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User profile for user: Steve_SW
Steve_SW Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Albums & photos on Mac not syncing, iPad & iPhone fine

I have the following hardware:


iPad 6th generation running iPadOSversion 16.1 (20B5045d)

iPhone 11 Pro Max runningiOS 16.0.2

Mac mini running macOS Monterey 12.6


Everything is pretty much at defaults.


Up to now I have had flawless performance from my setup. I take hundreds of photos and generate around 5 to 10 albums a week.


My standard workflow is go on site, take photos on iPhone, back at the office use the photos app on Mac to organise my photos into albums.


All of my photos are currently synced on iCloud.com, iPhone & iPad.


Nothing has changed in my setup.


Please don't say turn off iCloud photos then turn them back on again, it's too painful!

Posted on Sep 29, 2022 12:17 AM

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

Posted on Sep 29, 2022 12:35 AM

Yes - your problem is likely storage. 9GB is really not enough for your system to run, and MacOS wills top photos syncing if space is low. Some users have reported sync stopping when space gets below about 20GB.


As I said - resyncing will not help.


You will need to clear a lot of space on your system drive.


Alternatively you can move your library to an external drive - but if you do that it will have to be connected all the time you are logged on. If you go this way, be careful to format the drive correctly as described here:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)


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

Sep 29, 2022 12:35 AM in response to Steve_SW

Yes - your problem is likely storage. 9GB is really not enough for your system to run, and MacOS wills top photos syncing if space is low. Some users have reported sync stopping when space gets below about 20GB.


As I said - resyncing will not help.


You will need to clear a lot of space on your system drive.


Alternatively you can move your library to an external drive - but if you do that it will have to be connected all the time you are logged on. If you go this way, be careful to format the drive correctly as described here:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)


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User profile for user: Steve_SW
Steve_SW Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Sep 29, 2022 12:30 AM in response to TonyCollinet

I was expecting it to add approximately 300 photos in 4 albums. Internet connection fine, I always shut down at the end of the day so it's a fresh start.


I have 900GB available in my iCloud Drive and 9.65GB available on my local storage.


Could that be the problem? Not enough local storage?


I mean I could try unticking iCloud photos, deleting any on the Mac and then resyncing, I just didn't want to have to do it, but will if necessary...


Thanks again!

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

Sep 29, 2022 12:30 AM in response to Steve_SW

Ok - folders/albums are the last thing to sync. They should arrive when the sync is complete. Do not turn off/on icloud to try to make it quicker - that will start a full re-sync of your whole library, which can take days.


It is possible the sync may have stalled if there are any items your mac cannot upload to iCloud. Make a smart album with the condition


photo - cannot upload to iCloud


to see if there are any like this.


Also look to see if you have an "unable to upload" folder in your left hand sidebar.

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User profile for user: Steve_SW
Steve_SW Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Sep 29, 2022 12:53 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Solved! It was definitely storage, I used the "Grand Perspective" app to see where the big chunks were (it's only a 250GB drive) and I remembered I had downloaded 4 MacOS disk images of older systems for some old Macs... I deleted them and voila, the magic happened!


Thanks Tony, I now know not to let it get under 10GB storage!


Much obliged!

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Albums & photos on Mac not syncing, iPad & iPhone fine

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