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User profile for user: phillipset
phillipset Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Photos Library Won't Upload to iCloud From MacBook

I recently decided to move my old 400GB Aperture Library to Photos/iCloud, but the library won't upload to iCloud (1.7TB of free space). Last night, after several days of organizing my library, I finally clicked "Use as system photo library" and selected "iCloud Photo Library" in the Photos>Preferences>iCloud tab and set it to "Download Originals to this Mac" because I want to edit offline. I've attached images of my preference settings below. I went to bed and woke up to find that not a single photo/video had uploaded to iCloud. WiFi is fine. Searched forums and can't find out where I've gone wrong. I'm running 10.13.6 and my 400GB library is kept on a LaCie 5TB External hard drive with 2.5TB of free space. Any assistance is welcomed. Thanks.


Posted on Jun 2, 2021 7:53 PM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,291 points

Posted on Jun 2, 2021 11:28 PM

As Tony wrote, uploading so many photos will take a long time. For example, uploading my library with only 200GB took ten days, without showing any progress during first days of the upload period.

As your library has been migrated from Aperture, it may contain some items that are not compatible with iCloud, and these can cause the upload to hang. Tony already recommended to use a smart album to look for such items. This is a good starting point, but the smart album may not recognise all problematic items.

You may want to search systematically for Audio files in your Photos Library, these need removing. Also PDF files or older videos, that are not H.256 or HEVC. When in doubt, if an item is compatible, export the original, delete it from the library, then try to reimport it. See: How to Weed out Legacy Media in Photos for Mac - Apple Community


If your Photos Library contains referenced files, I recommend to consolidate them. On the newer system versions Photos does not handle referenced files well at all, and referenced items can block the upload to iCloud.


What is the file system format of your Lacie drive? It should be MacSO Extended (Journaled).



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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,291 points

Jun 2, 2021 11:28 PM in response to phillipset

As Tony wrote, uploading so many photos will take a long time. For example, uploading my library with only 200GB took ten days, without showing any progress during first days of the upload period.

As your library has been migrated from Aperture, it may contain some items that are not compatible with iCloud, and these can cause the upload to hang. Tony already recommended to use a smart album to look for such items. This is a good starting point, but the smart album may not recognise all problematic items.

You may want to search systematically for Audio files in your Photos Library, these need removing. Also PDF files or older videos, that are not H.256 or HEVC. When in doubt, if an item is compatible, export the original, delete it from the library, then try to reimport it. See: How to Weed out Legacy Media in Photos for Mac - Apple Community


If your Photos Library contains referenced files, I recommend to consolidate them. On the newer system versions Photos does not handle referenced files well at all, and referenced items can block the upload to iCloud.


What is the file system format of your Lacie drive? It should be MacSO Extended (Journaled).



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User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,954 points

Jun 2, 2021 10:40 PM in response to phillipset

Hi


You have a large library - this is going to take some time.


And the first thing photos does is analyse the library / compare with what is in iCloud to see what needs to upload. That is what it is doing now (I guess)


Just for reference, my 50GB library to 48 hours full time to sync. This was not limited by internet speed. If yours goes at a similar pace, you could be looking at more than two weeks for the complete sync, with your mac on and photos open 24/7.


You should also create a smart album with the condition - photo - is - unable to upload to icloud, to check if you have any in your library which are not compatible. Check it every day to see if any have been found. If they have I would export them (unmodified original) to a folder, and delete them from the library until the upload is complete. If you have important edits on those you may also want to do a normal export (with edits).

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User profile for user: phillipset
phillipset Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Jun 3, 2021 7:13 AM in response to léonie

Thanks Tony and Leonie. You were both right. It was just a matter of patience. Late this afternoon it started uploading. Looks like it took nearly 24hrs to analyze. I expected the total time to upload to be counted in weeks, but didn't realize the initial analyze portion would take so long. I'd already done the smart folders trick and there weren't any incompatible pics or vids. And I had to manually migrate everything from Aperture. I was never able to do the auto migrate from Aperture to Photos. Would always fail at around 40%. I'd given up years ago, which is why it took me this long to rescue the library from Aperture. Once uploaded to iCloud, I can finally upgrade my OSX because I no longer have to access Aperture. And yes, I have the library already backed up elsewhere. Thanks again.

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Photos Library Won't Upload to iCloud From MacBook

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