Help understanding iCloud Photo Library

[dgsgc]

Hi,
New to macs and not quite sure how iCloud Photo Library fits in with time machine backups.

This is my set up:

MacBook Pro with huge photos library.
Fully backed up to iCloud Photo Library.
Time machine backup to usb drive once a fortnight ish.

What I'm not clear on is how the iCloud Photo Library plays into restoring after failure.

Let's say my Mac dies.

I get a new one and restore my time machine backup onto it. In theory it could be missing 2 weeks worth of images.

Would iCloud Photo Library then start downloading the missing images in full resolution?

Or would the images that aren't on the MacBook now start to be deleted from iCloud Photo Library during next sync?

Thanks for any advice...

 

[vmachiel]

iCloud would download them for you, I'm pretty sure.

 

[dgsgc]

I realise I have left out some crucial information.

The photos in question are those taken with a dslr and manually added to the mac photos library.

My worry is once the restore has happened, the Mac library will be missing some photos that are now on iCloud. When the first sync occurs it will treat my Mac photo library as the master and delete the stuff from iCloud that is not present on the Mac library.

 

[vmachiel]

The iCloud is always the master. When you restore, iCloud will think: O, a million new photos. It'll then realize all of those are already in the iCloud Photo lib, so I won't do anything. Yes, iCloud Photo lib can finally handle duplicates properly. It'll then download the missing photo from the lib to you local Mac, bringing everything back in sync.

I've done this with an iPad that was in flight mode for 6 month with a bunch of photos on it: turned icloud lib on, it download all the stuff it didn't have to the iPad, and upload all photos that weren't in the cloud lib already. Nothing was ever deleted.

 

[dgsgc]

Excellent, thanks for explaining, makes sense now.