iCloud Photo Library not uploading properly

[Josh Hanger]

I've been trying to create a backup of my iCloud library on my external hard drive. A few days ago I realised that a large majority of my photos and videos have stopped loading on my mac. This means I can't drag anything to my hard drive. I bought the 2TB extra storage again after cancelling it some time ago.

While waiting for everything to sync to iCloud (so I can drag and save them on the drive), I noticed that the upload status keeps increasing by 10,000 item increments.

I have roughly 43,000 items to back up. When the upload status reaches 32,000 items remaining, it'll jump back up to 43,000 items again and the status bar resets back to the beginning. This process has happened about 4 times now in the last few days.

Are my photos and videos actually downloading to my mac from iCloud or is there a setting I have overlooked?

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Second issue that is arising:
The files that are accessible and loaded in the library haven't been saving like the rest. Now I can't drag anything onto the drive, even when it has been loaded from iCloud

Additional Info:
- Running macOS Sierra 10.12.3
- Apple Photo Version 2.0 (3130.0.240)
- iCloud Storage Available: 1.72TB
- Available Mac Space: 206GB
- Optimize Mac Storage is ticked

 

[chabig]

I've been trying to create a backup of my iCloud library on my external hard drive.

If your intent is to create a backup, then you need to check the box next to "Download Originals to this Mac". Otherwise you are only backing up small proxies of your photos.

 

[Josh Hanger]

If your intent is to create a backup, then you need to check the box next to "Download Originals to this Mac". Otherwise you are only backing up small proxies of your photos.

I just tried this overnight to see what would happen. I ticked that box, then shutdown the computer to reset it. All the above problems still haven't changed. The items still increase from 32k to 43k items remaining