Moving files and the folders they reside in to another local media (hard drive, USB, etc.)

Photo*Gizmo wrote:

The thread I found on this subject seems to tap dance around the issue I am having. I just find it creepy that another entity has control over my data and I would like to move it from iCloud to media in my possession and remove the data from iCloud.

I can't find a clean way to do this. iCloud will let me download files, ONE FOLDER AT A TIME to external media, but that is a terrible amount of mouse-clicking. Is there a way I can move all the contents in one drag and drop maneuver to external media?

How did these photos get uploaded to iCloud?

If these photos are in your Mac's Photos library and being synced to iCloud, they are already on your Mac.

If not already in your Mac's photo library, enable iCloud syncing and they will download to your Mac.

Once on your Mac, you can copy therm to an external device. Then disable iCloud photo syncing.

If you are/were also syncing photos from a phone, you can turn off iCloud on each device to purge iCloud of your photos.