Simple question: Are my downloaded iCloud Photos actually on my computer now?

TuckerdogAVL

TuckerdogAVL

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A friend just came over with his MBP. I have this same question. He can see all his photos in Photos. Or at least he thinks all his photos are there. He said he connects his camera or iPhone to the computer and imports them. He was trying out iCloud. He's almost full with the 5gb. He wants to know that if he turns off the iCloud photos, are his photos still on his computer? I know, it seems like a stupid question, but I can't find anything that explains this yes or no. Lots of answers where the answer assumes you are using iCloud for your phone, etc., but we are trying to "just simply" figure this out. I believe that since he imported all the photos first to the computer, then used the icloud, that if he so desires, he can just stop using the iCloud (which is what he wants to do. He doesn't want to pay for the Cloud. And I have convinced him to at least use the TM because he wasn't). BUT.... this is the caveat: and correct me if I'm wrong - IF he first saved the photos to the iCloud and he didn't save them to the computer, he has to sign into iCloud.com and make sure to import that photo to computer by downloading it. Otherwise it never made it to the computer. Am I correct? Sort of? Yes? No? Thanks in advance.
 
Simple answer, Cheryl, but we're trying to figure out if he already has them on the computer.
Yes Satcomer, he can disconnect from the innernet and his photos are in Photos. At least all the ones we can see. We have no idea if there are any that didn't start on the computer, then went to the cloud only. I'm assuming that would most likely be from an iPhone, and he does shoot with his iPhone. If he uploaded anything directly to the cloud he would have to go through the 5,879 photos to look for them as I assume there's no easy peasy way to "just simply" find those ...

And, Cheryl, if the answer is "download" to the computer's hard drive. How? He clicked on download and as far as we can tell they downloaded. Then there is a message after he downloads that he has 30 days to download the photos. :)

Thanks for your input. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

PS I'm trying to make sure photos from an old mac are on the new mac by way of external. I've had the computers set up as a network, can "see" the iphoto.library and photos.library and the photos in pictures. Can I just drag photos over? Or drag a library over? I've spent hours reading the hows and musts and possibles and coulds and there never seems to be a definitive answer. Only to "use the cloud" or "migration." At least mine are all backed up on TM (but that will be moot when I finally put the TM on the new computer because it will overwrite the old TM from the old computer).
 
Why is it that we come up against a exasperating problem when there are too many to count items that may be involved?

Check the iCloud preferences (in System Preferences). Click the options button next to photos to see what you have set to upload. You can turn off uploading there. Then the iPhone should have a preference for iCloud as well. Once those are turned off, when you connect the phone to the computer and launch Photos, those images can then be downloaded to the computer.

As for all those files already on iCloud, may I suggest using an external drive dedicated to the photos/images. You can migrate them to the dedicated drive.

And yes, you should be able to drag and drop your photo library from old to new or to your dedicated drive if you wish.
 
Yes, re: the external. I told him to just hook up to Time Machine as well. And if he got an external larger enough, he could partition for TM AND an external just for pics (That's what I've done). Thanks for the tip RE: the iphoto library. I'm going to drag all the photos that aren't in the library over, then I'll drag the iphotos.library over ... then I'll launch the old iphotos.library to go to Photos. I may even name a new one first for the old photos. All I know is I end up duplicating and duplicating photos. And they are always photos I'm actually trying to delete. I mean, seriously. I do not need a photo of a collectible ash tray I sold in 2003. No matter what I do, it seems to pop up somewhere :)
 
Cheryl said:
Why is it that we come up against a exasperating problem when there are too many to count items that may be involved?

Check the iCloud preferences (in System Preferences). Click the options button next to photos to see what you have set to upload. You can turn off uploading there. Then the iPhone should have a preference for iCloud as well. Once those are turned off, when you connect the phone to the computer and launch Photos, those images can then be downloaded to the computer.

As for all those files already on iCloud, may I suggest using an external drive dedicated to the photos/images. You can migrate them to the dedicated drive.

And yes, you should be able to drag and drop your photo library from old to new or to your dedicated drive if you wish.
Click to expand...
Am I correct in understanding, though, that if he is disconnected from the internet when viewing the photos in PHOTOS on the computer, that those are downloaded already?
 
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