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

Photo library shows incorrect image count after aborted icloud back up from my mac. Should i repair it ?

i recently uploaded my iphones photos to icloud to save space and engaged optimized photo choice on the phone.

I then tried to upload my mac's photo library (much larger and all originals including upload iphone photos) planning to keep everything in the cloud but also maintain the originals on macs ssd. I was given a choice to choose optimize my macs photo library as apparently i did not have enough space for all the originals on my mac (although i thought i had enough spare storage). I then stopped the upload not wanting to lose my mac's originals. This has created problems. My macs photo library appears to be a little smallar in size (900 gb compared to approx 909 gb before the attempted sync) but instead of 55,000 odd images i now have a much lower count of 38712 photo and 7430 videos. On the other hand my icloud photos library has a few thousand more images and is around 100gb larger so i presume some images did go up. When i load the mac library with powerphotos and photosweep apps i get substantially higher counts approximating what i had before the sync but with varying library sizes (photosweeper 53. 986 and 699.7 gb, powerphotos 46540 and 899.47 gb). Clearly something has gone wrong in this aborted sync. I wonder whether i have lost images in the process or whether i now have a combination of original and optimized images on my mac and some of my macs images in icloud.

It was suggested to me that i could download my icloud library from the cloud to an external disc. I presumably could then merge my mac's library with it and have all the originals in one library plus i supposed some of the optimized images. But i am concerned that i first need to repair my mac's library or not ?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thnx AM

mac OS 15.5

iMac 24″

Posted on Oct 17, 2025 8:36 PM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
16,921 points

Posted on Oct 18, 2025 8:39 AM

andrewfromsorrento wrote: …When i load the mac library with powerphotos and photosweep apps i get substantially higher counts… Clearly something has gone wrong in this aborted sync.

Image counts are a pretty flaky thing-- there are thumbnails and previews as well as original files, so the count depends on how you count.


I would guess that your Library has been disrupted. I would drag the Library to a properly formatted external drive as a backup. Then I would turn off wifi and re-build the Library's database--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon. The rebuild could take quite awhile if this is a large Library. (Turning off wifi is probably unnecessary, but you'd like to not have iCloud trying to communicate while you're repairing.)There might be a lengthy re-sync when you turn the wifi back on.

It was suggested to me that i could download my icloud library from the cloud to an external disc.

You can download images from iCloud Photos, but not the Library. The Library has much more information than just the images. There are two images for every picture, both original and edited, so downloading just the images will take twice the space of a Photos Library. But it won't have all the information.


You can get all the information in the Library from iCloud Photos by making a new, empty Library on an external drive, setting it as the System Library, and letting it fill up from iCloud.com. You get all the information from the Library rather than just the images. See this:

Make a New System Library Connected to iCloud - Apple Community


You need to be careful about formatting the external drive. It must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.


Let us know what


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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
16,921 points

Oct 18, 2025 8:39 AM in response to andrewfromsorrento

andrewfromsorrento wrote: …When i load the mac library with powerphotos and photosweep apps i get substantially higher counts… Clearly something has gone wrong in this aborted sync.

Image counts are a pretty flaky thing-- there are thumbnails and previews as well as original files, so the count depends on how you count.


I would guess that your Library has been disrupted. I would drag the Library to a properly formatted external drive as a backup. Then I would turn off wifi and re-build the Library's database--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon. The rebuild could take quite awhile if this is a large Library. (Turning off wifi is probably unnecessary, but you'd like to not have iCloud trying to communicate while you're repairing.)There might be a lengthy re-sync when you turn the wifi back on.

It was suggested to me that i could download my icloud library from the cloud to an external disc.

You can download images from iCloud Photos, but not the Library. The Library has much more information than just the images. There are two images for every picture, both original and edited, so downloading just the images will take twice the space of a Photos Library. But it won't have all the information.


You can get all the information in the Library from iCloud Photos by making a new, empty Library on an external drive, setting it as the System Library, and letting it fill up from iCloud.com. You get all the information from the Library rather than just the images. See this:

Make a New System Library Connected to iCloud - Apple Community


You need to be careful about formatting the external drive. It must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.


Let us know what


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

Oct 20, 2025 1:42 AM in response to andrewfromsorrento

OK the repair was uneventful. The photos app image count now reads 40,027 photos/7474 videos so another 1300 photos and 44 videos and is around the same size at 899 GB. The odd thing is the recently saved folder has 46, 531 photos and 7472 videos including some images i know i deleted from the library. My recently deleted folder is now empty. So i can't quite understand all of that.

I will next download the icloud library (uploaded originals from my phone) to a blank SSD and assuming all goes well attempt to merge the two libraries with powerphotos 3 and hopefully i will then be OK. Of course if i lost any images in the aborted icloud photos backup from my mac, I doubt i will ever know !


Regards Andrew

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Photo library shows incorrect image count after aborted icloud back up from my mac. Should i repair it ?

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