Photostream download issues after OS X Recovery

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Level 1

4 points

Photostream download issues after OS X Recovery

I have a 6 year old MacBook Pro that was getting lethargic and basically giving me nothing but beachballs on the simplest tasks. I decided to do an HD erase and OS X reinstall via Recovery using the Apple support guidelines. Since I was also planing to give the laptop to a family member heading off to college later this summer I intentionally did not do a full app and data recovery via my TimeMachine backup. The recovery process worked beautifully and the laptop is now working great.

I signed into iCloud and all my cloud data came across as expected, calendar, contacts, Pages and Numbers documents, etc., are all there. Everything is up to speed but my Photostream in Photos. I have 5 years of photos in Photostream...almost 20,000 images...and they are all available as they should be, and have been, on my desktop iMac, iPad and iPhone. They used to be available the same way on the laptop, but since the new OS install via Recovery the laptop's Photos app will only download and display Photostream photos from Jan 1, 2016 to the current day. So it is downloading some of my Photostream, but only the latest 3 months' worth. Very odd. I have it configured as the rest of my devices but nothing I've tried has made the laptop's new Photos installation go out and get the full Photostream set of photos. Any ideas? Thanks.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2009), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Mar 17, 2016 12:14 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Mar 17, 2016 12:25 PM in response to soazsun

My Photo Stream is not necessarily the same on all devices. If you enable Photo Stream new on a device, it can only download what is currently in iCloud, and that is just the last 30 days of photos, maximally 1000 photos. Your devices may be keeping more and older photos locally cached, but if you enable My Photo Stream on a new device, it will only see the current iCloud content.

See: Get help using My Photo Stream - Apple Support

i.e. the paragraph: "I see different photos in the My Photo Stream album on each of my devices"

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Answer 2

soazsun Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2016 2:13 PM in response to léonie

Thank you for your quick reply. Since both the MacBook and my iMac have been in use for almost the same 6 years, and followed the same Aperture-->Photos evolution, I obviously got lulled into looking at what must have been the local cache thinking it was all continually syncing. Lesson learned.

Which prompts a companion question: I am weeks away from ordering a new 5K iMac to replace the one on my desktop. If I use Migration Assistant to transfer apps and data from my TimeMachine backup to the new iMac, that should also transfer my Photos Library as I understand it. That Library is now 147 GB and I want it to continue to be my main local Photos data base for all 22,000+ photos. Are there any additional Photos cautions for moving to a "new" Mac to ensure I retain my master library on the new iMac?

I guess I could opt for enabling iCloud Photo Library which will upload that whole library to the cloud, but then that will entail a big bump up in my iCloud storage plan. I think I'll go for the new iMac first, and then consider iCloud Photo Library. Thanks!

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