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A question on backing up photos/files from external HDD on iCloud Drive

A

AppleHater

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2010
788
104
I have my Photos lib in the main HDD for easy access. But, my main photo archive is too big to store all in the main HDD.

Since I have enough iCloud storage space, I wanted to back up all my photos to iCloud storage without adding them to Photos app so that it won't fill up my main HDD because Photos app lib is in the main HDD for easy access.

However, when I dragged folders with photos into iCloud Drive, I noticed the available storage space of the main HDD started to shrink.

Is there a way to back up files/photos to iCloud without using main HDD space?
 
Turn on optimize storage so that only thumbnails are kept on your Mac with the full resolution versions in iCloud.
 
AppleHater said:
how do I turn on optimize storage? I can't find the option. Thank you
Click to expand...

On your Mac:
  1. Open the Photos app and click Photos in the menu bar.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Go to the iCloud tab and choose a storage setting.

Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

iCloud Photos works with the Photos app to keep your photos and videos securely stored in iCloud, and up to date on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, Apple TV, and iCloud.com.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
Namara said:
On your Mac:
  1. Open the Photos app and click Photos in the menu bar.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Go to the iCloud tab and choose a storage setting.

Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

iCloud Photos works with the Photos app to keep your photos and videos securely stored in iCloud, and up to date on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, Apple TV, and iCloud.com.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...
But I'm not importing photos to the photos app. Does the app still imports photos and bloats the main HDD space?
 
AppleHater said:
But I'm not importing photos to the photos app. Does the app still imports photos and bloats the main HDD space?
Click to expand...
I was answering your question about how to enable Optimize Storage in the Photos app, but I see from your OP you don’t want to use the Photos app (with optimized storage). It’s a great route to go, but not everyone is comfortable with the full-size originals being stored in iCloud.

When you say your HD storage was less, was this after the folder upload to iCloud Drive was finished or during the upload process? How much less storage on your HD did you have?

If it my was my photo archive, I would be backing it up to a couple of external drives for safekeeping. I use both Photos app with optimized storage for iCloud, and have multiple copies of my archive on multiple external drives and DVDs.
 
Namara said:
I was answering your question about how to enable Optimize Storage in the Photos app, but I see from your OP you don’t want to use the Photos app (with optimized storage). It’s a great route to go, but not everyone is comfortable with the full-size originals being stored in iCloud.

When you say your HD storage was less, was this after the folder upload to iCloud Drive was finished or during the upload process? How much less storage on your HD did you have?

If it my was my photo archive, I would be backing it up to a couple of external drives for safekeeping. I use both Photos app with optimized storage for iCloud, and have multiple copies of my archive on multiple external drives and DVDs.
Click to expand...
I don't want to use photos app. I was asking about storing photos in my external hdd to icloud and why my MacBook pro hard drive space was shrinking as photos got uploaded to icloud from my external hdd manually.
 
AppleHater said:
I don't want to use photos app. I was asking about storing photos in my external hdd to icloud and why my MacBook pro hard drive space was shrinking as photos got uploaded to icloud from my external hdd manually.
Click to expand...

Hi iCloud is primarily a syncing service, not additional external storage. It is designed to enable you to sync documents, photos, computer settings ect. to Apple's cloud storage and sync them to other devices. However it can be used to reduce the amount of data stored on a particular machine either by doing what @Namara suggests above and using  Photos to just hold a lower resolution image on your computer, and keeping the high resolution image in iCloud.

The other alternative is for your Mac to actively manage what is stored on your Mac, and when you run low on local hard disk space is to go into Settings, Click on Apple ID at the top and under iCloud settings turn on optimise Mac Storage. When your Mac's local hard disk becomes full it will move your older files off your local hard disk, but keep a copy in iCloud.


Screenshot 2020-08-05 at 14.52.56.png
 
AppleHater said:
I don't want to use photos app. I was asking about storing photos in my external hdd to icloud and why my MacBook pro hard drive space was shrinking as photos got uploaded to icloud from my external hdd manually.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see, you are using an external drive. I was asking if your MBP storage still displayed as less after the upload was complete. I believe while uploading it creates a temporary cache on your MBP. Other than that, I don’t have a direct external drive > iCloud Drive solution to offer.
 
You mention that you want to backup your photo's if this is the case then I think you may want to look at a cloud backup service like backblaze that will allow you to backup your local and external disks to a secure cloud backup solution. This will not take up space on your local drive, apart from a small app download.
 
Thank you for suggestions. I was considering only because I upgraded to 2tb plan because the tier below is just a bit too tight leaving so much space available with over 1.6tb.

Oh well, that sucks I can't use the space.
 
AppleHater said:
Thank you for suggestions. I was considering only because I upgraded to 2tb plan because the tier below is just a bit too tight leaving so much space available with over 1.6tb.

Oh well, that sucks I can't use the space.
Click to expand...
Posting #10 answered the question.

Files in iCloud Drive are also stored in the user's Library directory. The Optimize Mac Storage option will remove local copies of files based on usage when the boot drive becomes too full.

DS
 
Hello AppleHater,



This doesn't directly address your question. However, I thought that I'd chime in with regards to iCloud.

Although many people use it, I really don't trust using iCloud for the storage of valuable data, photos, etc. I've lost valuable files on it before and was not able to recover them. Even now (if you peruse the forum threads), there are non-trivial numbers of reports with unreliable syncing, lost files, missing files, duplicate files, etc., when using iCloud.

Why not just buy a reliable 4TB external hard drive for additional storage?

Good luck on your decisions!



richmlow



AppleHater said:
I have my Photos lib in the main HDD for easy access. But, my main photo archive is too big to store all in the main HDD.

Since I have enough iCloud storage space, I wanted to back up all my photos to iCloud storage without adding them to Photos app so that it won't fill up my main HDD because Photos app lib is in the main HDD for easy access.

However, when I dragged folders with photos into iCloud Drive, I noticed the available storage space of the main HDD started to shrink.

Is there a way to back up files/photos to iCloud without using main HDD space?
Click to expand...
 
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