iCloud Photo Library/library on external drive

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Level 2

195 points

iCloud Photo Library/library on external drive

I recently switched from Aperture to Photos and am considering using iCloud Photo Library. My library and all photos are on an external drive -- that's the system library. I'm trying to figure out how I could make it work to have the optimized photos on my Mac, with the full size photos (I guess some call this the iCloud photo library backup) on the external drive. Right now, no copy of the library exists on the Mac. Would I have to transfer everything to the Mac and then redownload it all to the external drive? That doesn't seem to make any sense ...

This is the closest I've found -it seems like it entails importing new images on the Mac, and letting iCloud suck them in, and then redownloading the originals to my external drive. I don't love the idea of losing any control of my original though. I want to just keep my originals, not upload them and then download them ... (steps I found below)

1. create a fresh Photos library on the startup drive. (Hold down the Option key and then launch Photos to create a new one.) With that library, enable iCloud > Preferences > iCloud Photo Libraryand set Optimize Mac Storage.

2. keep full-resolution library on an external drive up to date by:

Quit Photos.
Connect the external drive.
Hold down Option and launch Photos.
Select your external drive’s Photos library.

Now you can set the iCloud Photo Library option to Download Originals to This Mac, and get that one up to date, before reverting back to your MacBook Pro’s internal drive library.

Message was edited by: Sharon Gordon

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), null

Posted on Nov 24, 2018 8:20 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,813 points

Nov 25, 2018 8:07 AM in response to SG8765

It will work, but it will be a bit clumsy.

Your full library on the external drive will upload all all photos to iCloud Photos, if you enable it as the system Library and enable iCloud Photos.

When you now switch iCloud Photo Libera to a new library on the internal drive, with "Optimize Storage", only the thumbnails for browsing will download, just as you want it.

The problem will be, how to keep a rigid backup scheme to have always a backup of the full library,

You would have to import new photos twice, once into the library on the external drive and once into your iCloud Photo Library on the internal drive. And then make the backup from the library on the external drive.

If you keep switching iCloud Photos between both libraries, so both libraries are always in sync with iCloud, you will have to wait a very long time, whenever you switch to the other library is the current iCloud Photo Library, because Photos will upload the library again to iCloud and merge it into the existing library there..

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Answer 2

SG8765 Author

Level 2

195 points

Nov 25, 2018 7:27 AM in response to léonie

My library isn’t referenced. It is consolidated on the external drive.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,813 points

Nov 25, 2018 7:40 AM in response to SG8765

Yes, I got that. But I understood, that you would prefer a referenced library. I just wanted to point out, that it would be impossible to go referenced, if you want to use iCloud Photo Library.

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Answer 4

SG8765 Author

Level 2

195 points

Nov 25, 2018 7:48 AM in response to léonie

No, I just wanted to see if there was a way to have optimized photos on Mac and originals/system library on the external drive using iCloud, without losing and then redownloading my originals.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,813 points

Nov 25, 2018 3:53 AM in response to SG8765

A referenced library is working well in Aperture, but the support for referenced images is very poor in Photos. It is simply not a professional application. Disadvantages of a Referenced Library in Photos

And iCloud Photos Library does not work at all for referenced images or videos. If your Photos Library contains referenced items, they will be skipped, when the items upload to iCloud. SO you have to consolidate the photos into the library.

When I really need to access the originals, I reveal them using PowerPhotos. It has a command to show the original file for a selected photo. And whenever I import new photos to Photos, I export the originals to a backup drive.

Your solution, to have a full library on the external drive and an optimized library on the internal looks good.

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iCloud Photo Library/library on external drive

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