Photos in album missing

No worries, glad to help out. Another step you can try, since you do use Time Machine:

Compare the size of your current photos library with the size of the libraries in Time Machine:

To get the size of your current library, navigate to:

Finder > Go > Home > Pictures, press Command i on the keyboard, you’ll see the size of the Pictures folder on the top right of that window.

Next, open your Time Machine drive in Finder, open:

Backups.backup > The name of your Mac > the date of the backup you may have had the photos still > Macintosh HD Data, (If an earlier OS would just be Macintosh HD) > Users > Your username > Pictures, do the same thing with Command i to check the size.

If larger, and you have enough space on your Mac, and the other steps failed, I would just drag this library into your Mac.

(Again, make sure Photos in NOT open, then either re-name the current Photos Library in the /Pictures folder and love the backup library to /Pictures, OR just move the backup library to say Downloads.

To then view the backup Library, open Photos app while holding the Option key, “Choose Library”, and select the Library you moved to Downloads or the /Pictures folder, this way you can view the backup library without affecting the current Library.

If all is good, and you want all the photos syncing to all your devices again and have enough iCloud storage, you can change THIS Library to the System Library and again have them sync with iCloud.

Otherwise, you can just leave it be and keep as a separate library from iCloud and your other devices.

There are many backup/restore options fortunately, but of course, I hope one of the simpler explanations and methods recovers them. Best of luck hope all goes well, but happy to answer any questions as anyone here, cheers.

Hi Cldjr!

Can you tell us if you see all your photos at iCloud.com, on your web browser?

Likewise, can you say what you see in:

Finder > Go > Home > Pictures, if there is more than one Photos Library?

Likewise, with Photos open, can you click, on the very top menu > Photos > Preferences > General/iCloud.....

From there, under iCloud, you’ll see if iCloud Photos is enabled or even available.

Also from there, under General, you’ll see if the library you have open is the “System Library” or another one, (If it’s the System Library, the it will be greyed out, only the System Library will sync with iCloud and also make your Photos available for other apps to access).

Designate a System Photo Library in Photos:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414

This is a very helpful article, and good to know. Otherwise:

Can you say if you see these photos on any other devices? (If you have any other devices with or without them)?

Another thought, as you only have the bare minimum of available iCloud Storage.....that would concern me if I were missing photos, in that case, it would be important to know:

What you see at iCloud.com > Photos.

If you have or see the same photos elsewhere and/or on other devices.

The available storage on all your devices, (As in iCloud).

And finally, if you keep backups of your data, whether stored in iCloud or your devices, etc.

Cheers! Happy to help out, as anyone here just let me know!

Hi again!

Okay, I’ve seen before where all the photos get “hidden”.

While at iCloud.com, do you see a hidden album?

In the Photos app you may have to select View > Show Hidden Album.

Otherwise, if you DID delete photos (And removed from trash) to save space and iCloud photos was ON, then they would also be deleted from iCloud, (Unless left in Recently Deleted).

However, if you did NOT have Optimize iCloud Storage, but the option to “Keep Originals”. Then yes, you should be able to restore from Time Machine, or, if they were on your iOS device, you could restore a backup. However restoring a Photos Library from Time Machine would be simpler, and you can also do so without making any changes to the current library, by re-naming the current library, it just simply by dragging/dropping the Photos Library from your backup fade I’ve in Finder to a location other than the Pictures folder, such as Downloads, then switch between the two to see what’s what if you need to.

On another note, IF those options don’t work out, you can call Apple Support, to see if any photos are recoverable, if there was some system glitch, although I believe once removed from the iCloud server, typically they won’t be, it’s always a good idea to keep backups of your iCloud data as well:

Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204055

I’d check out those other options I mentioned, chances are they were backed up to Time Machine, or iOS devices etc.

Hey again! Good to hear!

I wouldn’t usually recommend using an app to look for duplicates unless you’re sure you have a separate backup of them, and do enough research to trust the app you select has a good reputation, but still I’ve used a few, there are many, but it comes down to preference. If you do, just make sure it’s from the App Store to make sure it’s secure.

If you used iCloud, you could just import the contents on one library into the other, and let iCloud merge the to, but I know you don’t want to do that and are worried about duplicates, (As anyone would, although when first enabling iCloud Photos, is does have some process for finding duplicates, how that works, I don’t know).

In that scenario, I would instead, find the pictures I’m missing in one, export them, then import them into library one to combine the two:

To export the photos you need:

https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/export-photos-videos-and-slideshows-pht6e157c5f/mac

You can even select View > Albums, select the albums, then export.

Then to import those photos or albums:

https://support.apple.com/lv-lv/guide/photos/phtae4e05c67/mac

Hope that makes sense and helps! Here for any other questions though, as anyone here.

Is Photos connected to and using Photos in iCloud ?? Are there a lot of Photos ?? How is the internet connection regarding speed ? How long ago was the upGrade to Big Sur been done ?? Have you waited a few hours for everything to sync up including Photos in iCloud ?

Tip.

If you have an Amazon Prime account you can use Amazon Photos to simultaneously keep a copy of your pictures in the Amazon cloud storage. If you delete in Apple Photos it doesn’t delete in Amazon Photos and this provides a safety net.

👍