displayed. My goal is only to get photos and videos off my iPhone and into Photos on my Mac wirelessly so I no longer need to attach the cable and use Image Capture.

I now go to Photos on my Mac, though I do not see the photos and videos from my iPhone. Where do they go? I do not see them under Photos or in albums or shared.

Thanks for all the replies.

If the iPhone has the library enabled, all iPhone photos should sync "up" to the cloud. If your Mac has the library enabled, all library photos, which includes the iPhone photos, should be visible.

If you log in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID and click the photos icon, can you see the iPhone's photos?

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