iCloud Photos

Question

Level 1

23 points

iCloud Photos

I am thoroughly confused....

What is the difference between iCloud and iCloud Drive?

My photos are appearing in the PHOTOS on iCloud.com and not in iCloud Drive. I purchased extra storage for iCloud Drive to store my photos and they are not being uploaded to the iCloud Drive; instead they appear in the PHOTOS on iCloud.com. How do I get them to upload into the iCloud Drive so I can free up storage on my iPad?

iCloud is installed on my Windows PC but it tells me to upgrade iCloud and I've looked everywhere to do that but failed miserably. Any ideas? I can't upload anything till that issue is resolved. I have over 600 photos, but the PC shows only 36 or so to be uploaded.

I've lost many photos by deleting them off my iPad, thinking they were safely tucked away in my iCloud Drive. Of course that deleted them from all my devices, so I'm guessing that the PHOTOS icon in iCloud.com is my iCloud Photo Library.

My iPad has no storage left so I need to know what to do to get my photos uploaded to my iCloud Drive. I tried uploading from the iPad but it recognizes 36 as well. I'm in dire need of some instruction before I use each of my iOS devices as target practice! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

iPad 2, iOS 8.4.1

Posted on Sep 13, 2016 10:13 PM

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Answer 1

zinacef

Level 10

88,828 points

Sep 14, 2016 7:09 AM in response to Toadywot

iCloud drive and iCloud Photos are two separate things. Your photos, when uploaded, reside in iCloud Photos and don't upload or reside in iCloud drive.

iCloud Drive FAQ -- iCloud Drive FAQ - Apple Support

iCloud Photo -- http://www.apple.com/icloud/photos/, iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support, http://www.imore.com/how-use-icloud-photo-library-ultimate-guide (really good guide).

iCloud is not to be confused with other traditional cloud based (hard drive in the sky) products. iCloud, when it comes to your photos, is a syncing/mirroring service that basically syncs all of your photos/videos across all your devices, having it handy and available, on all devices, when needed. Delete a photo or video, from one device, and it's gone on all the other devices.

If you're truly looking for a traditional cloud based product, you'll have to consider a third party option such as Flickr, Dropbox, or Google Photos.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Sep 14, 2016 10:24 AM in response to Toadywot

iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos Library are 'sub sets' of iCloud.

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