August 2019 • Macworld 129HELP DESKBecause iCloud retains the full-resolution
versions of all synced images, you’re in no danger
of losing media even if you have the optimized
option checked for Photos on other Macs and
in iOS. (If your Mac was the only device in an
iCloud-linked set that had iCloud Photos enabled,
then iCloud will delete your entire library from
cloud storage in 30 days.)
One further note: you might be tempted to
manage this process from the iCloud system
preference pane, but I recommend handling it
entirely within Photos. That’s in part because there
are two ways to disable iCloud Photos in System
Preferences, and you don’t want to choose the
wrong option.
If you click Options next to Photos in that pane,
it brings up a dialog similar, but not identical, to the
one within Photos. But if you instead click Manage
in the lower-right corner of the pane and select
iCloud Photos, the only option presented is Disable
and Delete. That removes iCloud Photos from all
your devices and starts the 30-day countdown to
cloud-based deletion, too.