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Cannot sync all photos from Mac to iPad

I've just gotten an iPad Air 2 at work, running iPad OS 15.8.3. Trying to sync photos from a 2019 MacBook Pro (Intel) running Sequoia 15.1. No beta Apple software in use.


I have just over 17,000 product images that I need to copy to the iPad. I've converted them to a small enough filesize (using Adobe Bridge Export) to all fit in the available storage. All images are RGB JPEG files.


I cannot get the Finder sync to copy everything, I seem stuck at about 9,000 photos. I've tried:


Rebooting both iPad and Mac.

Syncing the image folder and importing to Mac Photos and syncing both the individual album and the entire Photos library (there are no other photos in it or on the iPad.)

Tried turning on and turning off manually manage music (no media besides photos is present.)

This iPad was just wiped and restored (using the same Mac) so the software is brand new.

Both iPad and Mac are signed into the same Apple Account.

The Mac is running Sophos Endpoint AV but this doesn't seem to be a problem and I cannot disable it anyway (corporate machine.)

Neither iPad not Mac is throwing an error, it simply won't sync everything.

I'm using a USB-C to Lightning cable which seems to be working, direct from Mac to iPad. The photos that do sync copy pretty quickly. Switching to a USB-A to Lightning cable via USB-C dock makes no difference.

I'm using an admin account on the Mac.

I use Adobe Bridge for organizing, cataloging, and metadata operations on the Mac and Photoshop for editing. Apple Photos would JUST be a conduit to allow copying to the iPad.


About the only thing I haven't tried is Airdrop which would be a complete PITA. I also haven't booted into Safe Mode as I don't see that making a difference.


Also, I can't figure out how to sort by either filename or title (these images have extensive metadata- title, keywords, descriptive filenames.) Date is useless as these aren't "memories." This makes Airdrop a problem since I can't easily identify which images are synced and which aren't.


So several questions:


  1. How do I get all images synced?
  2. How do I sort by either filename or title?
  3. Do I need to switch to a third-party image viewer that can sort by title, if Photos cannot? If so, recommendations?


Finally, I'll mention that I'm a longtime Apple user who personally owns three iPads. I've used Photos before on my personal gear to sync finished JPEGs with my iPads/iPhones and its always worked. I'm also a former Mac Genius and currently a working pro photographer so I'm pretty confident about my technical approach, but need to know what I'm missing here.


TIA for any help.

iPad Air 2

Posted on Nov 11, 2024 9:31 AM

Reply
1 reply

Nov 15, 2024 9:03 AM in response to downstairsdave

I've gone round and round with this. Airdrop isn't working, nor Apple Configurator (I don't need the iPad managed, as I'm the only user, but it was worth a try) to transfer everything. Breaking the large library into smaller folders has helped, and checking "Include videos" as well (even though its all JPEG files.) Still at it. Repeated syncs will randomly copy more images.


Final tally is about 900 images not transferred.


Meanwhile, I've abandoned iPad Photos and downloaded HashPhotos. This is similar to Photos but has many more features, including Sort by Title.

:sigh:

Cannot sync all photos from Mac to iPad

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