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Is there any way of syncing an additional photo library file (not the one set up on icloud photos) to your icloud drive? It says inelligible under the file on my mac. I don't need access on my iOS devices etc, I just want the file saved in iCloud drive as well.
I have thought of putting it in a zip container to force it to sync but then I would have to compress and uncompress it every time I want to access it.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.3
If you're looking to backup that second library iCloud Drive is not the place to put it. iCloud Drive is a syncing feature for all Macs signed into the same Apple ID can have access to it. If for any reason the library is deleted from your Mac it will be removed from the Drive. Also all files on the iCloud Drive are mirrored on the originating Mac.
The best solution is to have an external drive and Time Machine to backup your MBP so that all libraries and other user files are backed up.
If you're looking to backup that second library iCloud Drive is not the place to put it. iCloud Drive is a syncing feature for all Macs signed into the same Apple ID can have access to it. If for any reason the library is deleted from your Mac it will be removed from the Drive. Also all files on the iCloud Drive are mirrored on the originating Mac.
The best solution is to have an external drive and Time Machine to backup your MBP so that all libraries and other user files are backed up.
What I have done to have a second Photos Library in iCloud Photos is to use a second Apple ID and a second user account on my mac. I can access this second iCloud Photos Library using the web interface even from my my main user account. For the photos I want to have in both libraries I am using family sharing between my two iCloud Apple IDs and the Shared iCloud Photos Library.
If you want to store small Photos Libraries on iCloud Drive, it does not suffice to compress /zip the library directly. You have to enclose it in a folder, then zip this folder and move the folder to iCloud Drive. This is working well for transferring libraries between different macs and strictly as a backup of archived libraries. But we cannot use the zipped libraries while they are on iCloud drive. We would have to move them to a local folder before opening them.
PublicIDw wrote:
I have, it says inelligible under the file in finder and won't upload it to icloud drive. Stays local on the machine.
This is a relative new security option. Until macOS 14 Mojave we could move Photos Libraries to iCloud Drive and and watch them becoming torn to shreds by the iCloud syncing. I tested this on the earlier system versions and none of my smaller test libraries survived the round trip to iCloud Drive for long, when I opened them on iCloud Drive. The same goes for the DropBox folder.
Only by moving the file into iCloud Drive.
I have, it says inelligible under the file in finder and won't upload it to icloud drive. Stays local on the machine.
Sorry, forgot to add that you will need to compress it to upload.
Sync 2nd photo library (file) to icloud drive
