Delete photos from iMac but keep in iCloud

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Level 1

14 points

Delete photos from iMac but keep in iCloud

I recently reconfigured an old iMac of mine to 500GB of SSD storage as a second computer. While installing an OS update I accidentally allowed iCloud to fill Photos with everything from the cloud taking up half of my SSD space! How do I delete the collection on the iMac while keeping the photos in iCloud? I'm afraid of accidentally losing all of my photos. Should I just delete Photos from the computer and the collection along with it?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Nov 11, 2020 9:32 AM

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Answer 1

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TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,954 points

Nov 11, 2020 3:08 PM in response to JetPlaneSky

Two options.

Before you do anything, please make sure you have a back up of your photos somewhere. We get so many people asking how to recover their deleted images. If they don't have a backup, they are gone.

**Icloud is not a backup**

1 - turn on optimised storage. You'll keep the ability to veiw the pictures in photos, but only small copies will be kept on your computer. They will still take up some space, but a small proportion of what they are taking now.

2 - As long as you don't delete images from within photos, they won't be deleted in Icloud. Also if Icloud photos is disabled on your mac, they won't get deleted either.

First disable Icloud photos

Then you can delete the whole library on your mac. Look in photos preferences general tab - it will tell you where the library you are viewing is currently stored. You can just delete it (BUT DOING SO WILL DELETE ALL THE PHOTOS ON YOUR MAC - make sure everything you need in in Icloud (and backed up) first.

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Answer 2

JetPlaneSky Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 13, 2020 10:32 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Thank you for your recommendation. It solved the problem. I had suspected that was the process but I needed confirmation. Apple doesn't always make it clear where and how your collection is being managed and the implications of your actions. I must say I am surprised to read that iCloud is not considered to be a backup! What is it then? I had assumed any cloud copying service was a backup. That is my next thing to investigate.

Thank you!

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Answer 3

Nov 13, 2020 1:49 PM in response to JetPlaneSky

You're welcome

Regarding iCloud as backup:

The problem with iCloud for photos is it makes all the libraries across all the devices the same. While it does protect you from a drive failure - it doesn't protect you from accidental deletion. If you delete photos on your phone, they are deleted on your mac, and from iCloud - same if you delete on your mac - they'll be deleted on your phone. There have been rare cases of system failure also causing deletions (or just user error). There are also numerous examples of library corruption making it very difficult to access photos.

Every few days we get someone here saying "I deleted photos - how can I get them back". If it was more than 30 days ago, and there is no other backup, the answer is "you can't"

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Delete photos from iMac but keep in iCloud

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