Storage Problem with 21.5 in. iMac and 2TB iCloud Storage

[PowerPCFan]

Hi. I was looking on my iMac under About This Mac>Storage tab and it said this:

I took this screenshot under a different login, because I did have one login, then I created a second profile for an "experiment." When I made my MacRumors account, I always do mixed up letters and numbers for my passwords. I saved it in Safari in the second login, and when I went to make this post under the main login, the password wasn't saved, so now I make MacRumors posts under my second login. The main login is the one with the problem, so the millions of photos are under the main login, so they're listed as "Other Users" on the chart. Sorry for the confusion.

Anyways, I pay for 2TB iCloud storage every month. I upload all my pictures into iCloud, but when I checked my storage, it said that there were 670 GB (not MB). I was so mad, because I take soooooo many pictures, and when I saw that there were copies of them on my 1TB Fusion Drive, I had no idea why, because the whole reason I pay for tons of iCloud storage is because I was trying to prevent this from happening. I had one idea: I store photos in the cloud, but I edit in two apps: Adobe Lightroom (iPhone) and Apple Photos (mac). Does my mac need to download a copy in order for me to edit on there? I tried to delete some photos from the Mac, but it was deleting them on iCloud Photos at icloud.com, too. Also, would upgrading OS to the latest one, macOS Monterey, help anything? I'm running 10.12 Sierra. Not sure if there was a bug in 10.12 that caused this, or if a setting was switched on that shouldn't be, or if it's not possible. I just don't want to run out of space. Last year, I had 400GB left for HDD storage, but now I only have 251GB left! Please help - I really want this to stop. I've also been getting some kernel panics lately, and it always gets fixed when I boot my mac, but from what I've read, it's usually a broken app, virus, or almost full hard drive, but maybe this is a whole other problem I have to solve.

 

[Wando64]

In the System Preferences Apple ID iCloud page select “Optimise Mac Storage”
By doing that, the Mac will automatically manage your storage and unload unused photos and videos to free up space when needed.
It will retain small thumbnail on the Mac and nothing gets deleted from iCloud.
Whenever you will need to access any of the unloaded photos or videos, it will download them from the cloud automatically.
…and, by the way, yes you need to have a local copy in order to edit a file.

 

[PowerPCFan]

I like editing on apple photos, so if I connect an external SSD will that be considered local storage?

 

[Wando64]

I like editing on apple photos, so if I connect an external SSD will that be considered local storage?

Yes, but if you want to store your photos on it you will need to move the photo library first:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

To save storage space on your Mac, you can move your Photos library to a different storage device.

support.apple.com

 

[PowerPCFan]

If I move the library to SSD will the photos from my iPhone go to the SSD? The way I edit photos is this:

1. Take photos with Canon camera
2. Upload to iPhone hard drive and edit in Lightroom Mobile
3. Delete old photo from iPhone hard drive and upload new edited one to iCloud Photos
4. It will automatically update to Photos on my mac so I can edit the photos more.

What I'm saying is if I move the library, will the photos from my phone (step 3) sync with the SSD, the new library location? I need this to happen in order to edit, because I start on my phone, then edit on the Mac.Normally it syncs my photos from phone to mac through iCloud.

 

[PowerPCFan]

Also, With Apple mail, I optimised storage so it would only Dow load emails I clicked on. This saved 7gb on my phone and mac. Does it do the same thing if I optimise photos

 

[PowerPCFan]

Also, With Apple mail, I optimised storage so it would only Download emails I clicked on. This saved 7gb on my phone and mac. Does it do the same thing if I optimise photos

Oops.... I didn't mean to send this twice, this is my second time using macrumors.

 

[Wando64]

If I move the library to SSD will the photos from my iPhone go to the SSD? The way I edit photos is this:

1. Take photos with Canon camera
2. Upload to iPhone hard drive and edit in Lightroom Mobile
3. Delete old photo from iPhone hard drive and upload new edited one to iCloud Photos
4. It will automatically update to Photos on my mac so I can edit the photos more.

What I'm saying is if I move the library, will the photos from my phone (step 3) sync with the SSD, the new library location? I need this to happen in order to edit, because I start on my phone, then edit on the Mac.Normally it syncs my photos from phone to mac through iCloud.

Your photos will sync on the Mac to the library you have assigned as your system library.
This can be on your external SSD if you wish.
The important thing is that you designate it as your main system library as from this link:

Designate a System Photo Library in Photos – Apple Support (UK)

If you have multiple photo libraries on your Mac, you can choose which library to use with iCloud Photos and Shared Albums.

support.apple.com