With Cloud sync, you can seamlessly sync and share files among your Synology NAS and multiple public cloud services. I am very excited about this. I considered posting this myself after I wrote up the guide, but, alas, I was too lazy! If you've turned on the Download Originals option for your Photos library but don't want to back it up automatically, you can always copy your Photos library to an external drive regularly. If you have iCloud Photos turned on then your photos will not be included in an iCloud Backup. Your Google accounts total storage space applies to content transferred from iCloud Photos to Google Photos. Is there a reason against using the Synology Photos app to do this..? Oh no, that's disappointing! First, you'll want to decide if your NAS (See on Amazon) is your primary storage for images, or simply a backup copy of the images on your computer. Don't worry to much about that as the container will attempt to run the sync after 6 hours again. I use a second Synology off site and use it strictly as a hyperbackup vault. Its configured to only add files, not delete them. the option to create a new System Photo Library in the place of . The Synology app copies the photo into its backup. It isn't perfect, but gets the job mostly done. We do not use the "auto import" function of Moments (or Photo Station) because we do not like the file structure it produces. Enjoy cherished memories in the palm of your hand. Migrate Apple ICloud Photos to a Synology & Qnap NAS Posted on 24 Oct 2021 Also Read. More information about what data is transferred is listed below. This process is rather lengthy so just let it run through. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader, https://github.com/gilesknap/gphotos-sync. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. However, you can also export the edited versions. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. . I will now set up the same thing for other family members. r/synology Started with a DS1813+ from EBay two months ago. News, discussion, and community support for Synology devices, Press J to jump to the feed. (No, the Photos app specifically doesnt let you choose a network share as a destination.). Lastly, I had my admin account create a "Family" folder on its Synology Drive which is shared to all the family. I use a second Synology off site and use it strictly as a hyperbackup vault. I'm using TimeMachine on both iMacs (and free Veeam for Windows for our PCs/laptops), all backing up to my DS-, If you live in the US of A it is a good plan but for us non-Trumpian Empire folks not so much. Next, I backup. Rick. I only keep 3 versions and use inteliversioning. Once your logs indicate that your back-up is complete, you can validate the success of your back-up by comparing your image count on the iPhone Photos app vs. number of images that have been downloaded to your NAS. Thank you for signing up to iMore. The first part involves exporting all your photos & videos from Apple Photos. Select the photo library you want to back up. Then I uploaded them via the photos app in the NAS (not my iPhone). It may not display this or other websites correctly. Posting here in case it comes in handy to someone else. 442,769 points. It is scary because everything disappears and blank folders appear in the user home folder. ), but I did want to find a way to have a secondary backup solution that doesnt rely on Photos or iCloud. https://github.com/jake-b/icloud_photos_downloader/tree/master/docker. The typical backup time for Synology to back up photos ranges from half an hour to two hours. If someone has an alternative for backing up a large amount of iCloud photos to a NAS Id be interested in hearing it. What I love about this container is the fact that you can also run scheduled backups in the future. I mean, there is no such thing as "too many backups" and it's better to be safe than sorry. I just wish I could run a second instance for wifes phone but will setup symbology photos in hers to do the backup automatically or try to find an old mac mini cheap. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Ok so this is by far the easiest way of doing it, but it does require you have a desktop Mac or a MacBook that, a) has a full copy of your photos library, b) Is awake and connected to your network at regular intervals to run the backup. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The price is right at a half cent per gigabyte per month. Go to the File menu. With iCloud Photo Library enabled, your photos get . ; Create an external library for backing up iCloud Photo Library With my 1gb connection, it took me about 5-6 hours to download 200gb of images (throttled by Apple). Now, the magic, I go into the Apple Photos preferences menu and uncheck "Importing: Copy Items to the Photos library." DS cloud (iOS) Version 2.11 . Way 2. I did consider that when I was first installing this, but I went this route since it was just installing some python packages within a venv, so it's entirely self-contained and not modifying any system bits. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. This service is available to customers in over 240 countries around the world for transfers to Google Photos. Select either Export # Photos or Video or Export Unmodified Original for # Photos or Videos. I also have set up time machine to copy the external drive. This container is going to be a lifesaverthank you so much for sharing and posting your compose. In fact, the Apple Photo library does not even really like external storage unless it is formatted a certain way and has adequate size to do file swap. If I am understanding correctly, I don't think there is a way, without exporting the full size copies to an external (which is what I do monthly). For some reason Synology CloudSync can't sync from Apple iCloud - probably because Apple does not allow this. You do still only have one copy on the Nas which is a worry. Or Apple loses my data somehow? Works on Mac, Linux, Windows, and Synology DSM. 7) Click the "connect . From Finder you can't access this folder but you can in Terminal app. I will look into both. The iCloud Drive documents are synchronised by iCloud to your Mac accounts Library / Mobile Documents folder. My library was just over 1TB at the time, so Ive been paying for the 2TB plan ever since(Ive been collecting photos in my library since 2001 and while it could definitely use a bit of trimming, I dont think theres much I want to get rid of). Please refresh the page and try again. We work hard to maintain accuracy and consistency, so the data associated with your account and our responses to data requests may change as our means of storage and collection change. DiskStation Manager - Knowledge Base | Synology Inc. Onsite backup - better to another NAS or to an Expansion unit? Heres how it works. You are using an out of date browser. Launch Photos and configure it to perform full-resolution downloads in Photos > Preferences > iCloud. Note that this is not just a one time copy. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. DX unit can't work without the main DS one. Try out 'iclouddp' which you can run as a docker container on your NAS. This will do another check of downloaded files vs cloud files. Don't want to back up your entire library? It's pretty easy, and we always recommend keeping everything backed up on an external hard drive, as well as an off-site service as well. Chronosync, GoodSync, Hyperbackup. Try it Specifications Applied models DiskStation Manager; Cloud Sync. It's also possible that the data you were expecting isn't in a format that can be transferred or it may have been held only for a very short time and is no longer on our servers. Here are the steps: 1. I've configured the Mac Mini and Synology to wake up for a few hours every day to do this and so far it's working really well. After I disabled sleeping, the process ran to completion without issue. To run for the first time with a full back-up of all images: Take note that if downloading a lot of images, Apple may throttle/suspend your connection. backup journal to an external disk (newbie question), MariaDb problems "connection refused" after restored backup, DS923+ migrates to 1GbE LAN, not 10GbE LAN. Maybe Im missing something that Synology Photos doesnt do that this does. Copy everything from the iCloud desktop and documents folders to your Apple user home desktop and documents folders and let drive do the magic. As an idiot myself, I am thankful for the post. Preview and check the data you need > click OK. As an idiot, I needed a lot of help figuring out how to download a local copy of my iCloud Photos to my Synology. There's another app which gives far more scope for what to backup called PhotoSync but it has a subscription. Click " Photo Backup Not Enabled " and then " Enable Photo Backup " to allow the Photos app to access the storage. I use Nextcloud and when activating the auto upload feature you can make it upload the entire library first, That windows iCloud app defaults to C drive to download the whole thing. Step 1. The first run took a couple days, but it worked. It may not display this or other websites correctly. 2. Pro is it also renames the photos based on date and creates a date based folder structure. I use the Synology photos app on my phone to sync photos when I only have a few, but if I have a lot (like after a vacation) I'll download them and then move them over to the NAS manually. Huge thanks again to u/Alternative-Mud-4479 !! What about using Automator or rsync to copy the file structure thats in the local photos library bundle/package? It sort of worked, but quickly felt like more hassle than it was worth. Otherwise, consider backing up to an external drive. Follow the prompts to complete your request. Open any folder. JavaScript is disabled. The next option I tested was using a cheap miniPC running Windows 10 and Apples iCloud software to copy the files onto the mounted Synology drive. Im on Windows btw, but I have a Mac notebook as well but thats mainly for work. Also, Apple's iCloud photo and video transfer works so well that we really do not want another app. Its important to note that this is a sync if you delete a photo from iCloud, itll also delete from your Synology. Step 3. This way, you have all of your iCloud images in sync with your NAS at all times. Also, this isn't a 2-way sync, right? Videos are transferred separately, without their albums. Then, each family member downloaded the Synology Drive Desktop Client from here: https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/download. My concern is that if my photos are wiped on one device accidentally, the Mac Minis library would also be wiped). You can request to transfer a copy of your iCloud Photosphotos and videos associated with your Apple IDto another service. You have basically now created a situation like the old "Aperture" used to function with a referenced library. That, in turn backs up to . Apple's 2TB family plan is just not enough with a wife who is a photo-hobbyist and two teenagers who have their own websites and Youtube channels. These devices attach to a network and allow users to store, share and access files and data. However, an acceptable solution for me has been to use DSPhoto on my iPhone to automatically back up my photos to my NAS by setting up a geofence (sounds harder than it is) - this really works great. So since Im already paying Apple, why would I want another backup? You can for instance, directly transfer from OneDrive to a NAS or from SMB to a USB device. Click on iCloud Drive. It gets uploaded to iCloud Photos. Keeping a local backup of your photo library is mighty important. I am in a near identical situation to you guys here, 320gb library nearly full on my 512 MacBook pro. Yes, you can. The problem is that you can not put the Apple Photo library on a NAS. This was you have your photos backed up online in 2 places. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. If your computer went to sleep at any point, you may have to ssh to your Synology again, Run ~/.local/bin/icloudpd -d -u --recent 10 --only-print-filenames --threads-num 2, If it fails if you have spaces in your path, youll need to enclose in single quotes, See if it succeeds (it should print 10 filenames), Run ~/.local/bin/icloudpd -d -u --recent 50 --set-exif-datetime --auto-delete --threads-num 2, Check your folder using the Synology file browser to see if the photos are there and whether they open correctly, In the Synology web UI, open Synology > Control Panel > Task Scheduler, Create an upgrade script to keep the iCloud Photos Downloader up to date, Click Create > Scheduled Task > User-defined Script, General: Give it a name, run as your user, Schedule: your preference, I chose once a month, Notification: Your email here, only if abnormal termination (if you want), Highlight the resulting entry and click run, Click Action > View Result and ensure that the Current Status is Normal (0), Click Create > Scheduled Task > User-defined script again, Schedule: Your preference, I chose daily at 4am, Note that this may occasionally take a long time to run, frequencies <1 day arent recommended. I then enabled Moments on Synology and turned on the "Shared Photo Library." In some cases, you may find that the transfer didnt include all the photos, videos, or formats that you expected and there are a few reasons why this could happen. iCloud Photos is for syncing between your devices and replacing your photos if you lose your device. One way to use a Synology device is to back up an iCloudPhoto Library. You can easily (and securely) access your NAS box over the Internet in a number of different ways. Drive is a sync tool and you can backup with it as well. Couple of pro tips: You can use Synology Drive folders in the Apple Files app on mobile but you need to enable it. In the Finder, open the folder that contains Photos Library. Remember though that Backblaze has data storage in accordance with USA law. I intend to start the image using a scheduled task, but for now I'm just launching the container when I want to pull new stuff from iCloud. So, if you read other old posts, realize that some may complain a lot because when Apple Photos was first introduced, the referenced photos and videos did not work so well. And the second one, do you think that the performance could be good with the HDD connected to the Time Capsule? A few years ago, I decided to go all-in with iCloud Photos. Contact the vendor for additional information. This service is available to customers in over 240 countries around the world for transfers to Google Photos. I was about to enable it. Level 10. So it can be used in multiple scenarios. u/Alternative-Mud-4479 's super helpful instructions were written in the comments of a post about Apple Photos library hosting, and were bound to be lost to future idiots who may be searching for the same help that I was. So far, the most reliable back-up solution I have come across. But Synology can do one better with Synology Drive and its Desktop Client. Yes I do, what i meant was something to download all my content to my Synology from Google photos. However, one problem I have is that my family's life (mostly photos and files) is in iCloud. Note: Synology Cloud Station Suite is not supported on DSM 7.0 and above. Formats include: .jpg, .png, .webp, .gif, some RAW files, .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v, .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts, and .mkv files. Docker noob here. When you export out of Photos, even if the mac is set to "optimised" you can export the full size file to the external, as it gets downloaded to do so. These instructions assume youre using a Mac, but Windows users should be able to accomplish this with WSL (Windows Systems for Linux) terminal commands. You are using an out of date browser. Open the Photos app. - In Photos, under Preferences/General, check "Metadata: Include location information for published item". There are other things you can offload from iCloud such as mail, contacts, etcbut I found that once files/photos/videos were offloaded to our Synology that we just did not need to pay for iCloud storage anymore. iMore is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. I have iCloud for windows setup on a computer that is always on running iTunes for home sharing to all the Apple TVs to access the movies etc and it backs up my iPhone photos to the NAS when I get home and connect to the wifi network. You can install the iCloud windows application to automatically download or bulk download the images, or use an app on your phone to store your camera roll on the server. I cant select all photos on iCloud.com because the max number is 1000. Thus, on any computer or mobile, a file can get dropped in to this admin "Family" folder and it is instantly accessible on all devices in the "Shared with me" folder of Synology Drive. Tap > Upload > Others. We each then pointed our Synology Drive desktop and documents folders at our respective "empty" Apple user home folders. Group photos by themes or topics of your choice. useradd: Invalid user name Find: unknown user, Im guessing its why Initialise never asks me for an iCloud password. On your Mac, select Finder > iCloud Drive. kalleboo on March 6, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to . iCloud Photos can feel like a backup. If it will be your primary image library . Download the files that you need from Synology NAS to your local computer. (You can also export sections of your library if you don't want to back up the whole thing.). Once transferred to Google, the filenames of albums and videos start with "Copy of.. That way, if my library is ever accidentally wiped, it wont also delete the files from the Synology backup. In some situations, it takes longer than that. On my study user, I have copied the photo library to my external drive and set "download full res images to this Mac". 1813 model about to be local backup! As it has often been said, the "cloud" is just someone else's computer. Realize that if you have done edits, they will not carry forward. Apple Photos 1.0.1. suijiu 1 mo. A command-line tool to download all your iCloud photos. Updated June 2022: These are still the proper steps to back up your iCloud Photo Library. She has been writing about technology, specifically Apple, for over a decade at a variety of websites. For DSM 6.x icloud_photo_station-0.2.0.spk Works on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. If I delete stuff off my iCloud account, will this remove the matching entry from my local storage? You have a Google account to use Google Photos. Then, you can access your NAS files in the same way as you would local hard drive data. You must log in or register to reply here. You can download all of your photos in bulk first, then setup synology photos to only sync new images to your library. Run as a scheduled task in Synology to keep a local backup of your photos and videos. You can turn it on and turn iCloud off in the Apple Files app on mobile at the same time. Before you request to transfer your iCloud Photos content, please make sure: If you add more photos or videos to iCloud Photos before your data transfer starts, youll need additional space in your Google account to complete it. I didn't write the actual downloader python script, and it uses a plaintext keyring within the container to hold your iCloud credentials so proceed at your own risk. I run this docker container on my Synology to have it download a backup of my iCloud Photo Library In hindsight, Im not sure what I was expecting: the cheap miniPC was temperamental, Windows never stopped updating and Apple iCloud for Windows seemed well not their main focus, lets put it that way. When she isnt writing about Apple, Christine can often be found at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as she is a passholder and obsessed with all things Disney, especially Star Wars. I thought i would optimize my photos on my iphone and keep the originals in the cloud, that was after i found out i cannot download them from the cloud unless its one at a time. My family each created a documents and desktop folder in their Synology Drive accounts. Thanks. Don't worry though, it is all still in iCloud. You're using iCloud Photos to store photos and videos with Apple. (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore), How to back up iCloud Photo Library to your Mac's hard drive, Back up iCloud Photo Library to Mac HD by showing: Launch Photos, Back up iCloud Photo Library to Mac HD by showing: Click Photos, Click Preferences, Back up iCloud Photo Library to Mac HD by showing: Click iCloud, click Download Originals to this Mac, How to back up your iCloud Photo Library content to an external drive, Back up iCloud Photo Library to Mac HD by showing: Click the Finder icon, Back up Photos Library manually by showing: Click Pictures in the Finder side bar, Back up Photos Library manually by showing: Click and drag your Photos Library to your external hard drive, Back up portions of your iCloud Photo Library by showing: Hover over the Export option, ack up portions of your iCloud Photo Library by showing: Select to Export Unmodified Originals or as-is, Back up portions of your iCloud Photo Library by showing: Input a file name and subfolder format, Back up portions of your iCloud Photo Library by showing: Click Export, How to make an online backup of your iCloud Photo Library, How to back up iCloud Photo Library to Mac's HD, How to back up iCloud Photo Library content to an XHD, How to make an online backup of iCloud Photo Library, external library to backup your iCloud Photo Library, Apple VR headset won't require an iPhone, will have "in-air typing", iPhone 15 Plus leak shows slimmer bezels, Dynamic Island, USB-C, Five dead Apple products that deserve a 2023 revamp: iPod, iMac Pro and more, iPhone 15 Pro is getting an upgrade for the LiDAR sensor, Read everything from iPhone to Apple Watch, Mags delivered straight to your door or device. When it comes to backing up iCloud photos, these are the best solutions possible. First Synology. I'm afraid I don't know enough to answer your questions now . Installation to Synology DSM. Realize that when you do this that the Synology NAS will "chew" on the files for days and days indexing and making thumbnails. Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+. Installation, Configuration, Migration, Expansion. that is, if I put stuff in the local dir, it won't sync it to iCloud? The versions with backup has always been good for me. #apple_ID #backup_and_sync #external_library #icloud #icloud_backup #icloud_library #icloud_photo_library #icloud_photos #icloud_services #iCloud_storage #ios #ipad #iphone #mac #mac_hard_drive #macOS #online_backup #optimize_storage #photo_backup #storage #storage_space #windows # . Nobody else has anything close. I use iCloud photo library so i can view the pics on my apple tv but absolutely want to have a local backup of full res photos. I think that for the moment, the only "good" solution if you want to use iCloud and have everything synchronized is to have a "desktop" Mac at home (iMac/Mini) with enough space to store all the original files and a Time Machine Backup of this Mac to the NAS. If you Just a question for now. Hi and welcome to the forum and into Syno world. That's why if you are truly serious about keeping all of your pictures and video safe, you want some redundancies in your backup process. If your final integrity check comes back with a success/complete message, you can start running below compose for scheduled back-ups. Thoughts on product management, apps, gadgets, cycling and photography. Additionally, the 128GB iPhone I have does not have enough storage to hold all of my photos/videos. I found a tool called icloud_photos_downloader which I packaged as a docker image. I couldnt find a perfect solution so honestly I just use Synology Moments as well. Since my MacBook is usually closed / not plugged in and doesnt have a full copy of my photo library, I bought a usedMac Mini and hooked it up to an external 2 TB drive. In the config file there are two ways to download photos. I use the Synology Drive app. Downloading was quick, but it took about a week for my NAS to index and convert all of the photos. Tip: You can also try the option iPhone to PC from Phone Transfer to transfer photos, music, etc. Fill out each tab as follows: General: Give it a name, run as your user. I keep getting an error, would anyone be able to help? Tips: Creating an iPad full backup is also a good choice that keeps you away from iPad data loss. Any cloud storage that syncs comes with a risk that all your photos could disappear suddenly this prevents that from happening. Can't wait for 1823+. If not, consider it a good time to start! If you are subscribed to iCloud, and you want to move your photos to NAS, your synology photo apps mobile back up functionality works as expected; just choose backup all photos and let it have access to all your photos then your whole iCloud will start to be downloaded to the NAS. I chose to use Backblaze's B2 for my NAS backup. Was that what you were thinking of with the spare Mac? Set the route to save downloaded iCloud backup photos. Does deleting iCloud backup deletes iCloud Photo library? I am writing this post because I want to give those who are considering or approaching Synology from my perspective a clear path. Any changes I make to the library are reflected when icloudpd runs. Switching from Google Photos to a Synology NAS. At $0.99 per month, you can enjoy 50 GB storage for your photos, videos, and files to back up the data on your devices. Its super convenient to have all my photos everywhere at all times (whats the point in taking them if you cant enjoy them? Ok, I have done several tests and I have ended thinking that this is not a "mature" solution, at least not for the moment. While her main speciality is the iPhone, she also covers Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac when needed. Once done, you will have a local copy of your documents and desktop, and after sync, they will be on your Synology which is easily accessible from the Synology Drive App on any mobile platform. Is there a step by step tutorial on getting this set up? I tried syncing all my photos with the Synology photos iPhone app, and it never worked well. With the exported files, I create my own file structure based on years/Months. Apple has dramatically improved the functioning of the referenced photos and videos in Apple Photos and continues to do so. For even more absurd redundancy, you can use Synologys Glacier backup to copy your entire photo library up to AWS Glacier for cheap, offsite replication. My Synology maxed out at about 10Mbps download, a fraction of my available speed, You should see current status: running with no data as the output, Turn off SSH on the Synology (remember to hit apply), Change log level if desired in the task settings by editing your scheduled task and replacing the last word (info) with error, Limit the comparisons to recent photos only if youd like by adding -recent 1000 to the end of your configuration (you can change the number if desired), Downloading iCloud Photo Library to your Synology for Backup. One is all photos based on their added date (the date added to your library in photos on icloud) back to the "date_from" date in config.ini. Run as executable, docker container, or from the source; Run one time or continuously watch for changes to keep a local backup of your photos and videos. I believe I paid around $500 for the NAS box and the 3 TB drive a few years back. I export them in unmodified original format to prevent any quality loss. Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. I think it didn't like my old password used for the databases anymore.. Hyper Backup backs up your configuration with each run. Transferring photos and videos from iCloud Photos doesn't remove or alter the content you store with Apple, but sends a copy of your content to the other service.