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I bought a Mac with 2TB of storage in order to download full copies of my photos from iCloud onto my hard drive. When I select the setting in iPhotos "Download Originals to this Mac" - nothing happens. I waited for a few days, but I am not seeing actual downloads, the computer storage appears empty.
Can someone help me figure out how to download the photos from iCloud onto my Mac?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
To create a new library with all of the photos as full sized originals do the following;
1 - create a new Photos library.
2 - make it the System Photo Library.
3 - enable iCloud Library.
4 - DO NOT enable "Optimize Mac Storage".
5 - wait, wait and wait some more. As I recall it took about 1 week for a library of 40K photos.
It will take a while to download all of the photos in your library. Leave your Mac on at night (plugged into the charger). Photos doesn't have to be opened.
6 - when the download is over verify all of the photos are in the library before deleting your original library.
7 - you can then disable the iCloud Library in Photos and stop using iCloud - or not.
To create a new library with all of the photos as full sized originals do the following;
1 - create a new Photos library.
2 - make it the System Photo Library.
3 - enable iCloud Library.
4 - DO NOT enable "Optimize Mac Storage".
5 - wait, wait and wait some more. As I recall it took about 1 week for a library of 40K photos.
It will take a while to download all of the photos in your library. Leave your Mac on at night (plugged into the charger). Photos doesn't have to be opened.
6 - when the download is over verify all of the photos are in the library before deleting your original library.
7 - you can then disable the iCloud Library in Photos and stop using iCloud - or not.
Try selecting one, and export unmodified original. Does that then force a download of that image? Or is that what you are saying you can't do.
You do have your library set as the system library, don't you (photos preferences)
Are the photos visible at all in the photos app?
Have you enabled photos in icloud settings?
Yes, enabled. And yea, visible on iPhone and in the Photos app on the Mac. They’re just not downloading as originals so I remain unable to store a hard copy on my hard drive.
How do I download all my full size photos from iCloud into my iPhotos?
