What's the best way to backup Photos app pics, so they can be restored?

I would be careful with TM. It is a great backup tool, but not sure if it is right for your workflow.

Example:

You take multiple photos on June 15th 2024

You modify them between June 15th 2024 and Oktober 20th 2024

You delete them on January 5th 2025

Now in June 2025 you would like to restore them.

You would have to remember the date of the last changes / modifications and when you deleted them, then you have to restore a TM backup that is after the last change / modification and before you deleted them.

Maybe you can do it, but I would have a difficult time to do that.

If you pick a backup before the last changes to these photos you would loose these changes.

I would work with two or more libraries and move the photos that I don't want in iCloud to a separate library.

Ralf

simon_a6 wrote: ≥ back up the photos to an external drive.

Thus, being able to restore them if I want to return to them?

I use two kinds of backups. With my MacBook I use Apple's built-in backup app, Time Machine, daily, but on a MacMini I would keep a Time Machine drive plugged in continuously. Time Machine will do an incremental backup every hour and, since it's only copying changes from the last backup, it's very fast. You can use Time Machine to look back in the past to any time in the past:

Here I'm looking at the way my Mac looked months ago. I can select the file I want, and click Restore, and I'll have that file the way it was, maybe before I made a mistake that I only just discovered. It can replace the current file, or it can be added as a copy. It's as simple as that. See this for details:

Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

In Time Machine, most files can be copied without using the Restore button, but a Photos Library is way more than a file or simple folder, so the Restore button is essential.

Also, periodically, I copy my entire Photos Library package to a different backup drive by just dragging it from my Pictures folder to the external drive. Done.

These methods backup the Library. The Library can only be fully interpreted by the Photos app. So once you have a restored a Library you can just drag it to the Photos icon and you're back at work with all your pictures just as you left them. You can have multiple functioning Photos Libraries on a Mac.

Some people want to have jpeg versions of all their pictures in addition to or instead of a Library, since a Library requires interpretation by the Photos app. You can produce these individual files using Photos' Menu File>Export. But you have to decide if you want the Original files, or if you want the edited, cropped, scanned, and commented versions. If you want both versions, then exporting will take up twice as much storage space. And you still won't have backed up all the information that's in the Photos Library.

What do you think?

It's a backup, so yes-- you can restore a Photos Library, or any file, to the way it was at any time in the past. You can even restore the Library to an external drive, and load it from there. Or, if you drag a Library to an APFS formatted drive, then it can be opened in Photos by just double clicking on it.

            Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

Time Machine requires that it be on a Volume all to itself. I have Time Machine alone on some drives, and I have Time Machine on a Volume on drives with other Volumes.

I also have multiple Libraries-- I have a Favorites Library that is the System Library which I connect to iCloud so that I can see its pictures on my iPhone and iPad, and I have an Archive Library that is much larger with pictures I don't need to show to friends and family. I also have several working Libraries, like one that is only for my Nikon photos. All these get backed up by Time Machine.

Time Machine is really for backup. It may that you also need to have two live Libraries.

When you restore a file or library, the option to choose where the destination will be is not longer an option. You will have to save it to the same location as the original and therefore should select "Keep Both" in the option window that pops up:

simon_a6 wrote: Let's say I drag and drop that to the Time Machine drive.

You don't drag and drop things to the Time Machine Drive. Time Machine is an App. It makes incremental backups. It looks to see what on your Mac Drive has been changed, and it copies only those things. It updates a database to record what's been done, and it displays that information in a clever way.

How do I … 1) move those files back to view (as I take it I can't view them from the Drive), without overriding the existing Photos App file?

If Time Machine sees an identical file there, it gives you a choice:

If you choose "Keep Both" then you'll get two Libraries, maybe

"Photos Library.photoslibrary" and

"Photos Library (from backup).photoslibrary."

Double click on the one you want to see. Only the one you've designated as the System Library is connected to iCloud.com.

2) Update that content on the Backup drive... since in theory, I've taken half of the files OFF the iCloud, backin gup again, will override that Photos App file.. with less on it.

Time Machine is an incremental backup. It doesn't replace old versions; Time Machine only adds-- it never takes away. (Well, when the drive gets full, it will replaces the oldest versions, possibly years old.)

simon_a6 wrote: … But does TM somehow let you view what's on their, thru the app?

No. The Photos app is required to interpret the Photos Library database, so the Library must be restored to some drive to be used.

It sounds like what you want is a second Library for the extra pictures. Only the System Library can connect to iCloud. Other Libraries on a Mac can be used by Photos like any Library, but not connected to iCloud.

I have 16000 pictures in the Library connected to iCloud, my phone, and my iPad. My other Libraries have about twice that. They are all quickly viewable in Photos, but not available to iCloud.

But you still need backups.

See Back up your photo library on Mac - Apple Support for information on doing this. It covers Time Machine backups first, but then it has a section on backing up to external drives. Hope this helps!