Photos synced from finder will be removed

There are two ways to tell, if a photo has been synced manually from the Finder or with iTunes:

• If you select a photo and the Trash can is not available to delete it, it is most likely a synced phot, as the photos synced with iTunes or from the Finder cannot be deleted directly, only by syncing again.
• On my devices the synced photos have always been shown in separate albums, listed in a section "From my Mac". All photos or videos she is seeing in albums under "from my mac" will need saving to a computer, before she enables iCloud Photos.

Also, when you try to add adjustments to a synced photo, you should get a warning, that the photo needs to be imported to the photos library, or it cannot be edited.

This is precisely why I use iCloud only for synching unimportant stuff, like game progress. I never turned iCloud on for Pictures. Or maybe I did, but then disabled it again.

When relying on these kind of services, I'm always worried I could lose the data. Having those 2 local drives still feels more safe. If Mac transfer fails or iCloud goes offline, I can always restore my data. Also it can be a little expensive. Syncing 10TB to a new device can take some time, wire or local Wi-Fi is still be faster and more reliable.

You're welcome 😊