How To Use Icloud Photo Library On Mac

Follow these steps to use the Photos library repair tool:

  1. Hold down the Option and Command keys while you open Photos on your Mac.
  2. In the dialog that appears, click Repair to start the repair process.

Jan 29, 2015  We show you more about the iCloud Photo Library, how it works and how to use it with this Simply Mac Tip & Trick. Mar 03, 2020  Turn on iCloud Photos. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings your name iCloud Photos, then turn on iCloud Photos. On your Mac, go to System Preferences Apple ID. Click iCloud in the sidebar, then select Photos. If you have an earlier version of macOS, go to. Short-term Photos library lives in my /Photos/ folder on my macbook, with iCloud Photo Library turned on and linked with icloud-user-1 which is also on my phone Create a second iCloud account icloud-user-2 and use it with a second Mac user, separate from the main one I normally use ( icloud-user-1 ).

You might be asked to type in your user account password to authorize the library repair.

Jul 09, 2019  Tap the iCloud tab and then under iCloud Photo Library, Tick the Download Originals to This Mac. If you make this change, your Mac starts downloading all those photos in full res—this could take quite a bit of time depending on how many photos you store on iCloud. Mar 18, 2020  If your Photos library won't open, or if Photos behaves unexpectedly, the Photos library repair tool might resolve the issues. Follow these steps to use the Photos library repair tool: Hold down the Option and Command keys while you open Photos on your Mac. In the dialog that appears, click Repair to start the repair process. Sign in to iCloud to access your photos, videos, documents, notes, contacts, and more. Use your Apple ID or create a new account to start using Apple services.

The repair tool analyzes the the library's database and repairs any inconsistencies it detects. Depending on the size of your library, this might take some time. When the process is completed, Photos opens the library.

If you repair a library that's automatically updated with iCloud Photos, the entire contents of the library re-updates with iCloud after the repair process completes.

Apple's iCloud Photo Library service works seamlessly to sync and back up your images and video across all of your Apple devices to iCloud — but if you're serious about keeping your irreplaceable photos and video safe, you'll want a redundant (second) backup. Because as they always say, you can never have too many backups! And it's better to be safe than sorry, honestly.

Backing up your photos can take the form of a local backup on your own drive or an external source, a secondary online backup, or both. Here's how to do it all.

How to back up iCloud Photo Library to your Mac's hard drive

The best way to back up the images and video in iCloud Photo Library is to make sure you're downloading all your content onto your Mac.

Move Your iPhoto Library to a New Location/Mac First, quit iPhoto. In the Finder, choose your home folder (it's usually named after you). Open the Pictures folder (in the home folder) to. Where is iphoto library located on mac free

Note: If you plan to back up your entire digital library to your Mac's hard drive, you'll likely want to do it on a desktop Mac with a 1TB drive or higher. Otherwise, consider backing up to an external drive.

  1. Launch the Photos app on your Mac.

    Source: iMore

  2. Click Photos in the App menu in the upper left corner of your screen.

  3. Select Preferences from the drop-down menu.

    Source: iMore

  4. Click the iCloud tab.

  5. Click Download Originals to this Mac.

    Source: iMore

Your Mac will now download full-resolution copies of all your images to your Mac's hard drive, stored inside your Photos app library.

How to back up your iCloud Photo Library content to an external drive

There are two ways to back up your iCloud Photo Library to an external drive: by backing up your Photos library automatically, or manually. (You can also export sections of your library if you don't want to back up the whole thing.)

Back up your Photos library automatically

If you've turned on the Download Originals option for your Photos library, you can back up your Photos library as part of your regular backup routine. Whether you use Time Machine or clone your hard drive using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy, your Photos library (and all images and video automatically downloaded from iCloud) will be backed up as well. (And if you don't currently use a backup service, well.. now's a good time to start!)

Back up your Photos library manually

If you've turned on the Download Originals option for your Photos library but don't want to back it up automatically, you can always copy your Photos library to an external drive at regular intervals.

  1. Connect an external drive to your Mac via USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt.

  2. Open a new Finder window on your Mac.

    Source: iMore

  3. Click on Pictures in the sidebar.

    Source: iMore

  4. Drag your Photos Library to your external drive.

    Source: iMore

  5. Wait for it to copy.

Create an external library for backing up iCloud Photo Library

I recommend setting a bi-weekly reminder for these steps, so you keep your Photos library regularly backed up.

How to back up portions of your iCloud Photo Library

Don't want to back up your entire library? You can export individual images and videos to your external drive.

  1. Connect an external drive to your Mac via USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt.

  2. Open the Photos app. Free library software system.

    Source: iMore

  3. Select the photos and video you want to back up.
  4. Go to the File menu.

  5. Hover over the Export option.

    Source: iMore

  6. Select either Export # Photos or Video or Export Unmodified Original for # Photos or Videos.

    Source: iMore

  7. Select an option for File Name and Subfolder Format, and then input your text as desired.

    Source: iMore

  8. Press Export.

    Source: iMore

  9. Choose your external drive.
  10. Press Export Originals.

How to make an online backup of your iCloud Photo Library

Even though your entire iCloud Photo Library is (as the name implies) stored online in iCloud, it's worth considering a second online backup as one of your redundancies.

If you store your entire iCloud Photo Library on your Mac

Good news: If you already use a service to back up your hard drive and you've synced your full iCloud Photo Library to your Mac, it's easy to back it all up. (If not, consider it a good time to start!)

If you don't store your iCloud Photo Library on your Mac

If you don't store your iCloud images locally, this is a bit trickier: you can use the external drive method to export portions of your library to an external drive, then sync that drive to your preferred online backup service, but it's a bit more labor-intensive. In general, this is why I tend to recommend backing up your full library to your Mac or storing a library on an external drive.

Any iCloud Photo Library backup questions?

How To Open Icloud Photo Library On Mac

Have any questions about how to back up your iCloud Photo Library, or about backups or iCloud Photo Library in general? Drop them in the comments below!

March 2020: These are still the proper steps to back up your iCloud Photo Library

Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.

iCloud Photo Library: The Ultimate Guide

Access My Icloud Photo Library

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