What happens if turn iCloud on and laptop storage is smaller than stored photos on iCloud

[dbrown57]

Hi - I am an Apple household and phones, mini Mac and iPad all have iCloud Photo storage turned on. Have an old MacBook Air that has tiny amount of storage. What happens to the storage if I iCloud on. When Googled it says will optimize storage and show just thumbnails for review which will then download to view/edit etc. But how much space does this consume on the laptop. My MacBook Air has about 60G space and the iCloud Photo size is nearly 1TB. What happens to the storage on the laptop? Cant find the answer to this question or perhaps I am not asking the right question. Suppose could just try it but reluctant to do this till know what might happen Thanks you in anticipation David

 

[wiltw]

The generic process is to first try to store the new photo locally, before also synchronizing cloud storage with the same file.
So if the file does NOT first store in the PC, the file will not go to the cloud, unless the photo was first created by a cloud-connected other photo-taking device, iPhone/iPad.

For example, different photo creation pathways

1. Canon mirrorless camera --> Apple PC --> Apple cloud
   
   
2. iPhone ------> Apple cloud
   
   
3. Canon mirrorless camera ---> Apple PC -/-> if not enough room in PC, it does not go to iCloud

 

[dbrown57]

What about photos on iCloud Do the preview images take up any space on the laptop? And how much space?

 

[cliveh]

I think any cloud storage should be avoided. What if they demand a fee not to delete your stuff. Keep it on your own hardware and you are in control.

 

[wiltw]

What about photos on iCloud Do the preview images take up any space on the laptop? And how much space?

I spoke earlier in the CONTEXT OF photos!
'Preview images'...in the context of what you view on the camera LCD just after the photo is taken, is a small JPG file that is EMBEDDED within the RAW file.
'Preview images'...in the context of what you view on your PC while using it to view RAWs while using a RAW convertor program (Photoshop, Lightroom) is a file that is generated by the program and stored on the PC's harddrive, in addition with storing the RAW file itself.

The cloud can be used as a nice 'backup copy', of the data which you also have stored. But the cloud is a rather poor substitute for having your own local copy...file download from the cloud is usually not fast, so if you have to download an 'entire disk full' of data, it will take hours. And there is a long history of cloud companies going out of business or withdrawing from the cloud storage business...even massive corporations

 

[koraks]

Alerting @Sean as he might know this. I'm not an iCloud user so can't comment.

there is a long history of cloud companies going out of business or withdrawing from the cloud storage business.

It's actually a very short history and a very short list.
I also don't quite get this kind of comment if someone asks how their iCloud storage works. "My car won't start when it's cold" "You shouldn't be wanting to drive a car anyway" Let's assume that OP does want to use this service and just wants to know how it works in this particular scenario. If you don't know, that's fine and just say so but don't dissuade someone from choosing this option just because you don't know how it works. Plenty of people use iCloud and similar cloud storage services with perfectly fine reasons to do so and many are perfectly happy in doing so. Something like iCloud is particularly super convenient if you want to easily sync certain data across different devices, which seems exactly what OP is doing.

 

[runswithsizzers]

What about photos on iCloud Do the preview images take up any space on the laptop? And how much space?

Here in the Settings menu for Apple Photos, I have checked "Download Originals to this Mac," which you would want to leave unchecked. You will want to tick the setting for "Optimize Mac Storage"

Apple does not really say exactly what is meant by "smaller, device-sized versions" which are left on your device, but yes, the preview images will require some storage -- sorry, but I can't say how much. If you decide to try it, suggest first making a good backup of the laptop drive.

Due to the hard drive on my iMac getting full, I recenty set up an external SSD to store all of my music files, and one day I may need to offload all of my Photos as well. If your old Mac Book Air has a fast port like Thunderbolt or USB 3 or 4, you might want to investigate getting an external SSD and keeping your Photos library on that(?)

And there is a long history of cloud companies going out of business or withdrawing from the cloud storage business...even massive corporations

As for Apple going out of business, I will never say never, but I suspect, under any circumstances that would result in a sudden, unexpected failure of the world's 2nd most valuable company (market cap = $4 trillion USD), then we are going to have more important things to worry about than our digital photos.

Apple does say, if you turn off iCloud storage, then you will have 30 days to download your photos and videos before they are deleted, so I would expect a similar offer if Apple decides to exit the iCloud business.

 

[wiltw]

Alerting @Sean as he might know this. I'm not an iCloud user so can't comment.

It's actually a very short history and a very short list.

I have written on this topic in the distasnt past, on other (now non-existing) forum, and just updated this. Not an exhaustive list, but spanning over a decade...some exiting the business segment, some exiting existence

• Iron Mountain, 2011 discontinue public cloud storage
• Megaupload, 2012
• Nirvanix: 2013
• Comcast Backup & Share, 2013
• Ubuntu One, 2014
• Maxis Loker, 2014
• Wuala , 2015
• Dell Data Safe Online, 2015
• F-Secure Younited, 2015
• Copy.com. 2016
• Verizon public cloud storage end 2016
• Bitcasa 2017
• CrashPlan home storage, 2017
• Digi Cloud Capture, 2017
• HubiC, 2018
• Shoebox, 2019
• Zoolz, 2020
• Google Backup & Sync, 2021
• Samsung Cloud, service ends June 2021
• IBM Cloud Private, discontinue support 2021
• GoGrid
• Apple iCloud Documents & Data, 2022
• American Virtual, January 2023.
• Amazon Drive, Dec 2023 exiting
• WeWork: , November 2023.
• Nortel Networks
• Arcserve, 2024
• Adobe, 2024 annouces discontinuation of Creative Cloud Service
• Dropbox Cloud, 2024
• Barracuda Networks Cloud Archiving, 2024
• AT&T Photo Storage service, 2025

 

[dbrown57]

Hi, thanks for your help - think just going to try it! Photos are stored on MacMini with 2TB SSD via a Satechi hub. Back up all the time with Time Machine, iCloud turned on the MacMini and also back photos up to separate removable disc on the first of each month! Think back up is sorted. But have a 2012 laptop that we take out and about. Currently Photos not synched but occasionally want to edit photos on it when we are out and about. Thinking of renewing the 2012 laptop and just wondering how much storage to look for. This wont be main machine, just used when travelling.

 

[dbrown57]

Think my question could have been phrased better, and sometime you dont really know what you are asking - which makes it very difficult to answer!

 

[djdister]

Buy yourself a NAS or mini-NAS and forget paying for cloud services.

 

[koraks]

@wiltw I don't feel like checking every entry on your list but I use at least one of them on a daily basis as it was never discontinued. So there are likely more errors on the list. Also, discontinuation of a service is not necessarily a problem if the service is integrated/taken over by a new provider and/or you receive reasonable advance notice of discontinuation. Using the argument that some of these services were discontinued to just stop using cloud storage is like saying people shouldn't drive a car because the Ford Pinto isn't sold anymore. What gives; plenty of perfectly fine alternatives to pick from. Just a bunch of FUD and poohaa.

 

[mshchem]

Buy yourself a NAS or mini-NAS and forget paying for cloud services.

What's a NAS?

 

[Wallendo]

Think my question could have been phrased better, and sometime you dont really know what you are asking - which makes it very difficult to answer!

Your question was quite understandable to me. A number of posters don’t seem to understand the iCloud environment and are treating it like a back-up service instead of a system which synchronizes access to photographs and documents between Apple devices ( and Windows laptops ).

My only caveat for you to consider is that computers running older versions of MacOS may not be able to seamlessly synchronize images. It won’t hurt anything to try iCloud on your laptop and see what happens. If it doesn’t work simply turn it off.

As long as you keep a copy of all images on your main computer and back that up appropriately, you should be fine.

 

[MattKing]

What's a NAS?

IIRC, a Network Accessible Server.

 

[koraks]

What's a NAS?

Network Attached Storage. It's basically a lightweight server that makes a storage device (harddisk or array of disks) accessible over the network. They usually offer some apps/services like streaming video and audio content over the local network, a web server, and often some kind of photo database platform. Synology is a popular brand.

 

[mshchem]

I've never used the cloud. Intentionally. I delete photos, empty the trash, and I still get "memories" something that shows what I was doing 5 years ago.

Whenever I use a computer or my phone I feel exploited, it's like someone coming to your door trying to sell you windows!

 

[MattKing]

Network Attached Storage. It's basically a lightweight server that makes a storage device (harddisk or array of disks) accessible over the network. They usually offer some apps/services like streaming video and audio content over the local network, a web server, and often some kind of photo database platform. Synology is a popular brand.

Yep - much better than my vague recollection!

 

[wiltw]

@wiltw I don't feel like checking every entry on your list but I use at least one of them on a daily basis as it was never discontinued. So there are likely more errors on the list. Also, discontinuation of a service is not necessarily a problem if the service is integrated/taken over by a new provider and/or you receive reasonable advance notice of discontinuation. Using the argument that some of these services were discontinued to just stop using cloud storage is like saying people shouldn't drive a car because the Ford Pinto isn't sold anymore. What gives; plenty of perfectly fine alternatives to pick from. Just a bunch of FUD and poohaa.

You raise valid points, this list is only as good as the write-ups published in the web, and if the writeup does not sufficiently disclose things like transitions to newer software/hardware as the reasons for 'discontinue' in the writeup, there well could be some successors unstated.

Please cite which service entry that continues to be used by you, so the list can be modified to be correct.

 

[koraks]

@wiltw I'm in all honesty too lazy to review the list, so I dumped it into Copilot and asked which, if any, migration path was offered for each of the services. There's some notes as to the nature of the discontinuation as well. I did not bother to ask Copilot how much advance notice was granted to users; keep in mind that this is also relevant as users in most cases would have been able to migrate their data to a new platform/provider even if no direct successor was appointed.

Copilot/AI output:

Service	Year Ended	Continued?	Successor / Migration Path	Notes
Iron Mountain Public Cloud Storage	2011	No	—	Iron Mountain exited public cloud; continued only enterprise vaulting services.
Megaupload	2012	Yes	Mega (mega.nz)	Created by Kim Dotcom as successor.
Nirvanix	2013	No	—	Customers were told to migrate to other providers (IBM SoftLayer was common).
Comcast Backup & Share	2013	No	—	Service discontinued; no migration.
Ubuntu One	2014	No	—	Canonical shut it down; no successor.
Maxis Loker	2014	No	—	Malaysian telco service discontinued.
Wuala	2015	No	—	Users advised to migrate to Tresorit.
Dell DataSafe Online	2015	No	—	Dell exited consumer backup.
F‑Secure Younited	2015	No	—	F‑Secure pivoted to security only.
Copy.com	2016	No	—	Barracuda shut it down; no successor.
Verizon Public Cloud	2016	No	—	Verizon exited cloud IaaS entirely.
Bitcasa	2017	No	—	Fully shut down.
CrashPlan Home	2017	Yes	CrashPlan for Small Business	Home users migrated to business tier.
Digi Cloud Capture	2017	No	—	Service discontinued.
HubiC	2018	No	—	OVH froze new signups; service effectively dead.
Shoebox	2019	No	—	Photo backup service shut down.
Zoolz (Home)	2020	No	—	Business products continue; home cloud ended.
Google Backup & Sync	2021	Yes	Google Drive for Desktop	Merged with Drive File Stream.
Samsung Cloud (Gallery/Drive)	2021	Yes	Microsoft OneDrive	Automatic migration for photos/files.
IBM Cloud Private	2021	Yes	Red Hat OpenShift	IBM replaced ICP with OpenShift‑based stack.
GoGrid	2015	Yes	Datapipe → Rackspace	Acquired by Datapipe, then Rackspace.
Apple iCloud Documents & Data	2022	Yes	iCloud Drive	Apple merged the services.
American Virtual Cloud Technologies	2023	No	—	Company liquidated.
Amazon Drive	2023	Yes	Amazon Photos	Files removed; photos migrated.
WeWork (cloud services)	2023	No	—	WeWork’s digital services ended with bankruptcy.
Nortel Networks	2009	No	—	Assets sold to Avaya, Ericsson, etc.; no cloud continuation.
Arcserve (cloud backup)	2024	Yes	Arcserve UDP Cloud Hybrid	Company restructured but product line continues.
Adobe Creative Cloud Services (discontinued parts)	2024	Partial	Adobe Creative Cloud (core continues)	Only specific cloud features deprecated.
Dropbox Cloud (rumored 2024)	2024	No	—	Dropbox continues; only some legacy features removed.
Barracuda Cloud Archiving	2024	Partial	Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup	Archiving product retired; other cloud services continue.
AT&T Photo Storage	2025	Yes	AT&T Personal Cloud → Terminated; users migrate to Google Photos/OneDrive	AT&T ended the service; no official successor.

As with all things AI, it would have to be double-checked for correctness if accuracy really matters.

 

[djdister]

If I were so inclined to use a commercial cloud storage service, I would certainly not go with "free" storage services, and not with storage offered by my ISP, but rather go with one of the big guys, like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. Those guys aren't going away anytime soon, but I would still have my home Network Attached Storage solution because you just never know, and having files stored in more than one location is a good redundancy strategy. As it is, I already have redundancy between my SSD storage and my 12TB Synology NAS.

 

[wiltw]

I have written on this topic in the distasnt past, on other (now non-existing) forum, and just updated this. Not an exhaustive list, but spanning over a decade...some exiting the business segment, some exiting existence

• Iron Mountain, 2011 discontinue public cloud storage
• Megaupload, 2012
• Nirvanix: 2013
• ...
• Dropbox Cloud, 2024
• Barracuda Networks Cloud Archiving, 2024
• AT&T Photo Storage service, 2025
  
  (31 total listed entries per my earlier post)

List edited 21 Dec. , per AI noted corrections list posted by Koraks, (down to 19 entries)

• Iron Mountain, 2011 discontinue public cloud storage
• Nirvanix: 2013
• Comcast Backup & Share, 2013
• Ubuntu One, 2014
• Maxis Loker, 2014
• Wuala , 2015
• Dell Data Safe Online, 2015
• F-Secure Younited, 2015
• Copy.com. 2016
• Verizon public cloud storage end 2016
• Bitcasa 2017
• Digi Cloud Capture, 2017
• HubiC, 2018
• Shoebox, 2019
• Zoolz, 2020
• American Virtual, January 2023.
• WeWork: , November 2023.
• Nortel Networks
• Dropbox Cloud, 2024

 

[Wallendo]

There is no single "best" way to backup. I choose to go with a system that uses multiple back-ups of different formats in multiple locations.

I use iCloud which automatically saves my iPhone images to the cloud. I have my desktop Mac set to download all the images (I now have copies on my hard drive and in the cloud. I also use Apple Time Machine to back up my main hard drive to another hard drive as well as Carbonite to back up to a different cloud and a backup program to save my Lightroom catalog to yet another external drive.


I used to use BD-R disks, but with large RAW and TIFF images, that is no longer am easy option because a BD-R doesn't hold that many images anymore.

I am considering inversting in a NAS system, but will continue using cloud services since they allow my to access photographs and my iPhone and laptop from anywhere in the known universe with an internet connection. Even if I go with a NAS system allowing me to share images over the internet, the transfers will be limited by my sloe cable internet upload speeds.

 

[koraks]

List edited 21 Dec. , per AI noted corrections list posted by Koraks, (down to 19 entries)

It may help if you also include the text in the 'Notes' column. It makes a difference in some cases.

 

[dbrown57]

Think Ive found the answer! When I tried to turn iCloud on for the account I would have liked to sync with iCloud it said can only sync one account. Took a screenshot of the memory and had 25Gb free. Made another account that I have turned iCloud on and it is slowly downloading thumbnails of iCloud to Photos. Second screen shot shows only 13Gb full - so it looks as if it wont fit it takes up nearly all the room. Want to buy another Air to take out and about so think if want to synch it and want a bit of space need biggest drive can find!