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Couldn't see older photos/videos in the Photo app. Reminder for any iOS user that needs instant iCloud Photos backups (instead of manual monthly), get a Mac Mi

Couldn't see older photos/videos in the Photo app. Reminder for any iOS user that needs instant iCloud Photos backups (instead of manual monthly), get a Mac Mini, enable the Photos app, disable optimize for storage and keep it on to keep your memories safe. Always check the recently deleted folder on the Mac every month since iCloud by design is a two-way sync and not a backup, unlike most clouds that are one-way upload (doesn't touch your local files). Cold storage backup every month using the photos on the Mac should be easier as well.

FBISurveillance 2y ago
Adding to that, also suggest having a self-hosted Immich on a home server.
mmcnl 2y ago
Or use iCloud Photos Downloader once in a while: https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_do...
cjk2 2y ago
Yeah this. I keep a weekly time machine and quarterly "copy everything to an SSD without time machine" backup in place.
sambazi 2y ago
an old linux laptop with a ubus-rule to rsync DCIM-folder upon device-uid connection would also work and not be dependent on apple products
radicality 2y ago
That’s part of the reason I always opt for the highest possible storage on my main MacBook whenever upgrading - to set Optimize=off for Photos and iCloud. Last upgrade was the 8TB M1. And then I connect that to a local NAS Time Machine backup every few days.
gerdemb 2y ago
While that might be Apple's "official" solution, there's a major caveat: the Photos app doesn't support storing the Photos library on a networked disk. This forces you to either fit your entire library on your Mac's internal storage or use a directly connected external disk with no network involved. To overcome this limitation, I developed a MacOS app that creates a full backup of your Photos library. You can safely store this backup on any external storage like a NAS, network drive, internal disk, or external disk. Check it out here: https://ibeni.net https://ibeni.net Compared to the "iCloud Photos Downloader," which scrapes data from iCloud, my app uses the official Apple Photokit APIs to back up your photos. This method is more reliable and efficient.

FBISurveillance 2y ago

Adding to that, also suggest having a self-hosted Immich on a home server.

mmcnl 2y ago

Or use iCloud Photos Downloader once in a while: https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_do...

cjk2 2y ago

Yeah this. I keep a weekly time machine and quarterly "copy everything to an SSD without time machine" backup in place.

sambazi 2y ago

an old linux laptop with a ubus-rule to rsync DCIM-folder upon device-uid connection would also work and not be dependent on apple products

radicality 2y ago

That’s part of the reason I always opt for the highest possible storage on my main MacBook whenever upgrading - to set Optimize=off for Photos and iCloud. Last upgrade was the 8TB M1. And then I connect that to a local NAS Time Machine backup every few days.

gerdemb 2y ago

While that might be Apple's "official" solution, there's a major caveat: the Photos app doesn't support storing the Photos library on a networked disk. This forces you to either fit your entire library on your Mac's internal storage or use a directly connected external disk with no network involved. To overcome this limitation, I developed a MacOS app that creates a full backup of your Photos library. You can safely store this backup on any external storage like a NAS, network drive, internal disk, or external disk. Check it out here: https://ibeni.net https://ibeni.net Compared to the "iCloud Photos Downloader," which scrapes data from iCloud, my app uses the official Apple Photokit APIs to back up your photos. This method is more reliable and efficient.