Photos not syncing, with error message

[rachalmers]

My Mac Catalina isn’t syncing my Photos with the cloud.
When I tick the box to do so, it tells me there is already an account in use and I can’t do it.
The photos remain Unsynced.
What is the solution for this does anyone know?
Thanks


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[IWT]

Hi and welcome.

I'm afraid I have more questions than answers, but they are important.

Firstly, have you had this Mac from new or did you get it second hand? If from previous owner, this Mac may still be linked to their Apple ID if they did not prepare the Mac properly before resale.

If you have owned the Mac from new, then we move on.

May we presume that you have never changed your Apple ID at any time? If Yes, we can go on from there.

If No. May we also presume that all your other Devices sync normally? In other words, is Photos app the only thing that doesn't sync?

Sorry for the questions, but you can see that a "Yes" or "No" can lead us in many different directions.

Ian

 

[rachalmers]

Hi and welcome.

I'm afraid I have more questions than answers, but they are important.

Firstly, have you had this Mac from new or did you get it second hand? If from previous owner, this Mac may still be linked to their Apple ID if they did not prepare the Mac properly before resale.

If you have owned the Mac from new, then we move on.

May we presume that you have never changed your Apple ID at any time? If Yes, we can go on from there.

If No. May we also presume that all your other Devices sync normally? In other words, is Photos app the only thing that doesn't sync?

Sorry for the questions, but you can see that a "Yes" or "No" can lead us in many different directions.

Ian

Hi,
I’ve been using this same Mac now for a few years, and same Apple ID.
All other devices sync Photos fine. And everything else.

And yes, it seems that Photos is the only thing not syncing with the cloud.
I’ve noticed now also that in internet accounts, I have two appleID accounts, exactly the same. [email protected]
And can’t delete either one.

Yes, photos is the only app not syncing.


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[ferrarr]

You can't have two Apple IDs "exactly the same".

Have you tried to login to iCloud.com, to see what photos are already being synced?

 

[rachalmers]

Ok, progress of sorts.
Photos from my iPad and phone are syncing to the cloud. And to the Mac. But the Album I created on the Mac has disappeared from the Mac, and not synced. That could be my fault. Right now it’s gathering information/detecting duplicates/etc etc so I’ll wait that out.

I have no idea if it’s sending images up to the cloud itself. There seems to be no progress bar, sync monitor or suchlike.
I’ll keep it posted here as things resolve... or not.
Duplicate accounts...

 

[ferrarr]

Duplicate accounts...

It's hard to know where that "Duplicate accounts" image is from? And what is showing those account names? What window are those ID's displayed in?

Is it a Finder window?
Is it inside an App?
Is it in the System Preferences?

The more information you can provide, the more help we can provide?

 

[rachalmers]

Well I seem to have solved part of it I think. Maybe. But maybe not. I have images placed on the Mac that aren’t appearing on the cloud.
So maybe it’s still not uploading. Only downloading?
I held down opt+alt when clicking on photos. When it starts up it rebuilds the database. I think it was opt+alt, I’m not at my desk at the moment.
Anyway. New images from any device go to the cloud, and appear on the Mac.
But. New images on the Mac don’t appear to be going to the cloud nor appearing on my other devices. Just the Mac. Newly created album, images, photos. Nothing.
What a pain.




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[IWT]

Anyway. New images from any device go to the cloud, and appear on the Mac.
But. New images on the Mac don’t appear to be going to the cloud nor appearing on my other devices. Just the Mac. Newly created album, images, photos. Nothing

This could be related to how you have the settings:

In order to sync photos taken on any device with each other and with the Mac; all devices need to have "My Photo Stream" turned on including the Mac.

But on the Mac, you additionally need to select "iCloud Photos". (and possibly "Download Originals to This Mac" - that is optional, but advised). This ensures that all photos on the Mac are stored in the Cloud.

You do not need to turn on iCloud Photo Library on your devices unless you want to be able to download and see all images on all devices - this takes a great deal of space.

See if that changes things for you. If needed, I can give you screenshots of the settings.

Ian

 

[rachalmers]

Thanks for the help Ian.
Herein lies the problem. I can't turn on iCloud Photos, because the system comes back and tells me "A iCloud account already exists. Only a single iCloud account is allowed to be saved"

 

[ferrarr]

Thanks for the help Ian.
Herein lies the problem. I can't turn on iCloud Photos, because the system comes back and tells me "A iCloud account already exists. Only a single iCloud account is allowed to be saved"

What this sounds like to me is that you created 2 separate iCloud libraries? If you look in Finder and go to the Pictures folder in the Sidebar, do you have two separate "Photos Library.photoslibrary" database files? They may also be listed in two different locations, but before you search, disconnect your backup/clone/Time Machine drive.

 

[rachalmers]

What this sounds like to me is that you created 2 separate iCloud libraries? If you look in Finder and go to the Pictures folder in the Sidebar, do you have two separate "Photos Library.photoslibrary" database files? They may also be listed in two different locations, but before you search, disconnect your backup/clone/Time Machine drive.

Sorry. I checked thoroughly and only have the one.



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[rachalmers]

What this sounds like to me is that you created 2 separate iCloud libraries? If you look in Finder and go to the Pictures folder in the Sidebar, do you have two separate "Photos Library.photoslibrary" database files? They may also be listed in two different locations, but before you search, disconnect your backup/clone/Time Machine drive.

I forgot to answer ... no, there aren’t any Photos Library files in the Pictures folder. I moved/relocated it to my second internal drive. It all worked fine up to the Catalina upgrade. The latest one I think.


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