iCloud iphoto question

[rchip]

Hey guys,

I recently decided to get on board with iCloud and paid for the 20gb storage option, so far, it's been a bit of a disappointment, it's taken days to upload photos from iPhone, still got 2000 photos to do! But that's not the reason for this thread, I just need a little help!

On my rMBP it gives me two options, one is to 'download originals to this Mac', this is something I don't want to do.

The next option is 'optimise mac storage' which says photos will be stored in the cloud and 'originals will also be stored on this mac if you have enough storage space'.

From what I can see one of these boxes must be checked. I don't want to save any photos on my macbook! I thought that was the whole point of the cloud ... I just want it to work, so photos I take on my iPhone will be uploaded to iCloud and when connected to wifi I can see them on my Macbook. Is this not possible? It says my hard drive I have 4.79gb taken from photos, this is a new computer (3 weeks old) and I should have zero photos on the computer really, so I can only think this is from my photos app.

Any help here would be appreciated, I only have 128gb ssd, which is all I need, but I obviously can't afford to waste space by storing photos on my macs hard drive.

 

[lemieuxfan67]

Hey guys,

I recently decided to get on board with iCloud and paid for the 20gb storage option, so far, it's been a bit of a disappointment, it's taken days to upload photos from iPhone, still got 2000 photos to do! But that's not the reason for this thread, I just need a little help!

On my rMBP it gives me two options, one is to 'download originals to this Mac', this is something I don't want to do.

The next option is 'optimise mac storage' which says photos will be stored in the cloud and 'originals will also be stored on this mac if you have enough storage space'.

From what I can see one of these boxes must be checked. I don't want to save any photos on my macbook! I thought that was the whole point of the cloud ... I just want it to work, so photos I take on my iPhone will be uploaded to iCloud and when connected to wifi I can see them on my Macbook. Is this not possible? It says my hard drive I have 4.79gb taken from photos, this is a new computer (3 weeks old) and I should have zero photos on the computer really, so I can only think this is from my photos app.

Any help here would be appreciated, I only have 128gb ssd, which is all I need, but I obviously can't afford to waste space by storing photos on my macs hard drive.

From Apple Support....https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


If you turn on Optimize [device] Storage, iCloud Photo Library will automatically manage the size of your library on your device, so you can make the most of your device's storage and access more photos than ever. All of your original, full-resolution photos and videos are stored in iCloud while device-size versions are kept on your device. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them.

 

[KrisLord]

If you select optimise Mac storage it'll only store things locally if you have free space. As you fill your drive the amount used by iCloud photos will reduce.

It can't use 0 data as it would take ages to even load the preview images when you opened the photos app.

 

[djrobsd]

KrisLord, I CANT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH, you do not want to rely on iCloud as your only location for your pictures. You definitely should be storing them somewhere else, i.e. on an external hard drive. But to do that you will probably have to check the option save local copy and then copy those files over to your external drive (and then you can delete from the computer).

 

[KrisLord]

I don't rely only on iCloud. But the original poster didn't want his images on his Mac, he wanted them in the cloud, which is what optimise storage does. The thread is also from last year so I'm sure rchip is happy given they haven't returned to comment.

 

[zorinlynx]

KrisLord, I CANT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH, you do not want to rely on iCloud as your only location for your pictures. You definitely should be storing them somewhere else, i.e. on an external hard drive. But to do that you will probably have to check the option save local copy and then copy those files over to your external drive (and then you can delete from the computer).

I tell people this and often times they have this blind trust in the cloud that just infuriates me, especially since I work with data and data protection for a living!