Why is my iCloud Photo Library incomplete?

Question

Level 1

44 points

Why is my iCloud Photo Library incomplete?

Hello,

I have used iCloud Photo library in the past with this library and have had no issues. From time to time, I will delete my library from the cloud and rely on my local library because I stop buying the extra storage each month. Unfortunately, I have not been able to successfully upload my entire Photos library. I have 7.5k photos spanning over a 15 years, but only several hundred of the photos upload to iCloud. I have 50 GB of total storage, and I am only using 3 GB out of the 50 GB. My photos album is about 30 GB in size.

Things I have tried:

Repairing the Photos library.

Delete all photos from iCloud, waiting 30 days, and trying agin.

Deleting ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.cloudphotosd

Creating smart albums for Referenced or not uploaded photos (no results)

Hearting all the photos

Rotating and un-rotating all the photos

It is always the same limited photos spanning the past 15 years that upload to iCloud. I cannot force the rest of the library to sync.

I am all out of ideas, and I hope someone here knows something else to try.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Dec 12, 2017 12:28 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 12, 2017 3:48 PM in response to Javad Azadi

I have two suggestions

1 - increase your iCloud storage - I doubt that 75,000 photos will fit in 30 GB as you say - my library is 1/3 that size and twice a large (22,000 photos and videos and 55 GB of storage

2 - stop messing around and it the process finish - once you have more that adequate space and give it time (75,000 photos will take over a week, maybe over a month)

give it at least a month and see what progress is being made - most likely you are the cause not the solution

As one example this makes no sense at all

From time to time, I will delete my library from the cloud and rely on my local library because I stop buying the extra storage each month.

Deleting your library and uploading again will not make any difference in space requirements - nothing about this will improve anything and it does take lots of time and bandwidth

Likewise repairing your library causes a new total upload of all photos

Patience is a virtue especially with iCloud Photo Library

LN

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Answer 2

Javad Azadi Author

Level 1

44 points

Dec 12, 2017 4:04 PM in response to LarryHN

It’s only 7,500 photos not 75,000. The status at the bottom of Photos just says updated and there is no indication it is still uploading anything either at the bottom of the library or in the preferences.

As for deleting my library, sometimes I downgrade from 50 GB to 5 GB. I have done this 2 or 3 times over the last two years. So I turn off iCloud Photo Library which deletes the library after 30 Days before downgrading my storage plan.

Thanks for your reply, though. I am not changing any settings as you recommended (it has been a few days already without any change for the old photos, and new photos since turning it on have taken synced fine it’s just all the old ones) unless someone has a recommendation I haven’t tried.

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