iCloud Photo Library: Delete full-resolution photos from Mac?

[lucansmiles]

Hey there! Hope somebody out there with more understanding of Apple's cloud solution than me can help.

I have a 50GB Photos library, it's all done uploading to iCloud. I would like to remove the full-resolution files from my Mac, keep them in the Cloud and just like on iPhone automatically pull the original files when needed.

In the Photos app settings it says "Store full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud. Originals will also be stored on this Mac if you have enough storage space." That's the problem, I do have "enough" space but I don't want to keep the full-res photos on my Mac, I have better things to do with my free storage space.

Is there any way to safely delete the original files and pull optimized files only or will the Photos app pull full-resolution files nevertheless, even when specifically selecting that I do only want device-optimized photos? Did anyone try this out yet?

 

[Dwalls90]

Hey there! Hope somebody out there with more understanding of Apple's cloud solution than me can help.

I have a 50GB Photos library, it's all done uploading to iCloud. I would like to remove the full-resolution files from my Mac, keep them in the Cloud and just like on iPhone automatically pull the original files when needed.

In the Photos app settings it says "Store full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud. Originals will also be stored on this Mac if you have enough storage space." That's the problem, I do have "enough" space but I don't want to keep the full-res photos on my Mac, I have better things to do with my free storage space.

Is there any way to safely delete the original files and pull optimized files only or will the Photos app pull full-resolution files nevertheless, even when specifically selecting that I do only want device-optimized photos? Did anyone try this out yet?

So you've selected "Optimize Mac Storage" in Photos settings?

 

[jomirrivera]

I'm wondering the exact same thing. I'm looking for an option to keep only the optimized-lower res version of my photos while keeping the full res only on icloud. Something like iTunes Match where you can delete all your song and keep them only on itunes.

 

[lucansmiles]

So you've selected "Optimize Mac Storage" in Photos settings?

I did, but it says it will keep full-res photos as long as there is enough space. I'm wondering if it will pull the full-res photos again when they get deleted from the Mac or if it will just pull the low-res photos? I don't want to delete them only to find out it will re-download 50GB worth of photos...

 

[fat jez]

If I were you, I'd find some way of backing up your originals. Do you really want your only copy stored online? One outage and you could lose everything!

 

[lucansmiles]

If I were you, I'd find some way of backing up your originals. Do you really want your only copy stored online? One outage and you could lose everything!

I can reassure you that I have all important data backed up multiple times. I've learnt that the hard way. I'm not looking for a backup solution, I'm looking for a way to delete the full-res photos from my Mac to free up space for more important data.

 

[KALLT]

I don’t think there is. I wouldn’t mess with the library yet either. I read that the optimisation option doesn’t download all 50 GB of of originals just because you have enough space. Photos has a certain threshold and will keep the library relatively small. How big is your library when that option is enabled?

 

[riverfreak]

So you've selected "Optimize Mac Storage" in Photos settings?

I don't think that is what the OP is asking. The "Optimize Mac Storage" option also reads "Store full resolution photos and videos in iCloud. Originals will also be stored on this Mac if you have enough storage." (emphasis mine).

The OP doesn't want the full res original stored and doesn't want Photos working in the background managing which full res photos are stored locally and which aren't.

 

[lucansmiles]

I don't think that is what the OP is asking. The "Optimize Mac Storage" option also reads "Store full resolution photos and videos in iCloud. Originals will also be stored on this Mac if you have enough storage." (emphasis mine).

The OP doesn't want the full res original stored and doesn't want Photos working in the background managing which full res photos are stored locally and which aren't.

You got it right! Thanks for helping me make my point a little clearer.

 

[james948]

Yup. Same thing for me.

I have a 200GB library. I deleted a bunch of stuff I didn't need from Photos. Then deleted iPhoto and its library and now I still have a 200GB library.
No idea why.

 

[lucansmiles]

Yup. Same thing for me.

I have a 200GB library. I deleted a bunch of stuff I didn't need from Photos. Then deleted iPhoto and its library and now I still have a 200GB library.
No idea why.

Are you trying to say you deleted your Photos library and it re-downloaded the 200GB it was before?!

EDIT: Sorry, I got it now, to my knowledge the iPhone/Aperture libraries stay completely intact when moving to the new Photos app. What I would like to know is if you can delete full-res photos from the newly created Photos library to save space on your Mac, pulling the full-res photos from the cloud when needed only.