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User profile for user: cfung715
cfung715 Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Transitioning to iCloud Photos

Hi!

I am planning to transition to iCloud photos, and I wanted to make sure I do this efficiently / don’t run into too many issues.


I have a LOT of photos (14k / about ~131.5gb, which I’ve already whittled down from 22k...) and I’d like to use iCloud Photos so I can access this content on the Photos app on my Mac. I also have a lot of old iPhone photos (about ~60gb worth) on an external hard drive that I want to (at some point) also put in the iCloud.


My plan is to first upload everything from my phone, and then to slowly upload the stuff from my external hard drive.


The devices I have:

  • Macbook Pro, 13-inch, M1 2020
  • iPhone X

Both devices are up to date, and I am on a 2TB iCloud storage plan (with plenty to spare.)


My main question is regarding the upload cap. I know there is an upload cap for My Photo Stream, but is the upload cap for iCloud Photos? Does the 10,000 photo/day upload cap count for iCloud Photos too? In which case, am I correct in assuming that it would take 2 days to upload my current 14k photo library?


Also if anyone has any suggestions on how I might streamline this process further, please let me know :)


Thank you!

iPhone X, iOS 14

Posted on May 27, 2021 8:35 AM

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User profile for user: LACAllen
LACAllen
User level: Level 8
43,500 points

Posted on May 27, 2021 11:15 AM

cfung715 wrote:

Oh! I apologize, I wasn’t clear — I am NOT using photo stream, I plan to use iCloud Photos. My question was whether the cap also applied to iCloud Photos. I saw a couple of posts about libraries taking a long time to upload, and I was wondering if it was because of photo caps. Hope that makes more sense.

I misunderstood your point.


There is no cap for the library itself. Other than storage space on each device.

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User profile for user: LACAllen
LACAllen
User level: Level 8
43,500 points

May 27, 2021 11:15 AM in response to cfung715

cfung715 wrote:

Oh! I apologize, I wasn’t clear — I am NOT using photo stream, I plan to use iCloud Photos. My question was whether the cap also applied to iCloud Photos. I saw a couple of posts about libraries taking a long time to upload, and I was wondering if it was because of photo caps. Hope that makes more sense.

I misunderstood your point.


There is no cap for the library itself. Other than storage space on each device.

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User profile for user: LACAllen
LACAllen
User level: Level 8
43,500 points

May 27, 2021 10:42 AM in response to cfung715

My main question is regarding the upload cap. I know there is an upload cap for My Photo Stream, but is the upload cap for iCloud Photos? Does the 10,000 photo/day upload cap count for iCloud Photos too? In which case, am I correct in assuming that it would take 2 days to upload my current 14k photo library?

Do you know why you are considering Photo Stream for this?


Photo Stream is likely to be phased out by Apple sooner than later. It is not, IMO, the best tool for what you want to to do.,


Keep in mind, the size of your iCloud Photo Library, where it all ends up, is limited ty the storage space of your smallest device. You may need to optimize photos on your Mac or phone.


Using the iCloud Photo Library would simply mean confirming your photos are either in your camera roll on your phone with iCloud Photo Library enabled, or in your Mac's photo library with iCloud syncing enabled.


When all the syncing to iCloud is complete, the photo library on iCloud, your phone and your Mac should be in sync. For the size of your library, that could and likely will take days.

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Transitioning to iCloud Photos

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