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Will my pictures still sync from my iPhone to my PC (icloud) if i delete "My photo...

L

Lifetimechaldo

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 10, 2012
86
1
If I delete "My photo stream" folder from my pictures?

Im a little confused with what the "My photo stream" folder actually is. Every time I take a picture the pic is copied to the photo stream folder (which uses 2x as much data).

In settings there are separate options for sharing with icloud devices (such as my pc) or with other people. I have the icloud devices on but the photo share with other people off.

So do I need to keep the folder in order for photos to sync to my pc? Is there any way to limit how many pics are in that folder?
 
Lifetimechaldo said:
If I delete "My photo stream" folder from my pictures?

Im a little confused with what the "My photo stream" folder actually is. Every time I take a picture the pic is copied to the photo stream folder (which uses 2x as much data).

In settings there are separate options for sharing with icloud devices (such as my pc) or with other people. I have the icloud devices on but the photo share with other people off.

So do I need to keep the folder in order for photos to sync to my pc? Is there any way to limit how many pics are in that folder?
Click to expand...

From Apple.com:

"
Your photos everywhere. In a flash.
When you take a photo on an iOS device or import one from your digital camera, iCloud automatically pushes it to all your iOS devices, iPhoto or Aperture on your Mac, and the Pictures library on your PC. To conserve storage space, the photo stream on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch holds only your newest 1000 photos. Photos are stored for 30 days, so you have time to delete any you don’t want or save the ones you do. On your Mac, every picture from your photo stream is downloaded right to your photo library.
"

Photostream is in the Cloud, not local storage, When you take photos, those photos are added to photostream next time you are connected to wifi. This folder shows you photos in photostream. They do not take up any more space on your phone, they are simply the photos that are in your camera roll that have been pushed to the cloud. Deleting the folder won't save you space on your phone as it doesn't take any space (and I don't even think you can delete it).

It holds the most recent 1000 images, or ones from the last 30 days (if you have over 1000 in there).
 
Thank you, one more question.

If a photo is already synced to my pc, and then I delete it from My photo stream, will it somehow be deleted from my pc also?
 
The photo stream folder is not a live folder. It is a stream from iCloud. It's to keep your photos synced. You can copy photos over from your pc to your phone and vice verse.

----------
Lifetimechaldo said:
Thank you, one more question.

If a photo is already synced to my pc, and then I delete it from My photo stream, will it somehow be deleted from my pc also?
Click to expand...

No, only from the photo stream.
 
gentlefury said:
The photo stream folder is not a live folder. It is a stream from iCloud. It's to keep your photos synced. You can copy photos over from your pc to your phone and vice verse.

----------



No, only from the photo stream.
Click to expand...

I do not believe that to be correct for the following.

PC computer
iOs 7
iCloud Panel 3.0

After updating to iOs 7 and panel 3, if I delete a picture from my photostream on my phone, it also removes it from my computer. This did not happen under iOs 6. I have now lost many pictures I wanted to save due to the fact that I did not confirm this after updating.

I am Win 7 64bit.

Regards, Dave
 
Just Dave said:
I do not believe that to be correct for the following.

PC computer
iOs 7
iCloud Panel 3.0

After updating to iOs 7 and panel 3, if I delete a picture from my photostream on my phone, it also removes it from my computer. This did not happen under iOs 6. I have now lost many pictures I wanted to save due to the fact that I did not confirm this after updating.

I am Win 7 64bit.

Regards, Dave
Click to expand...

It will remove it from your photo stream. Not your computer. Anything left on the photo stream folder will be lost. You need to back up anything you want to keep.
 
gentlefury said:
It will remove it from your photo stream. Not your computer. Anything left on the photo stream folder will be lost. You need to back up anything you want to keep.
Click to expand...

The pictures in question were removed from the photostream folder on my PC by deleting from the photostream folder on my device. They are gone. This never happened in iOs 6.

I agree, back up what you want to keep before deletion.

I just ran a test. Took a picture, waited for image to sync to my PC photostream folder. Once it appeared in my pc folder, I deleted from phone photostream folder. It was removed from my PC photostream folder instantly.

Regards, Dave
 
Just Dave said:
The pictures in question were removed from the photostream folder on my PC by deleting from the photostream folder on my device. They are gone. This never happened in iOs 6.

I agree, back up what you want to keep before deletion.

I just ran a test. Took a picture, waited for image to sync to my PC photostream folder. Once it appeared in my pc folder, I deleted from phone photostream folder. It was removed from my PC photostream folder instantly.

Regards, Dave
Click to expand...

That's how it is supposed to work - and indeed how it worked on iOS 6.

Photostream is not permanent storage, it's temporary.

What the user you are quoting is saying, is that you take photos, they're pushed to photostream. You open photostream on your computer, then COPY those pictures to your HD. If you delete a photo from photostream on your phone, it deletes it from the photostream on your iPad, Computer, etc..

It's worked that way since it was introduced. I know because I ran into the same problem last year.

Basic line - if you want to keep the photos, open photostream on your computer, and copy those photos over to your HD. Photostream is not permanent storage, it's temporary cloud storage.
 
Just Dave said:
The pictures in question were removed from the photostream folder on my PC by deleting from the photostream folder on my device. They are gone. This never happened in iOs 6.

I agree, back up what you want to keep before deletion.

I just ran a test. Took a picture, waited for image to sync to my PC photostream folder. Once it appeared in my pc folder, I deleted from phone photostream folder. It was removed from my PC photostream folder instantly.

Regards, Dave
Click to expand...

Yes, photostream on Windows is different than Mac. On Mac you use iPhoto...the photos can be copied to a local event or left in the stream...if you delete them from the stream, they will be gone from the stream on any device. Windows saves them to a folder...kinda like dropbox.
 
Tyler23 said:
That's how it is supposed to work - and indeed how it worked on iOS 6.
Click to expand...

In iOs 6 on a PC with iCloud panel 2.* deleting a photo from the photostream of a iOs device did not remove it from the photostream folder on the PC. It did remove from all other iOs devices.

I did it a thousand times while running iOs 6 and never lost one photo from my PC. Now deletion is instant from the PC. I believe this is a bug in either 7, or icloud panel 3. The whole point of having pushed to your pc is so you do not have to keep it on your phone. Having it deleted from your computer is really not saving you any steps from just plugging in and syncing your phone.

I understand that us PC folks are Apples redheaded step children, and I accept that. But this is something I think should be fixed.

Regards, Dave
 
Just Dave said:
In iOs 6 on a PC with iCloud panel 2.* deleting a photo from the photostream of a iOs device did not remove it from the photostream folder on the PC. It did remove from all other iOs devices.

I did it a thousand times while running iOs 6 and never lost one photo from my PC. Now deletion is instant from the PC. I believe this is a bug in either 7, or icloud panel 3. The whole point of having pushed to your pc is so you do not have to keep it on your phone. Having it deleted from your computer is really not saving you any steps from just plugging in and syncing your phone.

I understand that us PC folks are Apples redheaded step children, and I accept that. But this is something I think should be fixed.

Regards, Dave
Click to expand...

If you want to keep the photo on the PC, copy it to another location not managed by Photostream.

Photostream has only ever been intended to be TEMPORARY storage. Trusting it to be an archive of your stuff is a horrible idea, especially since it has a 1000 photo limit.
 
zorinlynx said:
If you want to keep the photo on the PC, copy it to another location not managed by Photostream.

Photostream has only ever been intended to be TEMPORARY storage. Trusting it to be an archive of your stuff is a horrible idea, especially since it has a 1000 photo limit.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%, back it up. Not doing that is my fault and I know better.

Photostream is a temporary holding place in the "cloud". The folder on my computer is not photostream in that sense. No limit on number of images placed in there. My photostream folder currently has over 1600 images in it. The folder on my computer is also one way only. iCloud should not care if I have 1 or 10,000 images in the folder on my computer.

I think the 1,000 photo/30day limit on photostream is just to give people a chance to turn on their computers so the images can be pushed down. If Apple felt that everyone left their computers on 100% of the time, we would see a lower limit and shorter time period for storage. I also feel that this points to Apple wanting your computer to be the final storage point for your images.

The photostream folder placed on a windows pc by the iCloud panel is the final destination for your images when you use the service. How that folder is used has changed between iOs6/panel 2.* and iOs7/panel 3.

I stand by my assertion that this was not the way Apple intended for the stream to work. I may be wrong, but if I am, I think it is a mistake on their part.

Regards, Dave
 
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