- Mar 10, 2019 How to move your current Photos library to an external drive and use it as your primary library. As with creating a new library, moving your library to your external drive is a multi-step process. Here's how to go about it. Step 1: Copy over your Photos library. Connect an external drive to your Mac via USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt.
- Dec 11, 2018 If you just have your photos in a folder on your Mac, all you need to do is plug your external drive in and move them over. If you’re using another app that maintains a library, you’ll have to configure things within that app.
- How to move your Photos library to an external drive. Save valuable space by moving your Mac Photos library to an external hard drive. Plus find out how to back up your entire iCloud Photos.
- That's for how to move iPhoto library to a new location or a new Mac. If you unfortunately lost some important photos during the transfer, you can use Any Data Recovery for Mac. This app is a complete Mac data recovery solutions to recover all types of files from Mac's hard drive, including recovering photo on Mac, and also from other portable.
- Copy the Photos Library by dragging it from the startup volume to your external volume. (Your external volume has to be formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled): check first!) When.
Photos for Mac 0 0 Can I move my photo library on to an external hard drive that has Time Machine back ups, if the harddrive is not currently set to backup my computer through time machine (as in, it's not the selected disk).
Tips
By AppleInsider Staff
Wednesday, January 31, 2018, 04:40 pm PT (07:40 pm ET)
There are multiple reasons to move the Photos Library away from its default location, with the primary reason being to free up a Mac's storage. Images and videos can quickly consume storage, especially for prolific photographers shooting RAW files, so moving the library to an external drive can be the best option for those with internal drives that are close to their capacity limit.
Putting the library onto external storage also provides the option of sharing the library with others directly, by disconnecting the drive from the host Mac and plugging it into another. This is also useful for those who wish to use the same library across multiple desktops, like an iMac and a MacBook Pro, if they need to regularly access and change the held files.
Pre-move Backup
Before attempting any file transfers, it is highly recommended to make backups of all images, as there is always the possibility of file corruption or another mishap, and keeping a backup is always a good idea for just these occasions. An up-to-date Time Machine backup is ideal, but it is best to make sure the external or remote drive used for the backup is different to the one you wish to use for the Photo Library storage itself.
It may also be worth using cloud storage services to hold the images, such as Apple's own iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and Google Drive. It might also be an idea to try out iCloud Photo Library, a service that automatically uploads your photographs to iCloud, which can be shared to iOS devices and other Mac desktops using the same Apple ID.
Move Itunes Library To External Drive
Finding the Folder
Before you can make the move, you need to find where the Photo Library is actually located. In most instances, it should appear in the Pictures folder of your Home directory, labelled as 'Photos Library,' potentially alongside other similar libraries for Photo Booth and iPhoto, the predecessor to Photos.
In the event it isn't at the default location, you can find it by opening up the Photos app,
Copy Apple Photos To External Drive
clicking Photos in the Menu Bar, then selecting Preferences. At the top of the General section will be a line marked Library Location, which will show where it is located, as well as an option to Show in Finder, which will spawn a new Finder window at the right directory.Importing from iPhone
First, connect your iPhone to your Mac with a Lightning to USB charging cable. A popup will ask if you want to trust your computer, tap 'Trust' and enter your passcode.
Now open Photos on your Mac, where your iPhone will appear under the Devices tab on the left side of the app. From here, you can browse through all of the photos or video in your iOS Camera Roll.
At the top of the page, click on Library, and you can choose to make a New Album for the import. If you wish to erase the photos off of your iPhone after importing, check the box below the Import button before clicking it.
If you chose that option, you will see your photos being deleted off of your iPhone in real-time after importing is completed. Your iPhone photos are now successfully backed up onto your Mac.
The Move
If it is still running, quit Photos by selecting Quit Photos under the Photos Menu Bar, or by pressing Cmd+Q.
Connect the external drive that you wish to use for storing the library, and once it appears on your desktop, drag the Photos Library away from its current location within the Finder and on top of the external drive icon. If you want to place the Photos Library in a specific place within the new drive, open the external drive in a second Finder window, navigate to the correct directory, and drag Photos Library to the right place.
The amount of time it will take for the Photos Library to transfer to the new location will vary on a number of factors, including the amount of images that need to be transferred, the speed of the external drive for transfers, and the transfer method itself. Generally, transfers to an external drive over Thunderbolt 3 will offer the fastest potential speeds when compared to Thunderbolt 2 and USB-based drives.
Accessing the Library
After the file transfer has completed, you will need to inform Photos of the new location. To do this, hold the Option key and click the Photos icon in the dock to launch the app.
This will bring up a new Choose Library window, with a list of libraries available for you to access. Click Other Library and navigate to the location on the external drive that holds the now-transferred Photos Library, select the Library, and then click Open.
At this point, Photos will open and use the library located on the external drive.
While this process can be used to reconnect with the Photos Library, it can also be used to switch between multiple Photo Library archives. This is handy in some cases, such as if a friend or colleague provides their Photo Library on a portable drive for you to browse and use for work.
Note that in order to access your photographs, the external drive needs to be connected to the Mac before entering Photos. The Photos app will warn you if the Library is not accessible in this case, with the solution being to quit Photos and reconnect the drive before relaunching Photos.
Designating the System Photo Library
If you want to use the moved Photos Library - or one of a collection of the Libraries - with a number of Apple services and features, such as synchronization with iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Photo Sharing, and My Photo Stream, you will need to designate it as the System Photo Library. This also applies if you wish to have the photographs used by other apps, or to set an image as the desktop background.
Generally, the initially created Photo Library will be the System Photo Library by default, but actions such as moving it or designating another Library temporarily with the label can stop a Photos Library from being used in this way.
To re-enable it, hold down the Option key and open Photos, then select the Library you want to use as the System Photo Library. Once opened, select Photos in the Menu bar then Preferences.
Within the General tab of the Preferences window, you should see the current Library's path under Library Location, and two buttons: the previously discussed Show in Finder and Use as System Photos Library. Click the second option to set it as the System Photo Library.
Clearing Space
One of the main aims of this project is to free up space on your Mac's internal drive, and since the Photos Library resides elsewhere, it is likely to be in your interests to delete the locally-held version. Make sure that this Library is no longer required, and that the version on the external drive is complete and functional before considering deletion of the local copy.
Use Finder to navigate to the directory where Photos Library was located, as discovered in the 'Finding the Folder' section above. Right click on the Photos Library and select Move to Trash.
To completely remove it from the Mac, open the Trash from the Dock or Finder window, and click the Empty button on the top right of the window, followed by selecting Empty Trash in the confirmation dialog.
How to move photos library to external drive on mac. If you want to free up precious space on your Mac computer, then you can move your Mac's iPhoto Library on to an external hard drive. You can also move iPhoto Library to cloud storage service such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive, Box and more. You need to have an account on these cloud storage services. If you are looking for a step by step process to move iPhoto Library onto an external hard drive, read below.
Here are the steps to Move Your Mac's iPhoto Library onto an External Drive:
- Open 'iPhoto' on your Mac.
- Click 'File' located in the Menu Bar.
- Select 'Switch to Library..' option.
- A new window opens up. You will see all iPhoto libraries located on your computer.
- Quit iPhoto by clicking on 'Quit iPhoto' located in the iPhoto Menu bar.
- Connect an external hard dive to move your iPhoto Library.
- Open a new Finder window and click 'Pictures' located in the left sidebar.
- Drag and drop iPhoto Library file onto the external hard drive.
- Once you moved iPhoto Library to an external hard drive, hold the 'Option' key on your keyboard.
- Open 'iPhoto' from the Dock or Application folder.
- A new window opens up. It will ask you to 'Create a New Library'.
- Choose the 'Selected Library' or 'Other Library'.
- Click 'Other Library'.
- Navigate to your external hard drive and click 'iPhoto Library' file that you have copied and click 'Choose' button.
- Quit 'iPhoto' once again and eject the external hard drive.
- Open a new 'Finder' window and navigate to the 'Picture' folder.
- Right-click on the iPhoto file and move it to the 'Trash'.
- Open 'Trash' from the 'Finder' window and click 'Empty Trash' located at the top right corner.
- Your iPhoto Library has officially been removed from the internal drive.
Quick Tip to Backup your Digital Photos
If you have treasured photographs, or you take photos of everything you like, you won't want to lose them. So, what is the best way to backup photos on an ongoing basis? In the back of your mind, you know you need to backup all of your photos. But where do you start? Here's how to backup your digital life: PicBackMan is the easiest and simplest way to keep your videos safely backed up in one or more online accounts. Simply download PicBackMan (it's free!), register your account, connect to your online store and tell PicBackMan where your videos are - PicBackMan does the rest, automatically. It bulk uploads all videos and keeps looking for new ones and uploads those too. You don't have to ever touch it.