Please help me solve this one iCloud question regarding Photos...

[pwygant]

I'm finally to the point where I'm going to upgrade an old iMac 27" for a new one. However, there's one thing I can't for the life of me figure out how to do the correct way.

Unlike the last 6 years or so, I will setup this new mac as "new" and not transfer from TimeMachine etc. After creating the new user account folder, logging into iCloud etc., what is the correct way to handle the gigantic Photos library I have from the old computer?

1) Since I have 2TB iCloud storage available and use iCloud photo library across all my devices, do I still copy/paste the old "System" file over or do I simply turn on iCloud photo library on the new Mac and enable the checkmark in settings? Will it download the old library to the new Mac over iCloud or do I have to create a new one first?

2) On the new Mac, do I tick the box "system" library still? (I find that if I move the library from old to "new" mac, it basically uploads 150GB overnight until complete for syncing purposes)

Cheers!

 

[0128672]

I'm finally to the point where I'm going to upgrade an old iMac 27" for a new one. However, there's one thing I can't for the life of me figure out how to do the correct way.

Unlike the last 6 years or so, I will setup this new mac as "new" and not transfer from TimeMachine etc. After creating the new user account folder, logging into iCloud etc., what is the correct way to handle the gigantic Photos library I have from the old computer?

1) Since I have 2TB iCloud storage available and use iCloud photo library across all my devices, do I still copy/paste the old "System" file over or do I simply turn on iCloud photo library on the new Mac and enable the checkmark in settings? Will it download the old library to the new Mac over iCloud or do I have to create a new one first?

2) On the new Mac, do I tick the box "system" library still? (I find that if I move the library from old to "new" mac, it basically uploads 150GB overnight until complete for syncing purposes)

Cheers!

Here's a couple of thoughts if I understand your questions correctly. Also it would be helpful to know which macOS you're coming from.

1. Enabling iCloud Photos on your new Mac will make those photos available just like on your other devices. To download the originals to your new Mac, you will need to enable the Download Originals to Mac settings in Photos Preferences.

2. You can move your old Mac's photo library to your new Mac if you like. Does your old Mac's library contain the full-sized original photos? Have you been backing up your old Photos library to an external disk or some other method? You can use that external disk backup or copy of your old Photos library to move it to your new Mac.

Photos User Guide for Mac

Learn how to use Photos on your Mac to view photos and videos, edit and share your favorites, access your photo library from other devices, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[pwygant]

Here's a couple of thoughts if I understand your questions correctly. Also it would be helpful to know which macOS you're coming from. MAC OSX High Sierra

1. Enabling iCloud Photos on your new Mac will make those photos available just like on your other devices. To download the originals to your new Mac, you will need to enable the Download Originals to Mac settings in Photos Preferences. Will it create the "photos" directory by itself?

2. You can move your old Mac's photo library to your new Mac if you like. Does your old Mac's library contain the full-sized original photos? Yes, it did. Same thing applies. If I moved it to the new computer, it uploaded all 145GB again to iCloud Have you been backing up your old Photos library to an external disk or some other method? No, main picture folder to have it managed by TimeMachine You can use that external disk backup or copy of your old Photos library to move it to your new Mac.

Photos User Guide for Mac

Learn how to use Photos on your Mac to view photos and videos, edit and share your favorites, access your photo library from other devices, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[0128672]

Will it create the "photos" directory by itself?

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. MacOS by default has a Pictures folder, and that's the location the Photos library is stored. Because Photos is included by default with macOS, a default Photos library is there. Nothing is "created" by changing the Photos iCloud setting to Download Originals. What does change is the size/resolution of the photos you can view and edit in the Photos app on your Mac. Those downloaded originals are stored in the existing Photos library.

Does that help answer this?

 

[pwygant]

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. MacOS by default has a Pictures folder, and that's the location the Photos library is stored. Because Photos is included by default with macOS, a default Photos library is there. Nothing is "created" by changing the Photos iCloud setting to Download Originals. What does change is the size/resolution of the photos you can view and edit in the Photos app on your Mac. Those downloaded originals are stored in the existing Photos library.

Does that help answer this?

I think so. In the end I’m just looking for the smoothest way to move to the new Mac. I think it would be faster for me not moving the library over to the new Mac as I have a 1GB internet connection to download the iCloud Photo Library from the cloud.

 

[Ruggy]

Assuming all your photos are stored in icloud, then all you have to do is log in with the new machine and all your icloud photos would be available to you.
There is no need to download them unless you want to, they are always available to you in the cloud so no need
Don't copy any library across.
If you've got originals on your old device in Pictures and you want them also on the new device, then copy them across and let the new machine create a library. Do this by copying them onto a drive. That's fastest.
But I would just copy them onto a disk for back up and not transfer them myself.
Really no need, and that's an expensive drive you're filling up with photos.
You can use the cloud and back up 2TB on an external drive for about $80.

 

[glenthompson]

It depends on how big your photo library is and how fast your internet connection is. You can let it download all the pictures but it may take awhile. When I setup my new iMac I copied over the Documents folder and Photo library from my clone. Saved a lot of time.

 

[400]

Make sure the library is backed up. Then back it up again.
Recent hiccup with mine on an external HD swapping old iMac for new (shifting Catalina to Big Sur). Nothing to worry over as such but took a lot of time. And something bit the dust unrelated in swaping machines causing other issues.
It all worked in the end but rebuilding the library from iCloud took over a week for a 700gb library. But safe in the knowledge I have it all backed up on other external hard drives.

 

[pwygant]

Make sure the library is backed up. Then back it up again.
Recent hiccup with mine on an external HD swapping old iMac for new (shifting Catalina to Big Sur). Nothing to worry over as such but took a lot of time. And something bit the dust unrelated in swaping machines causing other issues.
It all worked in the end but rebuilding the library from iCloud took over a week for a 700gb library. But safe in the knowledge I have it all backed up on other external hard drives.

This is one thing that I'm a little worried about. I'm using the same "photos" library going back to probably 2011. At one time swapping from iPhoto and then converting into Photos etc. My library is not nearly as large as yours at 145GB, however, package content files have always been a risk item for me. This is the main reason I moved it back to the main SSD from my external Drobo making sure TimeMachine backed up versions of this library should it at one time become corrupt. I also wonder if it's maybe better starting over after almost 10 years downloading a fresh iCloud backup?

Cheers!

 

[400]

I bought a new iMac and swapped the external hard drive containing the library from the old Catalina machine to the new Big Sur machine after I had set up the new iMac with iCloud etc. At that point it seemed to be OK, there was activity as Big Sur upgraded the library from Catalina (I understand it is a one way conversion?). Not sure I need to do any more other than let it run (later call with apple support confirmed this, Big Sur would just work out the kinks, no use intervention required). I was able to browse and edit though activity monitor showed a lot going on. I expected that. Had the unrelated issue not cropped up I would have ended it there.

However.
An unrelated event after I had done this meant I had to re install Big Sur and re do the process but there were hiccups. Hence make sure you have backups. Had I not the many backups I would have been bricking it. I had to rely on Apple Support for the fix (it was a security issue).

Eventually I had to re download from the cloud due to this unrelated issue and that took over a week (8 days), then a further 5 days or so to update itself. It doesn't download the lot in one go, it builds the library back up, thumbnails, records etc. hence the long time but bear in mine my library size.

⬆️⬆️re downloading can take a while if you store on the local machine as I do. But not a problem if you can wait and a fast download speed doesn't mean it is over in a thrice (again Apple support on call very helpful)

My backup up is across at least 4 hard drives managed by Carbon Copy Cloner run every day and including Time Machine HD and an off site and a non Apple cloud option with unlimited versioning.

My library is going back further, actual images take around 600 gb, the rest is Photo library organisation, thumbnails etc. You can examine package contents and size the "originals" folder for what the space for that is though Apple imports and assigned a alph numeric tag removing the actual name of the photo but the records in the Photos library keep track of date, format, file name etc. Better still, just accept it and leave it (I needed to find out for no reason).

 

[G5isAlive]

So the good news is... you risk nothing by first trying to download from the cloud as Ruggy explains. Apple will create the proper directory etc. However, it WILL BE SLOW if you have a large library. But it will work. After it is done, it is an easy matter to 'audit' the results on the new computer and compare to the old. I believe you will be happy.

Last time I tried to manually do it, the settings didn't make sense to me and I was never convinced I had done it totally correct. But that was years ago and perhaps it is easier these days.