How to copy photos on mac to external hard drive. Heres how to go about it. Double click the backup library to open it then open the preferences for photos from photos preferences in the menubar. Copy the photos library to the external drive.
As with creating a new library moving your library to your external drive is a multi step process. Connect your hard drive with mac and create a new folder in it. Drag and drop the photos library icon onto the hard drive icon either in finder or on your desktop.
In the finder go to the external drive where you want to store your library. Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. Right click on the photos library icon and select get info.
Select use as system photos library which will change the default to the new library. Click and drag the music folder icon to your external hard drive in the side menu and hold the mouse button down until the window shows the contents of the external hard drive. Select the photos you want to transfer and choose export from the file menu also here y ou can choose to only download original photos or edited photos included.
Open the photos app on your mac. The default location is users username pictures and its named photos library. Back up your drive automatically with time machine.
Click on the window showing your hard drive files to bring it into use on the screen. Verify that you have enough free space for the library on the external drive. Copy over your photos library.
Wait while it copies over this may take a while depending on the size of your library and the speed of the connection to the. Open a new finder window. Transfer photos from photos app to external hard drive on mac.
Wait for the copy to complete. Connect an external drive to your mac via usb usb c or thunderbolt.