The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/TopHat_123 on 2024-07-16 14:27:15.
I tired going to r/techsupport and r/iCloud for this problem but did not get much help so I thought I'd try asking here as this seems like the sort of thing other data hoarders would have run into at some point.
I have collected a huge number of photos and videos over the years and so have finally begun the process of clearing out my iCloud. I began by downloading photos and videos off from iCloud.com and then used Exiftool to find the date and time the files were created. I then put this in the file name so my photos and videos could be sorted by date in my external hard drive. For many photos and videos this process is shorter as I simply can put them into Advanced Renamer and have the creation date put in the file name automatically in batches. This has worked fine up until I got to images downloaded off of Discord or Safari rather than taken by my phone. On iCloud.com it shows what date these images were downloaded but when downloading them to my PC it does not retain this metadata. I have tried downloading both the unmodified originals and highest resolution versions with edits. Neither work. I called Apple Support and they suggested downloading the iCloud for Windows app. Here I can see the images with their proper metadata however they can not be moved to any other part of my PC. I get an error each time I attempt to directly move the file to my external hard drive or another part of my PC. Copying the image to another part of my PC works but it makes the image loose that metadata I need. I then tried plugging my phone into my PC directly and downloading the photos but this too would loose the metadata. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? If this is an issue with my PC itself I may have to resort to borrowing a Mac from a friend.
Basically, I want to be able to get all my photos with their metadata. This works fine for most but not for photos downloaded to the gallery from somewhere else like Discord or Safari. I can see the metadata is there on both iCloud.com and the iCloud For Windows app but can not download them from the browser with their metadata or copy them to another folder on my PC with their metadata. If you know how to fix this help would be appreciated. Even more so if you can suggest a way to make this whole process faster as I have a huge number of photos left to sort through and iCloud.com only lets you download 1,000 photos at a time.