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

How to safely remove my 56GB photo library?

When I first set up my MBP I had iCloud Photos turned on in System Preferences > Apple ID > Apps on this Mac using iCloud. Over time Photos downloaded 56GB of photos and videos to my MBP.


Unfortunately the disk space optimization doesn't seem to be working because I keep getting low disk warnings and Finder is telling me I only have 2GB free space. This is causing considerable issues with performance.


Now I want to completely remove the photo library from this MBP but keep all my photos and videos in iCloud and on my other devices. I turned off Photos in System Preferences > Apple ID > Apps on this Mac using iCloud and confirmed iCloud is turned off in Photos preferences > iCloud.


How do I now safely remove the 56GB photo library without triggering Photos to delete all my iCloud content?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 26, 2022 12:29 PM

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

Posted on Jan 26, 2022 1:44 PM

Hi


Photos will only be deleted in iCloud if they are deleted in the photos app, USING the photos app. And also only while photos is on.


So you can safely delete the entire library (normally called "photos library.photoslibrary") from the pictures folder using finder. If you want to be extra safe, take a backup of it to an external drive first. Bear in mind also:


iCloud is not a backup


The problem with iCloud for photos (and files if you use iCloud drive) is it makes all the libraries across all the devices the same. While it does protect you from a drive failure - it doesn't protect you from accidental deletion. If you delete photos on your phone, they are deleted on your mac, and from iCloud - same if you delete on your mac - they'll be deleted on your phone. There have been rare cases of system failure also causing deletions (or just user error). There are also numerous examples of library corruption making it very difficult to access photos.


Every few days we get someone here saying "I deleted photos - how can I get them back". If it was more than 30 days ago (or they’ve been manually removed from recently deleted), and there is no other backup, the answer is "you can't"




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

Jan 26, 2022 1:44 PM in response to weavermedia

Hi


Photos will only be deleted in iCloud if they are deleted in the photos app, USING the photos app. And also only while photos is on.


So you can safely delete the entire library (normally called "photos library.photoslibrary") from the pictures folder using finder. If you want to be extra safe, take a backup of it to an external drive first. Bear in mind also:


iCloud is not a backup


The problem with iCloud for photos (and files if you use iCloud drive) is it makes all the libraries across all the devices the same. While it does protect you from a drive failure - it doesn't protect you from accidental deletion. If you delete photos on your phone, they are deleted on your mac, and from iCloud - same if you delete on your mac - they'll be deleted on your phone. There have been rare cases of system failure also causing deletions (or just user error). There are also numerous examples of library corruption making it very difficult to access photos.


Every few days we get someone here saying "I deleted photos - how can I get them back". If it was more than 30 days ago (or they’ve been manually removed from recently deleted), and there is no other backup, the answer is "you can't"




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How to safely remove my 56GB photo library?

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