laurafromtyler wrote:
I want to keep them on my MacBook Pro and just use the cloud as a backup. That is my question.
In that case you should not use iCloud Photos. It is not a backup. Apple does not offer an iCloud backup for Macs, only for iOS devices, like iPhones or iPads. iCloud Photos is a syncing service. You use iCloud iPhotos, if you have more than one device and want to have your Photos Library identical on all devices.
How ist works is like this:
- iCloud Photos will upload all photos and store them in iCloud Photos.
- The photos from iCloud will sync back to your devices and be mirrored there, either as smaller optimized versions or as full originals.
- If you modify the photos in one library (add adjustments or metadata, import or delete photos) the changes will sync to the central photo library in iCloud and from there sync back to all your devices.
If your Mac is lost or stolen, you can recover your photos from iCloud Photos Library. But if you accidentally delete your photos, or make a mess of your photos by writing the wrong title or keyword to all photos, you cannot recover from this user error from iCloud. The iCloud library will be your working copy - your only copy of your photos. Any mistake you make will propagate to iCloud and all your devices because of the syncing. So you will need to make regular backups to be able to recover from user errors. Nobody is perfect. Sooner or later you will need to use a backup.
As long as you do not use "Optimize Storage" you can use Time Machine for regular backups or use cloning software to create copies of your Photos Library. There is no convenient way to make backups of your Photos Library, if you are using "Optimize Storage".
