Benefits of iCloud Photo Library vs managing photos on Mac?

My iCloud Photo Library has 45000 photos and a size of 220 GB. I am using it on four Macs and my iPhone. it is very convenient to have all edits and albums sync across all devices. But I do not use the optimize storage option on the macs, only on the iPhone. This way I do not need Internet access to be able to work with my photos. All originals are stored locally on each Mac and editing and browsing us very fast. And since all macs are using time machine for backup, I am having full Time machine backups of my phto library on all four macs.

I Would not use the optimize storage option, if your frequently without a fast internet, only if you always having a fast access to the Internet.

Jerry Dammers wrote:

I usually have access to wifi and I don't mind not having continual access to high res photos - i.e. fine if they are stored in the cloud and only downloaded when I need them. But once the photos are accessed, do they remain downloaded? And then do I have to delete them again to free up space on my Mac?

Just to make sure you are aware, iCloud Photo Library is not an archival service, it is strictly a syncing service. So, once you get your library uploaded, anything you do on your Mac, or devices will affect the iCloud Library.

If you delete photos to make more room, they will be deleted from the library. As léonie indicated, if you have optimize storage turned on, then Photos manages the size of the photos kept on your Mac or device. But like any other sync'd iCloud service (Contacts, Calendars, Notes, etc.), updates, additions, deletions, etc. will be propagated to the source library - iCloud - and to every device or computer that is signed into that same iCloud account with those options turned on:

iCloud Photo Library FAQ - Apple Support

iCloud Photo Library Help - Apple Support

Cheers,

GB

I usually have access to wifi and I don't mind not having continual access to high res photos - i.e. fine if they are stored in the cloud and only downloaded when I need them. But once the photos are accessed, do they remain downloaded? And then do I have to delete them again to free up space on my Mac?

"Optimize Mac Storage" is fully automatic. You cannot control it.

Photos will remove original master files and only keep smaller versions for browsing, if it needs to free storage. You cannot determine, which photos will get removed. A photo you try to edit or to export will be downloaded and remain for a while stored locally, then it may vanish again later.

On my iPad this was horrible. The downloaded originals never stayed long enough so I could show a slideshow without interruptions to download the photos.

On a Mac with a fast Wi-Fi the download pauses are less interrupting.

I suspect from your (Leonie) helpful comments on metadata on other threads that you probably also use locations etc, do I lose any of that info if I use ICPL and, also, is it just as easy to manage albums as if the photos were stored locally on my Mac? (LN mentioned that Faces don't sync).

This has basically been answered by Larry in the previous reply.

The metadata and albums are stored in iCloud and sync back and to other Macs. All locations, titles, captions, keywords

The only exceptions are the faces thumbnails and projects. See this link: Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support

It describes what will sync between Macs and iCloud Photo Library:

After you sign in, these items appear in the Photos app on all of your Macs:

• All original photos and videos
• All folders and albums
• Smart Albums
• Keywords
• Searchable keywords based on Faces tiles
• Key photo selections

These items are available only on the Mac where you created them:

• Books, cards, and calendars
• Slideshows
• Keyword shortcuts
• Unused keywords
• Last imported album (this album contains photos you most recently imported on a specific Mac)
• Faces tiles and Faces data

Your photos or videos must be stored inside the Photos library to be accessible through iCloud Photo Library.

The pros are singular - you have exactly the same library on all devices - the cons are cost and if your use optimized photos for devices with limited storage the need for internet access to access your original photos for editing or export

Currently faces do not sync (the face tags do but not the face albums)

LN

My library is 42,044 photos, 518 videos, 543.65 GB On My Mac. This is my System Library. It is set to Download Originals.

Or, 42,045 photos and 518 videos, 398 GB in iCloud. The iCloud library is smaller because it does not have the Faces data, as others have mentioned.

I have had lots of trouble with iCloud, as you anticipate you might. I have been hesitant to reply, because it seems each time I compare Photos On My Mac and Photos in iCloud, they are different, in different ways. Differing counts of photos, videos or the sum of both, and varying file size. When the System Library is set to a different photos library on my Mac, a re-sinch to iCloud happens. Synching to iCloud takes about 5 days with 75/75 FIOS. During the re-synch Photos says "Uploading to iCloud", but as others have noted it seems there is no network traffic. What does happen during this five days is video reformatting, which takes 60% or so of my total cpu time. This reformatting happens even if the library had been synched, and I turned it off then back one as system library. An example of how this seemingly unnecessary reformatting can come up is if for backup you have spare local copies of your System Library. When you copy your System Library, then set th copy to be the System Library, five days of reformatting begins.

Another thing to know is when Photos Preferences says "Download Original To This Mac", that is what it is going to do. Photos On My Mac is my main use of Photos. I upload all my new photos to this System Library, it then synchs with iCloud, then iCloud synchs with my laptop and phone. I am not certain, but it seems to me that the photos upload to iCloud, then download back to my Mac.

About two weeks ago everything was in good shape. Photos On My Mac and in iCloud had the same count of photos and videos, both reported to be synched. My startup disk failed overnight. Photos library was on a different disk. The way the failure happened is everything was fine at night and I shut down. On start up the next day the startup disk could not be read. So I started from a different Startup Disk, running the same System version. From this disk I chose my Photos System Library, which the night before had been in good condition and synched with iCloud. Choosing from a different System Disk triggered a re-synch. I thought that since the five day re-synch was going to happen, just to be careful I would run Repair Library. I had not run this in maybe six months because I avoid the long re-synch. During that time OS X had been updated, so I figured there was a chance that Repair might find and fix issues which had been discovered. Repair Library ran, the re-synch ran, and ever since the System Library OPn My Mac has been missing about 200 photos that were added to the library last May. These photos are in Photos seen in iCloud Safari, the are in Photos on my MBP, they are in Photos on my iPhone. They are not in the System Library where they were originally uploaded. I have run repair Library twice on this library, and each time let the face day synch with iCloud complete. The place holders are present, no images.

The System Library which synchs with iCloud is accessed where users cannot see what is going on by Apple System services of some kind. This is also where other apps such as iMovie, Power Photos and Duplicate Annihilator for Photos access your photos. The authors of Power Photos and Duplicate Annihilator have both cautioned their users that problems with system services may lead to problems with those applications. I have seen what I think is the same issue with iMovie. Sometimes it has access to The Photos System Library, sometimes it does not. Since iCloud probably accesses your System Library, I suspect there may be problems.

Unless you have some urgent need, based on the experiences reported, and the large amount of time this has taken, I recommend you keep your photos away from iCloud.

I recommend you keep your photos away from iCloud.

And after well over a year of y=using ICPL with zero problems and after seeing amazingly few issues with ICPL reported here out os tens of milliojs of ICPL users around the world I suggest you are totally wrong - it works well and is very useful - yes you need good backups and you need to use it correctly but it works very well and I love it (except it makes my wife crazy that I order WiFi for all of our trips now)

two of the most experienced users here (combined nearly 200, 000 points) use it and find it good - the other two very experienced users choose not to use it for totally different reasons that have nothing to do with the iCloud service or its reliability

To each their own- but no reason to let yoru personal unfounded opinions try to tell others what to do - everyone need ot evalutate their situationa dna make their decisiond based on real facts, not personal opinions

LN