Mac Photos back up - confused

[Phil22]

Hello,

I need some advice on how to backup my Photos library (~18k photos). At present they are "backed up" within iCloud but I understand that this is not an advised best practice. On my MacBook I have the Optimise Mac Storage setting checked so the majority of the images are not stored locally on the Mac. I have been backing up via Time Machine on an external hard drive periodically but am I correct in thinking that the images will not be getting backed up at present due to the optimise option ticked above? Does Time Machine only back up the images that are stored locally on the Mac? If so should I download the originals onto the Mac (if I have space) and then carry out a Time Machine backup? Once that's done is it safe to tick the optimise option again to help save space on the Mac and carry on as usual, with files stored locally on the external hard drive from that Time Machine backup? Hope that makes sense.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kirky29]

I think you're correct. I store all mine in iCloud too. But every so often do a 'full backup'.

So I make sure to download all the originals, then copy the entire 'photos library' (from the photos folder) to an external disk (time machine would work too). I typically rename the copied library something like 'Photos backup - August 2019'.