Mac Mini for iCloud Photo backups

[PilotC150]

I have an idea that I'd like some feedback on. I don't have much experience with Macs so I wanted to get the expert opinion. And since I couldn't find any experts, I came here.

My wife has hundreds of gigabytes of photos on her phone of our kids going back all the way to their births. It would be devastating if we lost them. Currently they're all backed up to iCloud, which is great. The problem is, one of our friends had an issue when she got a new phone where somehow tons of old photos that were supposedly saved in iCloud disappeared and Apple couldn't get them back. It's the only time we've heard of that happening, but it's enough to make us both paranoid.

We don't have any Macs in the house, and iCloud for Windows sucks, so I'm considering getting a Mac. What I want to do is get a Mac Mini and have her photos sync to the Mac Mini. That way they would be in iCloud and on a device in our house. Then I could, if I wanted, have the Mac Mini backed up to a cloud backup service (Carbonite is what I use for my other computers). I'd have to get an external hard drive for the Mac Mini.

Would this work? Mac Mini with external hard drive. iCloud syncs photos to external drive. External drive gets backed up to cloud backup service.

Additional question would be: Can we each have a user account on the same machine, both logged in at the same time, so I can use the computer while her photos sync to her account in the background?

 

[Bigwaff]

My wife has hundreds of gigabytes of photos on her phone of our kids going back all the way to their births. It would be devastating if we lost them. Currently they're all backed up to iCloud, which is great.

Does this imply you are paying for iCloud+ storage? Are you not able to access the 100's of GB's of photos using iCloud for Windows and back up the photos from Windows?

Set up and use iCloud Photos on your Windows PC - Apple Support

iCloud Photos safely stores all your photos and videos in iCloud, so they're available on all your devices. Learn how to get started with iCloud Photos on your Windows PC.

support.apple.com

Would this work? Mac Mini with external hard drive. iCloud syncs photos to external drive. External drive gets backed up to cloud backup service

Yes.

Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

iCloud Photos works with the Photos app to keep your photos and videos securely stored in iCloud, and up to date on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, Apple TV, and iCloud.com.

support.apple.com

You would have to "move" your Photos library from the default internal storage to external storage.

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

To save storage space on your Mac, you can move your Photos library to a different storage device.

support.apple.com

Can we each have a user account on the same machine, both logged in at the same time, so I can use the computer while her photos sync to her account in the background?

Yes.

Add a user or group on Mac

On your Mac, add accounts for users and groups.

support.apple.com

 

[PilotC150]

Does this imply you are paying for iCloud+ storage? Are you not able to access the 100's of GB's of photos using iCloud for Windows and back up the photos from Windows?

Thanks for the reply and links. Really appreciate it!

We do pay for iCloud+ storage. I do have iCloud For Windows installed on my server with my wife's account logged in. It seems like it starts downloading things and puts a placeholder file in for every photo and video (209,000+), but then (even months later) tens of thousands of the photos still show a "cloud" icon next to them indicating it's only available when online instead of a green checkmark (Always available on this device). I want the file physically downloaded to the hard drive, and iCloud For Windows doesn't seem to be doing that for everything.

I'm very paranoid about losing these photos so I'm trying to come up with the best way to make sure we have them saved in at least two places and have control over them.

 

[HDFan]

Currently they're all backed up to iCloud, which is great.

iCloud is not a backup service. Deleted files are lost forever after 30 days. Cloud backup services in the U.S. which can allow for unlimited retention exist, BackBlaze, CrashPlan and Carbonite as examples. Retention policies do vary.

It would be devastating if we lost them.

Getting the files to your local system would allow you to create the off-site backup copy in the recommended 3-2-1 backup schedule.

 

[Brian33]

Would this work? Mac Mini with external hard drive. iCloud syncs photos to external drive. External drive gets backed up to cloud backup service.

Yes; this is what I do for local and off-site backups of my photos. @Bigwaff has given you some good links.

One thing I didn't see mentioned: after you have your new Photos library set up on the external drive, make sure that "Download originals to this Mac" is selected (and NOT "Optimize Mac storage"). I'm not sure what the default setting is. The setting is located in Photos Preferences-->iCloud tab.

Also, it's mentioned in one of the links, but make sure that your new external-drive library is designated as the "System Photo Library", as iCloud will only sync with the one so designated.

Additional question would be: Can we each have a user account on the same machine, both logged in at the same time, so I can use the computer while her photos sync to her account in the background?

Yes. I'm pretty sure that the photos will continuously sync while her account is logged in (even in the background), but you might want to verify that.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Yes, key is basically described in #4: get them downloaded to a computer (that Mac Mini if you like). If Mac, they will be stored in the Photos app (free on Mac.)

Buy yourself (I recommend) at least 2 HDDs at least 2X-4X bigger than the storage you get in the Mini. I suggest bare drives.

Buy a Bare Drive HDD Dock and 2 Bare Drive plastic cases to store the 2 drives in when not in use. Or, if you prefer, buy a relatively inexpensive enclosure for each bare drive and you won't need the plastic cases or bare drive dock.

Use both discs as Time Machine discs (free backup software on Mac), to backup the Mac mini to BOTH drives. After one completes the full Time Machine backup (which will include a complete backup of all of your photos now in the Photos app), put it in one of those in the plastic cases and store it OFFSITE to protect against fire/theft/flood scenarios. Leave the other plugged into the dock as a Time Machine disc. Time Machine will be backing up the Mini to it every hour or so.

Now this is most key: Regularly eject the current Time Machine drive every week-to-month or so (whatever time is enough that you've added a fair amount of new photos or other files since you last backed up to the other disc), put it in the plastic case, take it to where you have the OFFSITE drive stored and swap them.

Bring the swapped drive back home, plug it into the dock and then it is the Time Machine disc for next week-to-month or so.

NET: you will have 3 current copies of your photo library: cloud + (library in) Photos app on Mac mini + Current Time Machine disc. You will have one more nearly complete backup on the OFFSITE Time Machine disc (it will only lack new photos or other files/docs you've added since it was last used by Time Machine).

BONUS: if you would like to get rid of the monthly expense of iCloud, with this approach you can drop the paid iCloud storage and feel confident about the 3 copies that remain: Mac + TM disc at home + TM disc offsite. You can also still use the free 5GB of iCloud to store SOME photos, such as most recently shot photos and/or sync some favorites as albums (described next...).

BONUS #2: Use the Photos app on that Mac to make albums of favorite photos and then easily sync those favorites to your iDevices. Instead of trying to juggle the entire library of photos hogging up huge space on your iDevices, you can just have the "Best of" photos you've put in Photos Albums to sync to your iDevices instead. The entire library will still be on your Mac and on your TM backup drives but you can store only the best photos in 1 or more albums on your iPhones or iPads instead of all of the photos you've ever shot.

 

[HDFan]

Use both discs as Time Machine discs

I would not recommend using more than 1 TM backup in your 3 backups due to TMs' tendency to fail.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Been doing it for towards 10 years with no issues at all.

Add a few more years of the same before that when I was backing up to Time Capsule + 2 drives with TM.

However, if I ever experience a fail in the future that shakes my own confidence in TM, there’s always other options such as Carbon Copy, Super Duper, etc.

And if I felt any added worry about this, I could mix in one more drive and backup to it by some other method.

In my own case, I do have a few added layers of backup:

• Along with the 2 drives in offsite rotation exactly as described, I also backup to a Synology NAS too, which in itself has a RAID structure to backup & restore in the scenario of any single drive failure.
• Until I do the HDD offsite SWAP, I keep any new files created on the iDevice or Mac until they are archived offsite.
• I also have a laptop and newly created files are regularly synched between desktop & laptop.
• Family photos & home movies are also readily shared with distant family, so I load up the new media on a portable drive and add them to any interested family members collections in other locations (and vice versa- their new media they want to share with us will come back to our own library). I also make sure they know about smart backups and generally check that their Time Machine or other options are functioning properly on each visit so they are safely backed up too.

 

[PilotC150]

Yes; this is what I do for local and off-site backups of my photos. @Bigwaff has given you some good links.

One thing I didn't see mentioned: after you have your new Photos library set up on the external drive, make sure that "Download originals to this Mac" is selected (and NOT "Optimize Mac storage"). I'm not sure what the default setting is. The setting is located in Photos Preferences-->iCloud tab.

Also, it's mentioned in one of the links, but make sure that your new external-drive library is designated as the "System Photo Library", as iCloud will only sync with the one so designated.


Yes. I'm pretty sure that the photos will continuously sync while her account is logged in (even in the background), but you might want to verify that.

It's great to hear others are using the same or similar setup!

I had already read about the "Download originals to this Mac" and "System Photo Library". Seems like it should all go ok once I get it setup. With the setup I'm going for the photos will all be stored in four different places (iCloud+, Mac Mini external drive, home server storage, Carbonite). And it should all happen automatically.

I've had Apple devices (iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs) for 15+ years, but never owned a Mac. This should be fun.