Aaron Weiss

Q: Mass Copy Photos from Shared iCloud Library

Hi there,

 

For the last ~1.5 years my wife and I have been taking photos and sharing them with family via an iCloud shared photo album. We both take photos with iPhones.

 

My photos are backed up through the Google photos app and through syncing w/ our Mac and Time Machine.

 

I've just sort of realized that (I think) the photos she shares from her phone to the shared iCloud library aren't super "backed up" when they're only in that shared iCloud library and her phone. Her phone is old and out of space-- deleting things is a frequent exercise.

 

What is the best way to make sure the pics she has uploaded to our shared iCloud library are saved into some better ecosystem?

 

I think I could go into the Photos app on the Mac, select the whole shared library and download the images, but it would much much much better only to download the images in that shared album that come from her phone (because I already have backups of the ones from my phone and don't want to import a ton of duplicative clutter).

 

Is there an ongoing solution to solve the problem? For example, is there a setting in Photos like "download local copies of all images posted to this shared iCloud library that are posted by someone other than you"? I could install the Google photos app and tell it to backup, which would solve the problem, but it wouldn't result in one master photo record between the two of us like using Photos on the mac directly would possibly be able to accomplish.

 

Anyway, I would appreciate thoughts on good ways to solve the issue and thanks for your time.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 8, 2016 9:01 AM

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Q: Mass Copy Photos from Shared iCloud Library

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 8, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Aaron Weiss
    Level 10 (84,217 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 8, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Aaron Weiss

    the best way is simple and automatic - run a Mac with adequate disk space linked to iCloud Photo Library with Download originals to this Mac selected and on all devices with limited storage select optimize photos - then turn TimeMachine and another backup to separate EHDs on the Mac (I use TM for hourly backups and CarbonCopyConer for a daily bootable clone

     

    Then do not delete photos from any device - if you really want to delete some photos on the Mac export them in high quality to an EHD and then once they are safely in an archive delete them which will delete them every place

     

    LN