Here’s my question: How can I get “Backup and Sync” on my Mac to automatically download photos that were uploaded from iPhone. Sure, I can manually select a photo or group of photos and download them to my computer. But of the ~250GB of photos and home videos I’ve taken and synced up to Google Photos from both my PC and my iPhones, how do I know which ones were uploaded from my multiple iPhones over the last few months and haven’t been downloaded yet to the master repository on my computer? Must I write down the time/date of the last time I manually downloaded photos, and start from that date? When is the “sync” part of Google’s backup and sync program going to live up to its name and sync the photos uploaded from iPhone back down to the master repository on my computer? Related question: When will Google’s Backup and sync program re-sync a file after its “date taken” is changed on my computer?

Google Photos users who switched to the new Backup and Sync client application on their Mac systems are reporting that the application is backing up unwanted stuff on the cloud. Specifically, users say files like thumbnails, facetiles, and other garbage stuff is showing up in their Google Photos library. You can use 'PicBackMan' to sync or backup photos from Mac to Google Photos. When you upload photos to Google Drive, you can view and backup them to Google Photos. 'PicBackMan' allows you to upload your photos from Mac to Google Drive.

Currently I have to move the photo out of the folder, wait till Backup and sync deletes the cloud version, then move the photo back into the folder, then sync again. This is impractical in 2018 to have to manually manage sync content like this. And changing “date taken” in the copy of the photo residing in Google Photos will not change it back at the original source, so it seems. This is not a true sync program!

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It is only an upload program, with apps and web browser portals to allow you to view the uploaded cloud content! Thanks for taking the time to write a reply. I backup my photos to Google Photos in high resolution (not original resolution) because I want to take advantage of the unlimited space offered for such photos and videos.

Google Drive does not offer nearly enough free storage for my 200GB plus collection of home movies and photos. Therefore, your suggestion to utilize Google Drive at first glance appears to be infeasible. However, I could be mistaken, since Google is extremely nebulous on how the Google Photos and the Google Drive stepchildren interact with each other and overlap each other. I have searched the web (via Google) to gain insight into Backup and Sync’s actual workings and capabilities and limitations, but only find obsolete articles that talk about Backup and Sync’s imminent release, or other similarly outdated technology articles that predated Google’s offering of unlimited photo storage.