downloading icloud data after canceling additional storage?!

Did you enable iCloud Photos? Open photos. Go to photos - settings -iCloud. You can turn it off. If you elected to optimize storage, your originals may be in iCloud only. If you did not optimize your photos remain on your Mac.

any data above the free 5GB storage level may be removed after 30 days. Provided that you did not optimize storage, all files are already on your Mac.

hotwheels22 wrote:

i don't see any photos in my icloud drive on my mac?

Correct. Synced photos are not stored in iCloud Drive but in photos.

you want me to NOT optimize photos to make sure i don't lose all my photos?

Yes. Originals are stored in iCloud and optimized versions on your device. You'll likely want to retain your originals by downloading.

can i do this on my iphone?

If your phone has enough storage space, sure. You show that you have 1.2 TB of photos in iCloud. If you have more than that available on your device, you can download originals. Otherwise, you can sync to photos on your Mac/PC but. likely will need to store your photos library on an external drive with sufficient space. (Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support)

why is t there specific documentation about what to do when you stop paying for icloud storage?

None would really be needed. Anything in iCloud,, above the free level of storage, is removed.

hotwheels22 wrote:

hi. thank you.

i don'tt have room on my phone to store photos.

Then you'll not want to deselect optimize (at least for now). until you remove all of your photos fro iCloud.

i don't want to store photos on a separate hard drive.

You need not if you have space available on your Mac instead. Given that your library is over 1 TB, you'll probably need an external drive to hold your photos (one that is different from the drive you use for your Time Machine, or similar, backup.

i just want to make sure i am not going to lose data when icloud stops giving me extra storage.

You will lose anything above 5GB

i have optimized check.

i have stopped paying for extra storage.

do i go through the icloud folder on my desktop and manually download anything? i didnt see any photos folder in the icloud folder on my desktop?

No. there is no photos folder. Photos are syncing using the photos app. You'll need to open photos any sync without optimizing so that you retain your original photos.

how do i make sure i don't lose any data? you want me to uncheck optimize? won't that totally brick up my phone and laptop with photos?

Well, yes. But, the photos need to be removed from iCloud and brought locally.

Unless you elected to optimize your files or photos, all of your files reside on your Mac in the iCloud Drive folder. You can drag/drop those anywhere.