A flexible and comprehensive management tool that allows photo backup and browsing by chronological order or folder structure. A command-line tool to download all your iCloud photos. As an idiot, I needed a lot of help figuring out how to download a local copy of my iCloud Photos to my Synology. It sort of worked, but quickly felt like more hassle than it was worth. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Google Photos also has a limit of 20,000 photos per album. Hi Rusty and thanks very much for that! Best thing is that we won't ever run out of space with our family Synology. I had heard of a command line tool called icloudpd that did this, but unfortunately I lack any knowledge or skills when it comes to using such tools.. Thankfully, u/Alternative-Mud-4479 was gracious enough to lay out a step by step guide to installing it as well as automating the . upload photos to a cloud service like Google Photos or iCloud; Option 1: Whole Computer Backup. I use it to move files between drives at home too because it's so fast and accurate. If you don't store your iCloud images locally, this is a bit trickier: you can use the external drive method we mentioned above to export portions of your library to an external drive, and then sync that drive to your preferred online backup service, but it's a bit more labor-intensive. QNAP NAS are optimized for Apple's Pro Apps. 2. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Also, this will work even if your phone is not connected to the network with your NAS and you don't have your NAS exposed externally or through a VPN. Then, each family member downloaded the Synology Drive Desktop Client from here: https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/download. Slated to end on June 1, Google announced a bit ago that it would finally be closing out its notable unlimited Photos backup. 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. First Synology. While her main speciality is the iPhone, she also covers Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac when needed. My concern is that if my photos are wiped on one device accidentally, the Mac Minis library would also be wiped). You can then delete the desktop and documents folders from iCloud and go to Apple system settings, Apple ID, and turn off desktop and documents in the "options" menu of iCloud Drive. from iPhone to Synology NAS, so that you can browse and edit them on computer. I do not delete any new photos or videos that I may have accumulated since the export. New York, . Keeping a local backup of your photo library is mighty important. 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. How to backup iCloud Photo Library | MacRumors Forums Only the most recent edit of the photo is transferred and not the original version. 442,769 points. However, one problem I have is that my family's life (mostly photos and files) is in iCloud. I couldnt find a perfect solution so honestly I just use Synology Moments as well. ago. This container is going to be a lifesaverthank you so much for sharing and posting your compose. Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 4, 2018 | CISA News, discussion, and community support for Synology devices, Press J to jump to the feed. A few years ago, I decided to go all-in with iCloud Photos. You asked about moving from iCloud to NAS, but this is just a copy. So I decided to make this post to give it greater visibility. No matter which method you prefer (though it's highly recommended to use both), your Photos library (and all images and video automatically downloaded from iCloud) will be backed up as well. 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. Set the route to save downloaded iCloud backup photos. Then there's an option to clean up space. Heres how it works. I think it didn't like my old password used for the databases anymore.. Hyper Backup backs up your configuration with each run. If it's an external drive, click on it in Finder. 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. In the Synology web UI, open Synology > Control Panel > Task Scheduler. Oh no, that's disappointing! On my study user, I have copied the photo library to my external drive and set "download full res images to this Mac". How to Backup iPad to Synology Nas? (2022) It's got two hard drive slots. More information about what data is transferred is listed below. 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. Transferring photos and videos from iCloud Photos doesnt remove or alter the content you store with Apple, but sends a copy of your content to the other service. (You can also export sections of your library if you don't want to back up the whole thing.). Step 3. So it can be used in multiple scenarios. Once again, Apple uses iCloud to achieve this. Backup iCloudPhoto Library To Synology - Manent-Backup Ive travelled this path, OP! Lastly, I had my admin account create a "Family" folder on its Synology Drive which is shared to all the family. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Create an account on our community. You could also check out https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader which is the same program /u/onestix posted but not in a docker container (you should use the container though), It did exactly what I wanted it to. In the config file there are two ways to download photos. On your computer, mount the Synology NAS as a network disk. They both natively support B2. DS cloud (iOS) Version 2.11 . Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac Take note of env variable skip_check=false. Backup Synology NAS to iCloud via iCloud sync folder. Synology Community 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. Privacy Policy. (Note: Why isnt this enough backup? Lots of software will backup your Mac to it. 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. Command: ~/.local/bin/icloudpd -d -u --set-exif-datetime --auto-delete --no-progress-bar --threads-num 2 --log-level info, Open Synology > Control Panel > Task Scheduler > Settings, Check save output results and give it a folder that you are ok with filling up, Highlight the upgrade task by clicking on it and then click Run, Select Action > View Result to see terminal output, Make sure that the current status says Normal (0), Highlight the download task and then click Run, This will download your entire iCloud Photo Library dont do this when you need your bandwidth. Thanks for pointing it out! The Mac Mini downloads a copy to its Photos Library. Additionally, the 128GB iPhone I have does not have enough storage to hold all of my photos/videos. You're using iCloud Photos to store photos and videos with Apple. How to back up iCloud Photo Library - The cloud-based sync service <br>Apple's iCloud Photo Library is a great. cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/. Everyone's favorite IPhone backup app : r/synology - Reddit Nobody else has anything close. 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. If you transfer an album with more than 20,000 photos, the additional photos are still transferred but are not added to the album. To start a request to transfer the photos and videos in iCloud Photos: Youll be asked to sign in to your Google account to start the transfer. Huge thanks again to u/Alternative-Mud-4479 !! Works super well. Migrate Apple ICloud Photos to a Synology & Qnap NAS Posted on 24 Oct 2021 Also Read. The first run took a couple days, but it worked. Second: Documents and Desktop. Hi and welcome to the forum and into Syno world. Yes, you can. Terabytes of storage on hand means your workflow is never constrained by storage capacity. The unofficial Synology forum for NAS owners and enthusiasts. With my 1gb connection, it took me about 5-6 hours to download 200gb of images (throttled by Apple). Note: If you plan to back up your entire digital library to your Mac's hard drive, you'll likely want to do it on a desktop Mac with at least a 1TB drive or more. I believe I paid around $500 for the NAS box and the 3 TB drive a few years back. After all, you can never have too many backups, in all honesty. You can export individual images and videos to your external drive. Thanks for that Zathras. Your Google accounts total storage space applies to content transferred from iCloud Photos to Google Photos. 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. While Synology Drive's paid plans are quote-based, Apple iCloud, on the other hand, offers three storage plans that are perfect for your needs. https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowake_Synology_NAS_accessible_over_the_Internet, https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/4r2t2q/backup_icloud_photo_library_to_synology_with/, https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=119592, https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/5m80su/ds_photo_app_and_reliability_of_backup/, transfer them to another computer with Image Capture or Photos, Buying Stuff We Dont Need The TouchArcade Show #550, TouchArcade Game of the Week: Stuffo the Puzzle Bot, The X-Men Take the Spotlight as Marvel Snap Visits Days of Future Past, SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring PowerWash Simulator Midgar DLC, Plus the Latest Releases and Sales, Action-Packed Shoot Em Up AirAttack 2 Updated for the First Time in 6 Years, Now Optimized for Modern Devices, Dead by Daylight Mobile Announces a Sadako Rising Collab Event for its Relaunch on March 15th, Kimono Cats Is Out Now on Apple Arcade Alongside a Few Notable Updates to Existing Games, Minecraft Update 1.20 Is Officially the Trails and Tales Update, Coming Later This Year. I really love Apple products with the tight integration of their software with hardware. The best way to back up the images and video in iCloud Photo Library is to make sure you're downloading all your content onto your Mac. might investigate a Synology . With 'iclouddp', once the photos are downloaded, do the files' timestamps show the original time that the pictures were taken or the time that the files were downloaded? Synology Drive vs Apple iCloud Comparison 2021 - CompareCamp 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. Backing up iCloud Photos to a Synology NAS - Adrian - Adrian Thomas Easily connect your Synology NAS to cloud services including BackBlaze B2, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive to combine the different . Also, I tried downloading all of my images using Apple's recommended method by requesting a copy of my data. and our Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Posting here in case it comes in handy to someone else. 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. The idiot's guide to syncing iCloud Photos to Synology using icloudpd Backup photo library vs iCloud Photos - Apple Community My family each created a documents and desktop folder in their Synology Drive accounts. It will take a long time but its the simplest approach. Videos are transferred separately, without their albums. Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+. 1813 model about to be local backup! Way 2. I am writing this post because I want to give those who are considering or approaching Synology from my perspective a clear path. Triple-Protect Yourself by Creating Backups of Your iCloud Drive Files Was that what you were thinking of with the spare Mac? You end up with exactly the same photos on your synology volume as you do in iCloud. In some situations, it takes longer than that. Hope my solution helps other lost souls. Download iCloud for Windows on your Windows PC. Fill out each tab as follows: General: Give it a name, run as your user. Drive is a sync tool and you can backup with it as well. I suppose you could delete them from iCloud now if you wanted to actually move them, What the hell is going with Apples servers lately? I then go to the Apple Photos File menu and select "Import." The format is specific year-month-day so keep to that format (shown in the ini file). Hey, thanks! Or Apple loses my data somehow? Downloaded images retain exif data and are neatly placed into a folder structure that you can define. Both unlikely, but it can happen. Even though your entire iCloud Photo Library is (as the name implies) stored online in iCloud, it's worth considering a second online backup as one of your redundancies. Realize that if you have done edits, they will not carry forward. Is there a similar app for Google photos? One way to use a Synology device is to back up an iCloudPhoto Library. So now I have the following setup; I take or import a picture on my iPhone. As it has often been said, the "cloud" is just someone else's computer. I want to do this too but the Photos integration across all Apple devices, plus the memories, etc make it difficult to leave. Installation, Configuration, Migration, Expansion. I am a Linux user as well and am just flabbergasted by how the DSM is just fantastic. If your final integrity check comes back with a success/complete message, you can start running below compose for scheduled back-ups. Does deleting iCloud backup deletes iCloud Photo library? Chronosync would be my second choice. . Isn't a trailing ' &' enough to put the command to run in a job independent from the effective terminal connection? Transfer a copy of your iCloud Photos collection to another service 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. One other thing, on my Synology in Synology Drive Admin, I turn on versioning and have added my "photo" folder as well under Team folders. Synology DS415+. Downloading iCloud Photo Library to your Synology for Backup I am Sam As an idiot, I needed a lot of help figuring out how to download a local copy of my iCloud Photos to my Synology. DS file | iOS - Synology Knowledge Center Those photos can only be recovered by restoring your iPhone from your iCloud backup. (No, the Photos app specifically doesnt let you choose a network share as a destination.). iCloud Photos Downloader . You can request to transfer a copy of photos and videos you store in iCloud Photos to Google Photos. Your Mac will now download full-resolution copies of all your images to your Mac's hard drive, stored inside your Photos app library. The NCCIC Weekly Vulnerability Summary Bulletin is created using information from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Vulnerability Database (NVD). If it will be your primary image library . I am very excited about this. Get the best of iMore in your inbox, every day! Download files from iCloud via iCloud Drive folder. 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. 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. iMore is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Click to select a folder. Apple Photos 1.0.1. Second, they strip ALL exif data off your images, which is a big no no.. Avoid this method to be honest, it was a waste of my time. For some reason this defaults to the SMS fallback (if youre still not using MFA on iCloud, you really should be), Return to the DSM web user interface but do not disconnect your terminal yet, Create a dedicated folder for your photos, Copy the path to your folder out to a note somewhere and save it for the next step, Remember that you need to add /volume1 (or a different number if you have more than one volume) to the beginning of your path, Return to your terminal. Ok, I have done several tests and I have ended thinking that this is not a "mature" solution, at least not for the moment. Move all iCloud photos to NAS : r/synology - reddit.com In other words, they will not be stored in iCloud twice -- once in iCloud Photos and once in iCloud Backup. You probably shouldnt empty the deleted photos folder more frequently than you run this script or it will leave photos on your Synology that youve removed from iCloud, Synology with plenty of extra storage space, Your Synologys local IP or domain (something like .local), Familiarity with ssh, the terminal in general, and other computer inner workings, Allow SSH through your Synology firewall (only if your firewall is on), Make sure Encrypted Terminal Service appears on one of the entries with an action of allow, Enter the command `ssh @ as in ssh sam@harddrive.local', Enter your synology password when prompted, Youll see a slightly different command prompt, Check that it is by typing python -V into your terminal and pressing enter, The result needs to be at least 3.6 (Mine was 3.8.8 which I believe is included with DSM 7.1), In order to install more Python packages, we need to install an up-to-date version of pip, the Python package manager, I followed this great guide to enable pip, Run the following commands in your terminal, sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip, The order of this step is very important we need to install WHEEL first, Run ~/.local/bin/icloud username , Enter your real iCloud password when prompted app-specific passwords do NOT work because it is the API, Two factor users will get prompted for your code. I chose to use Backblaze's B2 for my NAS backup. Because of the way this script tracks (and removes) deleted photos, it must be run at a frequency less than 30 days deleted photos are pruned from iCloud after 30 days. There's another app which gives far more scope for what to backup called PhotoSync but it has a subscription. Hi fredbert and sorry for the delayed response. Once that was done, though, everything is working fine. Ive configured the Mac Mini and Synology to wake up for a few hours every day to do this and so far its working really well. Hover over the Export option. Once I backup all of my photos to the NAS, would I then delete a large portion of my iCloud library before disabling iCloud photo backup since I dont have enough space to store all of the originals. I didn't need to install manually, but YMMV. Everything still works fine. First I looked into ways to get the Synology to pull my photos down directly. Direct transfer between services, devices & NAS. 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. https://github.com/jake-b/icloud_photos_downloader/tree/master/docker. It means your photos arent stored in a recognizable, hierarchical folder format and your access to the library depends on Apple continuing to offer a reliable service. I do use iCloud. Then I uploaded them via the photos app in the NAS (not my iPhone). Its super convenient to have all my photos everywhere at all times (whats the point in taking them if you cant enjoy them? Remember though that Backblaze has data storage in accordance with USA law. Back up the library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support https://github.com/boredazfcuk/docker-icloudpd. Ready made packages are available: For DSM 7.x icloud_photo_station-0.3.0.spk. In setting everything up on my Synology, I drew from this community, the YouTuber mydodads, and the excellent writeup at wundertech.net. 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. Doesn't that look like it's working with iOS device backups that are stored in iCloud? 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. I export them in unmodified original format to prevent any quality loss. Downloading was quick, but it took about a week for my NAS to index and convert all of the photos. It took only one Apple iCloud server error which cut our access to our files/photos/videos for about 38 hours to teach me that you should not leave things that are important to you on someone else's computer unless it is an encrypted backup of a backup that you likely will not ever need. This way, you have all of your iCloud images in sync with your NAS at all times. This service is available to customers in over 240 countries around the world for transfers to Google Photos. Tip: You can also try the option iPhone to PC from Phone Transfer to transfer photos, music, etc. Doing so risks corruption which every Apple Photo help article explains. There are a few command line scripts that can talk directly to your iCloud account, but they all looked a bit fragile I want a setup that is going to work reliably and doesnt require maintenance. Open a browser, enter icloud.com and sign in, and upload the files from the local computer to iCloud, your Synology iCloud photo sync task will be started. Way 2. . If you add, update, or delete content after the transfer starts, or if your images and videos are still uploading, these changes or additions might not be included in the transfer. Launch Photos and configure it to perform full-resolution downloads in Photos > Preferences > iCloud. This process is rather lengthy so just let it run through. The iCloud Drive documents are synchronised by iCloud to your Mac accounts Library / Mobile Documents folder. You can download all of your photos in bulk first, then setup synology photos to only sync new images to your library. r/synology Started with a DS1813+ from EBay two months ago. Pro is it also renames the photos based on date and creates a date based folder structure. You must be a member in order to leave a comment. DX unit can't work without the main DS one. 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. Click each icon to preview and select the wanted files . 1. You are using an out of date browser. We use this time to verify that the request was made by you, and to make the transfer. Introducing our latest photo management solution for both pros and hobbyists, Synology Photos.Watch Synology 2021 sessions- System Management with DSM 7.0 - . We each then pointed our Synology Drive desktop and documents folders at our respective "empty" Apple user home folders. Im moving away from iCloud because my photo library is exceeding the size of my current iCloud plan and the price jump from 200GB to 2TB is too much. You are using an out of date browser. If youre a digital pack rat with every photo youve ever taken, this is for you. 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 I knew I could connect remotely (provided there is an internet connection, which isn't always the case for me) but wasn't sure if Apple support the iCloud System Photos Library being on an NAS. Step 2. SynoForum.com is an unofficial Synology forum for NAS owners and enthusiasts. I took a quick look at Github and this repository seems popular: https://github.com/gilesknap/gphotos-sync. [2 Ways] How to Backup iPhone to Synology NAS 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. You can use smart folders in Apple Photos to "see" which are "referenced" and which have been imported recently from iCloud from your mobile devices. So since Im already paying Apple, why would I want another backup? Cookie Notice Updated June 2022: These are still the proper steps to back up your iCloud Photo Library. Schedule: your preference, I chose once a month. 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. Backup iCloud Photo Library to Synology with Docker image. If you Just a question for now. 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. 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. Enjoy cherished memories in the palm of your hand. Click Create > Scheduled Task > User-defined Script. If you go this route, it's highly recommended to set up bi-weekly reminders for the following steps to keep the Photos library backed up regularly. I found a simple solution. Transitioning to Synology Photos from iCloud : r/synology Thats what I did, Id recommend using a Docker image if your NAS supports it to avoid having to install stuff manually on the NAS. If you use macOS TextEdit app to copy/paste/tweak your commands, make sure you select Format>Make Plain Text!