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Hi,
I imported photos from other devices onto my MacBook air and have iCloud backup. Is it now possible to delete the imported file without deleting pictures from iCloud and photo library.
My main objective is to free-up space on my MacBook, but don't know what to delete.
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Dave
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.13
Hi
Only you can say if your photos are secure in the cloud. If all your photos are visible in photos, AND you are syncing with iCloud, then they should all be there. To double check, log on at www.icloud.com
and see what is there in photos.
Also bear in mind that iCloud is not a backup. If you unintentionally delete photos they will be deleted everywhere. Please make sure you have a proper backup in addition (time machine is ideal for this).
Finally - if all that is done, then it is safe to delete the old migrated library. However, you won't get as much space back as you think, because that library is now sharing the original image files with the photos library via file system links. So when you delete it you will only get back the space taken by the database - which is a relatively small amount of space compared with the original files.
Also, bear in mind there are some file formats (especially video formats) that are no longer compatible with later versions of MacOS. If your old libraries had any of these, then they won't have transferred. It is a good idea to archive a copy of the libraries to an external drive, in case you want to go back to them at a later date to find any such files.
Hi
Only you can say if your photos are secure in the cloud. If all your photos are visible in photos, AND you are syncing with iCloud, then they should all be there. To double check, log on at www.icloud.com
and see what is there in photos.
Also bear in mind that iCloud is not a backup. If you unintentionally delete photos they will be deleted everywhere. Please make sure you have a proper backup in addition (time machine is ideal for this).
Finally - if all that is done, then it is safe to delete the old migrated library. However, you won't get as much space back as you think, because that library is now sharing the original image files with the photos library via file system links. So when you delete it you will only get back the space taken by the database - which is a relatively small amount of space compared with the original files.
Also, bear in mind there are some file formats (especially video formats) that are no longer compatible with later versions of MacOS. If your old libraries had any of these, then they won't have transferred. It is a good idea to archive a copy of the libraries to an external drive, in case you want to go back to them at a later date to find any such files.
Your screenshots are showing an iPhoto Library. But where is your Photos Library?
You Pictures folder is much smaller than your original iPhoto Library.
Tony is right, that you should save your old iPhoto Library on an external volume, until you are sure, that your Photos Library is now holding all photos and videos and they are all working properly and not in an older legacy format, that Photos cannot process.
As you are using "optimise Mac Storage" in the Photos > Preferences > iCloud, a Time Machine backup will not suffice to make regular backups of your photos and videos. Time Machine can backup your Photos Library, but the Photos Library will be incomplete; you will only backup the databases, but not all originals photos, because many of them will have been replaced by smaller optimised versions for browsing. You can save the original image files by exporting the originals to an external volume, whenever you import new photos.
Because it is so difficult to backup the photos, if "optimise Storage" is enabled, I do not use it. I am using iCloud Photos only for syncing my devices, but not to save storage on the devices. That is making it easier to keep my documents and data properly backed up.
Storage MacBook air imported photos
