Otisaugust

Q: photos

I was on a friends laptop running El Capitan 10.11.6, Photos 1.5.  She runs iCloud backup for her pictures.  She has an Iphone as well (version ?). I offered to work with some of her photos to help her organize so I copied her PhotosLibrary from Finder to an EHD.  When I brought it home and tried to open it I was given the following message:

"This library contains items that need to download from iCloud Photo Library.  To download the complete library, delete the incomplete items, then set this library as the System Photo Library in Preferences and enable iCloud Photo Library.  This will disable iCloud Photo Library on any other libraries."  First, I don't want this to be my system library since it is not my library.  Secondly, I don't use iCloud Photo Library so not sure what happens there.  Biggest question - if I make it my system library, what happens to my own Photo Library?

 

Should I have turned OFF iCloud on ALL her devices before I copied the library?  Would that have made a difference?  Or did I just need to turn it off on the machine I was working from?  Is it even possible to back up Photos Library from Finder if you are running iCloud?

 

Apple support did suggest I ask for her iCloud account info to sign in - not a great option.  Another work around was view the pictures in the Master files - if that's the case I have other questions about those files.  Any information on how Master Files work would be helpful.  That is an entirely other question.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), iOS 10

Posted on Sep 16, 2016 2:59 PM

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Q: photos

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 16, 2016 3:43 PM in response to Otisaugust
    ( points)
    Sep 16, 2016 3:43 PM in response to Otisaugust

    several things - there is no iCloud backup for Photos - what iCloud services is she using? It sounds like iCloud Photo Library (not a backup service but only a syncing service with an option to use optimized (smaller) copies on devices with limited storage

     

    If this is what she has then all you have to do is change her ICPL setting to download all originals to this computer and as soon as it finishes she will have the originals and you can transfer her library - you do not want to turn ICPL off at all on any device

     

    and stay away from the master files - unfortunately Apple support simply does not fully understand how Photos works many times - what you are suggesting and what they are suggesting may cause your friend to lose here photos

     

    LN