iPhone pics in iCloud, DSLR and archive/old pictures stored locally. Is there a neat way to do this?

[Dekema2]

For a while now I have struggled to manage my vast library of photos and videos.

I have a USB drive with over 150gb of DSLR/point and shoot pictures and videos, some without dates, most without geodata. Also included is a large cache of scanned pictures from many years ago that are dateless. These are all in separate folders, and the DSLR portion is it's own Photos Library. I do not want to upload these to iCloud.

At the same time, I have about 3,000 pictures taken with my iPhone that I currently have on iCloud, but at the moment I have no intentions of taking them local because it's too inconvenient. Still, I'm paying $3 a month for 200GB of storage, and I want the ability to scale back if I need to.

My issue is that the workflow to edit the DSLR pictures and point and shoot video is that I have to connect to the computer, open the Photos library, and then do editing. Ideally I would like a 24/7 server that I can log into (like Plex) that has these images on them.

How best can I accomplish this seemingly impossible task?

 

[akash.nu]

Have you considered a NAS drive?

 

[Dekema2]

Have you considered a NAS drive?

Doesn't that introduce serious latency?

If I did, would it make sense to link via a reference to the Photos app?

 

[akash.nu]

Latency really depends on your network speed but you can certainly access your whole photo library from a NAS as long as the correct ports are open.

I didn’t actually understand what you wanted to do in terms of the photos app but either way a NAS drive sounds like your solution.

 

[Dekema2]

Latency really depends on your network speed but you can certainly access your whole photo library from a NAS as long as the correct ports are open.

I didn’t actually understand what you wanted to do in terms of the photos app but either way a NAS drive sounds like your solution.

Essentially, I'd like to view and edit all of my pictures from all sources within Photos, but in separate libraries. I still want to use iCloud for 1 library, the one where I take pictures with my phone. I get frustrated when switching between the two libraries every time I have to do something, and I still want to access the non-iCloud library wirelessly.

 

[akash.nu]

Essentially, I'd like to view and edit all of my pictures from all sources within Photos, but in separate libraries. I still want to use iCloud for 1 library, the one where I take pictures with my phone. I get frustrated when switching between the two libraries every time I have to do something, and I still want to access the non-iCloud library wirelessly.

I don’t think you can use the photos app like that.