Be aware when you store photos in iCloud when you use Lightroom

[PeterN]

Hi all,

Just wanted to send out a warning: be aware to use iCloud as storage device for your Lightroom photos. Although I had already noticed that I lost photos,  I assumed I deleted those photos. Until I stumbled on an entire folder with scanned slides that (fortunately) was still available online but not locally. Then I found out that other files were not in my library but still available physically. I do/did not feel the need to look into Apple's sync functionality but decided to move my files away from iCloud and backup photos the old fashioned way.

Does anyone has similar issues with iCloud?

[Danulon]

I see the dangers for those unaware of this "odd" behavioiur.

For my usage of iCloud (mostly documents, music, and similar stuff) it is a blessing: If you use devices easily running out of disk space (like e.g. my smartphone), iCloud automatically moves rarely used/ older files to the cloud and makes up room on your local drive.

I am pretty sure that you can configure this behaviour, though. Some quick googling provided e.g. this link: https://www.imore.com/how-customize-or-disable-optimized-storage-mac

Cheers,
Günther

[PeterN]

I agree. It works well for most things. Also with LR it used to work well. Apparently not anymore. Initially I even kept the LR library in the cloud but switched back to keeping it on the HD after experiencing some issues. I wrongly assumed keeping the images in iCloud would work.

[Ann]

My feeling about Cloud-storage (whether it is Adobe Cloud, iCloud, Amazon's Cloud or anyone else's piece of the heavens) is that it is fine for additional back-ups to your local HD back-ups.

However, I would never depend on any form of Cloud storage. Servers can go down and Internet service can be lost for days on end if one is travelling in remote places or even at home when the County's tree trimmers are at work.

The tree-trimmers in this area seem to have some difficulty in distinguishing the difference between a tree-branch and a Cable and I lost my Internet connection for nearly a week after road-side tree-trimming work had been done in my neighbourhood.

[CS]

I  am not looking to change anyone's mind concerning their backup strategies, or the lack of same, nor will I be swayed from creating my own backups using external drives, and a supply of blank HD's (spinners and SSDs, depending on need) for instant access, at will. YMMV   

[MFloyd]

I’m using iCloud and Adobe Cloud because the first allows smooth sharing of data between my various (i)OS devices, the second, for the same reasons but within the Adobe world. None is used for main storage of data, which is entirely kept in-house. The cloud data could eventually be used as a last resort backup, in case of a major disaster. But it isn’t really part of my backup strategy.