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iCloud photos-Optimized vs. Originals-How can I tell?

I am new to iCloud photos for my Mac. When I first signed up for iCloud Photos, I was only given the choice to Optimize photos if I ran out of disk space. Right now, I appear to have enough disk space, so I assume that my Mac is still retaining full file size originals for the moment.


My question is this:

If iCloud Photos does start optimizing some photos to save disk space on my Mac, how can I tell? If I'm surfing through my Mac Photos library, is there some indicator that tells me which photos are optimized and which ones are still originals? Knowing if some photos are optimized or not has implications on how I restore my Mac Photos library in case something happens to my Mac's hard drive (Time Machine vs. restore from iCloud).


Thanks,

Olyduck

2018 MPB, i5, 8g mem

Posted on Mar 6, 2021 11:04 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 6, 2021 12:38 PM

The optimisation is completely automatic. You will only notice, which photos have been optimised, when you have to wait before you can work with the,, because they need downloading from iCloud. If you are always connected to a fast Wi-Fi, you should not notice any difference.


Your Time Machine backup will be incomplete, if you enable "Optimise Storage". I do not use the optimize storage option, because I want to have complete Time machine backups. I use iCloud Photos only to keep my devices in sync.


if you need the "Optimise Storage" option because you are running out of storage on your Mac, it is very difficult to get a full backup of your Photos Library. Time Machine can backup the library, but it does not include all original Image Files. You should export all originals to a separate volume, so you have a local copy of the originals. The current state of your Photos Library will be saved in iCloud, but it is not a backup, because anything you do will instantly be mirrored in iCloud. You cannot recover from user errors with the help of iCloud Photos. If you accidentally add the wrong keywords to your Photos, it will change in iCloud as ell, or if you delete photos and do not notice it, before they are gone form Recently Deleted, you cannot recover them from iCloud. You still need to make regular backups.

See: How to back up an optimized iCloud Photos Library - Apple Community

iCloud Photos Library: Keep regular backups of your iCloud Photos Library - Apple Community




2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 6, 2021 12:38 PM in response to olyduck

The optimisation is completely automatic. You will only notice, which photos have been optimised, when you have to wait before you can work with the,, because they need downloading from iCloud. If you are always connected to a fast Wi-Fi, you should not notice any difference.


Your Time Machine backup will be incomplete, if you enable "Optimise Storage". I do not use the optimize storage option, because I want to have complete Time machine backups. I use iCloud Photos only to keep my devices in sync.


if you need the "Optimise Storage" option because you are running out of storage on your Mac, it is very difficult to get a full backup of your Photos Library. Time Machine can backup the library, but it does not include all original Image Files. You should export all originals to a separate volume, so you have a local copy of the originals. The current state of your Photos Library will be saved in iCloud, but it is not a backup, because anything you do will instantly be mirrored in iCloud. You cannot recover from user errors with the help of iCloud Photos. If you accidentally add the wrong keywords to your Photos, it will change in iCloud as ell, or if you delete photos and do not notice it, before they are gone form Recently Deleted, you cannot recover them from iCloud. You still need to make regular backups.

See: How to back up an optimized iCloud Photos Library - Apple Community

iCloud Photos Library: Keep regular backups of your iCloud Photos Library - Apple Community




iCloud photos-Optimized vs. Originals-How can I tell?

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