cannot sync photos from mac to iPhone

I cannot download anymore my pictures, as I have regularly done in the past, from my Mac - OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 to my iPhone 6 - iOS 9.2.1.

I was used to sync my pictures manually from Photos where I stored all my folders well organized with video and pictures taken with my iPhone but also with other cameras and transferred in Photos.

I am very frustrated because today I canceled by mistake all my previous pictures already on my iPhone (I used iCloud library) and now I cannot go back anymore…😢

How can I fix the problem? I am definitely not an expert..

I have also upgrade the iCloud storage to 200GB available for not loosing all my photos.

Please, help me!!!!

Thank you

iPhone 6, iOS 9.2.1, sync photos

Posted on Jan 30, 2016 10:55 PM

Reply
14 replies

Jan 31, 2016 12:24 AM in response to DubaIssues

I was used to sync my pictures manually from Photos where I stored all my folders well organized with video and pictures taken with my iPhone but also with other cameras and transferred in Photos.

You used iTunes to sync selected albums to your iPhone, right?


The problem is, if you enable iCloud Photo Library on your iPhone, it will erase all iTunes synced photos and you can only sync your photos to the iPhone using iCloud Photo Library.


If you want to continue to use the selective iTunes sync, disable iCloud Photo Library on the iPhone. You can still use iCloud Photo Library on the Mac. to sync your photos to other devices that are using iCloud Photo Library.


Did you enable iCloud Photo Library on your Mac as well? If you did not yet enable it, keep it off, until you made a backup copy of your Photos Library on an external drive. A local copy of the library or a Time Machine backup will give you more security than the iCloud Photo Library, because the iCloud Photo Library is a mirror of your local copy. If you accidentally change or delete a photo on your Mac, the change will immediately sync to iCloud and all devices, and you cannot recover the deleted photo from iCloud. You need a local backup copy as well.

iCloud Photo Library is not a backup, but a central storage to keep the photo libraries on all devices in sync. You should only use it, if you want your complete Photos Library in iCloud and on your iPhone and other devices. iCloud Photo Library FAQ

Jan 31, 2016 12:59 AM in response to léonie

Hi.

This what I have done:

I had enabled iCloud Photo Library on my iPhone. All my albums (on the iPhone), filled with 988 pictures, disappeared.😟

Then I disabled iCloud Photo Library on both devices (iPhone and Mac).

I’m used to make a backup of my iPhone on my computer, so my pictures should be saved as I can still find my Albums in iTunes. But when I tried to sync, I received this message:

The iPhone cannot be synced because it cannot be read from or written to.

What does it mean? I am so frustrated…

Jan 31, 2016 1:16 AM in response to DubaIssues

Make a test: Can you sync your iPhone, if you connect it again and you disable "Sync Photos" in iTunes? If yes, then the problem is with your Photos Library.

First thing to try. Quit Photos and remove the iPod Photo cache as described here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203156

. Then try to sync again.


Then I disabled iCloud Photo Library on both devices (iPhone and Mac).

How did you disable it on your Mac? Did you have the option "Optimize Mac Storage enabled"? If yes, it is important to first disable the "Optimize" option and wait, until all photos have been downloaded again from iCloud, before you disable iCloud Photo Library. Is that what you have done? See the section "Stop using iCloud" on this Help page: https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/phtf5e48489c

Jan 31, 2016 2:47 AM in response to léonie

I did it.

It syncs correctly with sync Photos disabled.

I found the ipod cache folders (one from iPhoto and one from Photos) but inside there are also two files from the Apple TV. Shall I remove all?

I would not make another mistake...


I saw the option "optimize" but I think I disabled too late after having downloaded the pictures because I noticed that now the amount of the pictures in iCloud Library is really smaller then before..😕

can I solve both my problems now in some way? Or not anymore...

Jan 31, 2016 3:55 AM in response to DubaIssues

I found the ipod cache folders (one from iPhoto and one from Photos) but inside there are also two files from the Apple TV. Shall I remove all?

Remove all iPod Cache folders. They will be recreated when you sync again. The reason for removing them is that they may contain corrupted files.

I saw the option "optimize" but I think I disabled too late after having downloaded the pictures because I noticed that now the amount of the pictures in iCloud Library is really smaller then before..

Did you delete any photos from iCloud Photo Library?


Is the size of the library on your Mac still the same, or also smaller?

If the size of the library on your Mac has changed, do you have a Time Machine backup of your Mac?

Jan 31, 2016 4:09 AM in response to DubaIssues

Are you sure I can remove also Photo Database and Apple TV Photo Database? They are Unix executables file.

The size of iCloud Library is definitely smaller. I think i canceled all the pictures…

But I had downloaded always all my pictures in Photos, so they should be on my computer!

I would like to try to sync again but please, just confirm I can also cancel those two files!

THANK YOU.

Jan 31, 2016 4:37 AM in response to DubaIssues

You can remove the complete iPod Photo Cache folder and its contents, that is what Apple's documentation is saying. If there is a separate folder "Apple TV Photo Cache" just leave it. This folder should not matter when syncing to an iPhone. Are you also syncing to AppleTV?

They are Unix executables file

The Finder will call many files "Unix executable file", if there is no application installed to open them.

Feb 9, 2016 11:07 PM in response to DubaIssues

Hi Leonie.

My situation seems worst than I thought…

I checked my last backup and unfortunately the latest one shows the old library, the one from iPhoto.

Before repearing the Photos Library, as you suggested, I tried to copy it, manually, on my EHD. Sadly it seems that there are some corrupted files as it stops the copy from the beginning (just 300 MB copied of 98GB…)

I don’t think that repairing the Library without a copy it’s a good idea as I have almost 15.000 items in the i definitely don’t want to loose but now I don’t know what to do.

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cannot sync photos from mac to iPhone

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