I am trying to get all my photos to iCloud photos. I’ve upgraded to the 2tb plan, so plenty of room on the cloud. I’ve got it figured out from my iPhone and IPad, looks like all my photos automatically uploaded to iCloud photos, and when I log into each device I get a thumbnail of each, clicking gives the full version after short download, so success there!
But I’m trying to figure out how to get an apple photos library (stored on an external hard drive connected to a MacBook) Up to the cloud as well. Having a not so good time. This library is about 400 GB if I remember right, so its no slouch to move around. My external drive a 1tb total, and with what else is on there, there is probably 700-800GB taken up.
I’ve found some tutorials online about doing so, below I’ll copy/ paste the one I find over and over, most of these steps are repeated in the tutorials I’ve found. I follow through the steps, select ‘use as system library’ and use the library located on my external hard drive, then I select ‘optimize Mac storage’ (our MacBook is a 256gb model) and let it go to town overnight with power hooked up. I go to the iCloud photos section In photos preferences and make sure its enabled. When I wake up, nothing has been uploaded to the iCloud Photo Library, AND my photos library on my external drive grows in size until the point where it completely fills the hard drive up to the 1TB limit. If I close photos and try to re open it, while having it open that same photo library, it says its unable to since there is insufficient space on the hard drive for the photos library.
Luckily I have a clone of this photo Library in its oringinal size, so I delete the one that grew overnight, trash it, then copy over the photo library from my OTHER external hard drive, back to my 1tb external hard drive and start over.
I have repeated it 3x’s and just figured I’d stop until I get another way to try this! The MacBook is an new M1 air, and I also tried doing it from our older 2013 MacBook Air 11”, both on Big Sur, and get the same result each time.
I’ve also tried to open this photo library on the hard drive and NOT set it as the system library, and over night with power attached and it still doesn’t upload these pictures and viddo’s to the iCloud photo album.
Does anyone have any advice on what to try to get my photo library on the hard drive up to the cloud?
Thanks!
Brad
Copying a Photos library from an external drive to the cloud
Sometimes a Photos library has outgrown your internal storage. Perhaps you’ve been storing it on an external drive. If you’d like to access the photo library without having to attach the drive, move the library to iCloud and then use iCloud Photo Library to create a new smaller library on the internal drive without overfilling it.
But I’m trying to figure out how to get an apple photos library (stored on an external hard drive connected to a MacBook) Up to the cloud as well. Having a not so good time. This library is about 400 GB if I remember right, so its no slouch to move around. My external drive a 1tb total, and with what else is on there, there is probably 700-800GB taken up.
I’ve found some tutorials online about doing so, below I’ll copy/ paste the one I find over and over, most of these steps are repeated in the tutorials I’ve found. I follow through the steps, select ‘use as system library’ and use the library located on my external hard drive, then I select ‘optimize Mac storage’ (our MacBook is a 256gb model) and let it go to town overnight with power hooked up. I go to the iCloud photos section In photos preferences and make sure its enabled. When I wake up, nothing has been uploaded to the iCloud Photo Library, AND my photos library on my external drive grows in size until the point where it completely fills the hard drive up to the 1TB limit. If I close photos and try to re open it, while having it open that same photo library, it says its unable to since there is insufficient space on the hard drive for the photos library.
Luckily I have a clone of this photo Library in its oringinal size, so I delete the one that grew overnight, trash it, then copy over the photo library from my OTHER external hard drive, back to my 1tb external hard drive and start over.
I have repeated it 3x’s and just figured I’d stop until I get another way to try this! The MacBook is an new M1 air, and I also tried doing it from our older 2013 MacBook Air 11”, both on Big Sur, and get the same result each time.
I’ve also tried to open this photo library on the hard drive and NOT set it as the system library, and over night with power attached and it still doesn’t upload these pictures and viddo’s to the iCloud photo album.
Does anyone have any advice on what to try to get my photo library on the hard drive up to the cloud?
Thanks!
Brad
Copying a Photos library from an external drive to the cloud
Sometimes a Photos library has outgrown your internal storage. Perhaps you’ve been storing it on an external drive. If you’d like to access the photo library without having to attach the drive, move the library to iCloud and then use iCloud Photo Library to create a new smaller library on the internal drive without overfilling it.
- Connect to the fastest internet available and plug laptops into the A/C outlet. Uploading & downloading takes a lot of power.
- Click the Photos icon and immediately hold the Option key. Select the Photos library on the external drive.
- Open the Photos preferences. Click the iCloud icon and check the box to turn on iCloud Photo Library. Set it as the System library. You might need to purchase additional iCloud storage.
- If possible, wait until iCloud completes uploading & downloading. This process takes time – from hours to days, depending on the size of the library and internet speed. Images are uploaded to the cloud in the background as long as the computer is turned on. Monitor upload/download progress in the Photos preferences window. When sync is complete, quit Photos. You may now disconnect the external drive.
- Click the Photos icon and immediately hold the Option key. Choose Create New… and save the Photos library in the default home/Pictures folder on the main drive.
- Open the Photos preferences. Click the iCloud icon and set this library as the System library.
- Choose Optimize Mac Storage. iCloud downloads all your photos & videos. The Mac will manage storage automatically by intelligently downloading high-res images on-demand without filling the drive.
- You may remove old Photos library on the external drive if you need space.
