Althouse: Why did some but not all of the photographs I uploaded to my laptop automatically appear in my desktop?

March 18, 2017

Why did some but not all of the photographs I uploaded to my laptop automatically appear in my desktop?

I have a Macbook Pro laptop and an iMac desktop. The software is Apple's Photos.

When I got back from our trip, I was pleased to see photographs already in the desktop, but then I noticed that whatever was happening, it stopped midway through the trip. Hundreds of photos traveled from one computer to the other without my doing anything. Then whatever was happening stopped.

Any ideas?

UPDATE: I figured out the problem. It's "Photo Stream." Photos automatically became available to all my computers but the memory maxed out. I found the photos under the tab "Albums" in Photos, and I was going to delete them so that newer photos would move from the laptop to the desktop, but it said that deleting them in Photo Stream would delete them in all my computers! That might be good for some people, but it's not what I want.

66 comments:

Ann Althouse said...: The desktop has OSX 10.11.6 system software and Version 1.5 (370.42.0) of Photos.

The laptop has a macOS Sierra 10.12.3 system and Version 2 of Photos.; 3/18/17, 10:12 AM
Michael K said...: I dunno. All I have is a MacBook Air and I keep photos on a Scandisk card because the macBook memory is limited. If I connect a camera chip to the MacBook, the photos are uploaded to the Camera Uploads.; 3/18/17, 10:16 AM
madAsHell said...: Cloud computing scares the hell out of me!!; 3/18/17, 10:19 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Two guesses: Your iCloud storage is full. Your laptop wasn't connected to WiFi long enough during the second part of the trip.; 3/18/17, 10:21 AM
kentuckyliz said...: Maxed out in your Apple Cloud account (storage limits) or laptop memory?; 3/18/17, 10:21 AM
damikesc said...: If it isn't a lack of storage available, no clue. Once you hit 10% or less of storage, they tend to act wonky.; 3/18/17, 10:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Professor: This is the Apple cloud issue. I go to trips/journalism visits, I take pics of rallies. When I get back, I see them on the phone. I connect the phone to the iTunes on my computer, they do not show up via Photos (app). I then log into Apple cloud, they are there. I have to download first on there, before getting to my computer and then back to the iPhone. It is always a nightmare to get the photos from iPhone to computer and, after editing or creating albums, back to iPhone. Takes up too much time.; 3/18/17, 10:25 AM
Rae said...: Cloud storage full, loss of wifi, or a wifi network you connected to doesn't allow connections to iCloud. Which I've never heard of, but can be done.; 3/18/17, 10:26 AM
Are W said...: I dislike automatic stuff. When I copy or move something myself I have knowledge of the process and can only blame myself if an error occurs. My knowledge and understanding of automatic stuff is meager and unsatisfactory.; 3/18/17, 10:27 AM
Utah Chris said...: Gremlins; 3/18/17, 10:27 AM
Roughcoat said...: It's the Russians.; 3/18/17, 10:29 AM
David said...: I have the same issue with Photos. Sometimes it works. Sometimes not. How's that for tech analysis?; 3/18/17, 10:32 AM
David said...: Never found anything on the Apple message boards about this. So quit looking.; 3/18/17, 10:33 AM
Wince said...: Computers... Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Was that an interesting enough variation on an "old line" -- one that was insulting to women, even! A two-fer.; 3/18/17, 10:37 AM
Fernandinande said...: Any ideas?

I feel your pain.

Actually, I do!; 3/18/17, 10:40 AM
Paddy O said...: Apple is working on an aesthetics tool, that automatically judges which pictures are worth keeping.; 3/18/17, 10:41 AM
David53 said...: Apple support is the highest rated of any computer company. Good luck.; 3/18/17, 10:43 AM
Original Mike said...: I avoid automatic stuff. When it screws up (and it will), I have insufficient data to troubleshoot the problem. At least when a manual operation screws up (and it will), I have knowledge of the steps leading up to the screwup.; 3/18/17, 10:43 AM
Fernandinande said...: Original Mike said...
I avoid automatic stuff.

Never trust a computer.; 3/18/17, 10:54 AM
glenn said...: You didn't offend any medicine men or guru guys on your trip West did you. They will hex you in a heartbeat.; 3/18/17, 10:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I thought I'd rejected using iCloud. There's something called Photo Sharing. If iCloud somehow intruded and I maxed it out, why am I not being pestered to pay for more storage? I guess I need to figure out how to manage iCloud storage, but why am I not being prompted to do rhat?

What bugs me is that something I didn't ask for just happened. That's sort of a problem, but I liked the result. Then it stopped and I don't know why or what to do about it.; 3/18/17, 11:23 AM
rcocean said...: I dislike Apple products - so I can't help.; 3/18/17, 11:30 AM
Original Mike said...: "What bugs me is that something I didn't ask for just happened."

That's been my complaint about commercial computers from the beginning. I grew up building and programming computers in the lab. Then computers for the masses came along and I thought "Great!". What I didn't realize was how much control I was about to give up.; 3/18/17, 11:31 AM
traditionalguy said...: Ah ha. Obama ordered NSA ( Brit Division) to grab your spy photos. You were caught coming back from Area 51 territory, and then pretending to be a Wisconsin Professor with a Blog that auto downloads the spy photos by transmitting to a server registered in Moscow. OK, it's Moscow Idaho, but that is one of Boris/Meade's tricks.; 3/18/17, 11:34 AM
Alice Aforethought said...: Wierd things can happen when you have different versions of software running on the two machines.; 3/18/17, 11:39 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I blame Trump. And Russians.; 3/18/17, 11:40 AM
Gahrie said...: buffer full?; 3/18/17, 11:47 AM
Rosalyn C. said...: I had no clue but thanks for the heads up. Here's what I found:

"When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more space in iCloud, you can upgrade to a larger storage plan. You can upgrade your iCloud storage plan from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC, and you can choose a total of 50GB, 200GB, 1TB, or 2TB.Jan 21, 2017"; 3/18/17, 11:52 AM
buwaya said...: Hacked by Tim Cook's (Apple CEO) secret political dirty tricks team. Which has direct links to "deep state" contacts in the CIA. Nothing is too paranoid for todays political climate.; 3/18/17, 11:53 AM
buwaya said...: They dont care about her photos, as such. It is probably just general harassment. Just as people have been, say, given to know they are under surveillance, not in order to find anything, but merely to intimidate, and silence.; 3/18/17, 11:55 AM
Boxty said...: That's nothing. Last weekend we went to see the desert wildflowers and a few days later Google on my android phone offered not only to upload my photos to their cloud, but also showed me an artistically done montage of several of my photos and one photo edited with a vignette filter.; 3/18/17, 12:02 PM
Andy said...: If you have photo sharing turned on then the real question is why did the process stop. My iMac won't support the OS but I can there are probably features that require the cloud but don't require that you give them permission or permission my be implicit.; 3/18/17, 12:12 PM
FullMoon said...: Boxty said... [hush][hide comment]

That's nothing. Last weekend we went to see the desert wildflowers and a few days later Google on my android phone offered not only to upload my photos to their cloud, but also showed me an artistically done montage of several of my photos and one photo edited with a vignette filter.

Immediately delete "personal" photos of you and your spouse, and pray it is not too late.; 3/18/17, 12:13 PM
Coconuss Network said...: I'm a Windows 10 gal, but maybe Apple offered a complimentary service, a trial period, and then wants for you to subscribe to continue the service. hmm. just guessing.; 3/18/17, 12:16 PM
MayBee said...: I have this problem all the time. Sometimes my photos show up on my laptop, sometimes they don't.; 3/18/17, 12:22 PM
Anonymous said...: With every advancement is memory, speed, functionality, etc. over the 30+ years of personal computing, there has been a loss of control, privacy, and simplicity. Its probably well worth it but its clear what the priorities have been -- which means what pays.; 3/18/17, 12:22 PM
traditionalguy said...: On the other hand, it could be White House Mind Waves tampering in transmision. Were the shots replaced by beautiful pictures of Rosie the Riveter and Andrew Jackson?; 3/18/17, 12:25 PM
FullMoon said...: Paddy O said... [hush][hide comment]

Apple is working on an aesthetics tool, that automatically judges which pictures are worth keeping.

Good one. Subtle, but viscous.; 3/18/17, 12:31 PM
rehajm said...: If you rejected iCloud your photos can/will migrate to your other devices using My Photo Stream. My Photo Stream would work without iCloud being activated, doesn't count against iCloud storage, uploads up to 1000 photos and there's a date limit (last month or something). Perhaps you have My Photo Stream activate but reached the upload limit?; 3/18/17, 12:32 PM
Earnest Prole said...: It’s either iCloud or AirDrop.; 3/18/17, 12:36 PM
Anonymous said...: You are Donald Trump; OS X is the Deep State.; 3/18/17, 12:44 PM
Rabel said...: Check the size of the desktop's folder containing the photos. If it's roughly 5 gig then you hit your limit. If it's more or less you can eliminate the free storage limit as a cause.; 3/18/17, 12:46 PM
eddie willers said...: So are the photos forever gone, or just lost somewhere in the cloud?; 3/18/17, 1:01 PM
rhhardin said...: My dog photos get manually transfered to the desk computer (actually a laptop with a separate monitor and keyboard) every day, and everything new on that computer copies to the spare computer at 1am each morning, and everything on that computer backs up to idrive at 4am every morning.

So everything is backed up to within the last day.

Mostly it's to save work stuff but it catches everything.; 3/18/17, 1:05 PM
khesanh0802 said...: The important question is: did you keep the memory cards? I hope so. I think you have a problem with running two different OS versions and two different versions of your photo program. I am very suspicious of a situation like that no matter what Apple says. For a real answer I would go direct to Apple. Pain in the butt, but the right people to get pissed at!; 3/18/17, 1:11 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more space in iCloud, you can upgrade to a larger storage plan. You can upgrade your iCloud storage plan from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC, and you can choose a total of 50GB, 200GB, 1TB, or 2TB.Jan 21, 2017"

Yes, and I don't want to pay for extra. I used to pay for Mac.com, kept photos there, and in the end, Apple took it down and I lost many photographs -- after PAYING to store them there.

BUT with iCloud, I am choosing not to use it at all, and I have no photos on it.

By the way, I'm also trying to move the photos using AirDrop, and I cannot do it.; 3/18/17, 1:30 PM
Farmer said...: iCloud is useless, that's why.; 3/18/17, 1:31 PM
rehajm said...: I'm also trying to move the photos using AirDrop, and I cannot do it.

If the two computers can't see each other try opening Bluetooth Preferences.; 3/18/17, 1:46 PM
Hey Skipper said...: Plug your phone into the computer, then fire up Image Capture — it is a utility on all Macs

In IC select the phone, then the images you want to import.

At the bottom of the screen, select Photos as the destination, then either "import selected", or "import all", and in they go.

I decided $36/year was a bargain for having offsite backup of my photo library.; 3/18/17, 2:03 PM
ndspinelli said...: Hit it hard w/ your left shoe.; 3/18/17, 2:23 PM
Wince said...: Farmer said...
iCloud is useless, that's why.

Respectfully disagree. I just started using iCloud. Had to upgrade OS on my desktop before I could access across all my apple devices.

As a place to store up to 5G of stuff I have/plan on working on for the last/next six months. Especially between work and home, and when traveling. So convenient with the iCloud appearing just like another drive on your desktop.

A super-convenient, constantly available and updated thumb drive, no more, perhaps, but that's enough for me.; 3/18/17, 2:32 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: This says photo sharing uses iCloud, doesn't count against the iCloud storage limit, but has a 5000 photo maximum.; 3/18/17, 2:41 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202786; 3/18/17, 2:41 PM
Michael K said...: Apple is working on an aesthetics tool, that automatically judges which pictures are worth keeping.

Good one. Subtle, but viscous.

What do you estimate the shear rate at ?; 3/18/17, 2:52 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I tried using a flash drive and it gave me an error message.; 3/18/17, 2:54 PM
FullMoon said...: Michael K said... [hush][hide comment]

Apple is working on an aesthetics tool, that automatically judges which pictures are worth keeping.

Good one. Subtle, but viscous.

What do you estimate the shear rate at ?

Love minus zero; 3/18/17, 3:02 PM
FullMoon said...: ndspinelli said...

Hit it hard w/ your left shoe.

Works with Windows.

Apple requires bejeweled slipper, tenderly; 3/18/17, 3:05 PM
ddh said...: I blame Bush.; 3/18/17, 3:22 PM
YoungHegelian said...: As much as I loath computers that put files in the cloud without telling me, I must admit it has saved my bacon more than once.

I also wanted to say that, while I am an IT guy, I don't know Macs. I especially don't know the Apple "ecosystem", and how it makes its devices work together. I know Windows, Linux, & AIX real well, as they are my bread & butter, but Mac is a different ballgame. Apple users tend not to believe this, but it's true. When OS X works, it's almost miraculous in what it can do. When it doesn't, getting under the hood to figure out why is a real ordeal.

I just didn't want anyone, especially Prof. Althouse, to think "Jeezus, YH, You've got an IT company! You've been camping out at Althouse's blog for years! Can't you be helpful for once? I honestly don't know Macs. My apologies.; 3/18/17, 3:31 PM
Regis 1959 said...: Because Apple has fiddled with Photos and iCloud as macOS changes, Update both machines to latest version of macOS. I'm writing on an iOS device, but when I get to my mac laptop I'll recommend settings.; 3/18/17, 5:21 PM
rehajm said...: Either she doesn't have iCloud enabled and she's seeing Photos on her desktop from My Photo Stream but she reached her upload limit or she does have iCloud enabled and doesn't know it and the laptop is choking on an upload file from multiple intermittent connections all last week. You can use Activity Monitor to find the file and delete it but no way would I try to talk Nana through that.; 3/18/17, 5:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...: So let's assume it worked until it didn't because of Photo Stream. How do I now clear out Photo Stream so I can use it again?

Also why was I getting error messages even when I just tried to drag and drop onto a flash drive? Air Drop wouwork eithdr.; 3/18/17, 6:58 PM
Regis 1959 said...: I would recommend going to your local Apple store and taking a couple of workshops; e.g., iCloud and photos. "Workshop" sounds rather imposing. Actually they are not; they are 45 minutes to an hour and are attended by people who are not experts. And, for your purposes, the instructor will answer all the questions you have posed herein.

After resisting for years, I decided several months ago that I would use iCloud for all my new photos. So far I am liking it. In System Preferences I have checked My Photo Stream and unchecked the other two choices.; 3/19/17, 8:52 AM
Paul said...: I know Ann!!! Russian Hackers! They got them!; 3/19/17, 9:46 AM
one of the bobs said...: So let's assume it worked until it didn't because of Photo Stream. How do I now clear out Photo Stream so I can use it again?

If you do this, make sure you aren't actually deleting those older photos everywhere.

Having 2 computers like this is more trouble than it's worth in my experience. I recommend getting one good laptop, and then add on a monitor, keyboard and mouse or trackpad for home use. Also backup the laptop frequently to at least 2 eternal drives (time machine should be good enough here). Store the drives someplace safe.

I use "photos" on my mac as my main repository but I don't automatically hook it up to iCould or any other cloud service. Any images I want to share are uploaded manually to google photos (probably 5%-10% of my photos) and the rest do not go to the cloud (as far as I know :).; 3/19/17, 11:51 AM
Biff said...: Your best bet may be calling Apple Support or making an appointment at the local Apple Genius Bar. Enough things can go wrong with troubleshooting these kinds of multi-computer syncing issues that you might not want to rely on your commenters, no matter how knowledgeable or well-intentioned they may be, especially if you aren't certain that you have a good backup of your photos. http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/; 3/20/17, 11:43 PM