Wait for the data transfer to complete. This will copy, not move, your photos library. LarryHN, call You can choose whether to store imported photos in the cloud. Under Sharing & Permissions, check the box that says then try again. Refunds. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes Open Photos on your Mac. Here is our step-by-step guide to transferring your files. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Then and only then: When the volume mounts on the Desktop, if you can copy the media library successfully now, hurray, that was the problem. The files and folders in the Finder are the reference libraries, and if you use a reference library, they are stored in those locations. Select everything in the . Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, Keeping large media-type files on something other than your system drive is considered good practice. Enter a name for the disk or volume. Follow these steps: Create a new Photos Library to use as a skeleton to copy over the contents of the old, potentially corrupted one. Select the library on the external drive. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information Make a complete backup of the volume, because erasing and reformatting a partition deletes all the stored data on it. Some iPhoto/Photos filename or related data may be incompatible with FAT32. Expert Photography 2011-2022. provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations In Disk Utility with that partition selected, click. But theres an easy way to prevent that from happening: by transferring your photos to an external hard drive. You can check that with "File > Get Info" for the drive. Joe Taylor is a UK based fine art photographer. Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, How to export video from a HomeKit Secure Video camera, How to color-code events in Apple Calendar, How to reset macOS Privacy preferences when other options dont work. ExpertPhotography is part of several affiliate sales networks. All photo editors know how frustrating, Photo Mechanic 5 is a photo editing software that allows you to quickly review and edit your photos. Jan 21, 2015 2:09 PM in response to LarryHN, How to copy iPhoto Library to an External Hard Drive, User profile for user: Then click and drag the Photos Library icon to your external drive. In this article, well show you how to move your iPhoto Library to an external drive using both the Finder and iPhoto itself. Its always a good idea to keep a copy of your photos on an external hard drive or USB flash drive because your computer can go wrong at any time. When the transfer stops, do you receive an error message. From the Scheme pop-up menu, choose GUID. Easily the most common reason for poor focus and blurry images, Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results, Post processing wont fix a blurry image from a slow shutter . If you delete the photo from your Macs Photos library, it will be deleted. But you cannot copy to a drive used for Time Machine backup. MacBook Air 13, To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question. Repeat steps 1 to 3 whenever you want to back up images. If your computer ever crashes or gets lost or stolen, all those photos will be gone forever. A laptop that isn't up to the, What You Need to Copy Photos Library to External Hard Drive, Step 1: Connect Your External Storage Device, Step 3: Drag Photos Library to the External Drive, Step 5: Set Your Photo Library Preferences, See all articles in Effortless Editing with Lightroom. You can check whether you have a FAT32 partition on the external drive as follows: If the volume shows FAT32, you need to reformat the drive. Copyright 2022 IDG Communications, Inc. Email yours to Can't copy Photo library file to external drive, User profile for user: I tested with several small test libraries, and none could be opened on iCloud Drive, or copied back in a working condition. If you hold the option key and click the Photos app, you can select the library you wish to open from a list. Transfer your photos. If you have iPhoto installed on your external drive, it will not refer to the library on your computers drive. Select the volume beneath the drive. Everything To Know Before Travelling To The Beautiful Land Of Burma! Only one, however, can be set as your System Photo Library. Another SSD drive is the Samsung T5 SSD, which has capacities ranging from 250GB to 2TB. You can further optimize your storage in the iCloud tab. If not, were always looking for new problems to solve! Change permissions settings for the item in its current location or the directory from which it wishes to be moved. read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. Run Disk Repair from Recovery. So when you take a shot with your iPhone or edit on your iPad, the pictures automatically store themselves in iCloud. Now you know how to copy Photos Library to external hard drive. Sheree_P, call Your email address will not be published. This doesn't affect our editorial independence. Before you create a new Photos library, you have to disassociate your current library as your system default. In his spare time, he writes about printing and type history. Click on Finder > Preferences from the menu bar. If the file system is different, copy the contents of the drive somewhere else and reformat the drive. Stop here! But if your library is closer to 1 TB (1,000 GB), be prepared to leave it overnight to finish! If you are having trouble moving or copying files or folders, you may need to change their permissions. In the main view, Disk Utility shows the volumes name, and beneath it the capacity and then should read Mac OS Extended (Journaled). With that out of the way, lets get started! If the file system is different, copy the contents of the drive somewhere else and reformat the drive. And you can delete the original Photos Library file from your pictures folder. Wait for the data transfer to complete. Each drive is dedicated to a different kind of shoot (weddings, events, theatre). Glenn Fleishmans most recent books include Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, Take Control of Calendar and Reminders, and Take Control of Securing Your Mac. Browse to the created copy of your Photos Library and double-click the file icon to open it. iPhoto '11, only. A decent number of people have received this error with an iPhoto or Photos Library, possibly because the media library folders are big folders full of other folders. The good news is that its actually pretty easy to do, and there are a few different ways to go about it. ExpertPhotography is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Subscribe to the Macworld Digital Magazine. You can store your iPhoto libraries on an external storage device of your choice. After you have selected File in the Menu Bar, select Library from the menu. If youre using an older version of iPhoto, youll need to upgrade to the latest version before you can move your library. In the Photos app, click on Preferences > General and select 'Use as System Photo Library'. My family album synchronizes through my iCloud photo library and updates with photos from each new adventure. When I try to copy the transfer process goes quickly but slows at 12-15 GBs and then actually stops at around 30GBs. (You can get off Auto mode and take stunning photos in real life with our Photography Unlocked course!). After traveling all over the world, I finally understand where my heart belongs - Burma. If so, check out this article: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac. This can be found by going to your Home folder, then to Pictures, and finally to iPhoto Library. If you are having trouble dragging or dropping files, you can enable three-fingered drag by going to Pointer Control > Trackpad Options > Enabling dragging and then selecting three-fingered drag. There is a section labeled "If you get an error when moving Photos Library". This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes This guide will show you how to safely transfer your Macs iPhoto library to an external drive. If you receive an error, you should be able to see which folder it failed with. I have reformatted the external drive (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and it is a 2.1 TB a 3.0 USB drive. And if youre like most people, you dont back them up often enough. And you can decide if you want to share albums with other people or subscribe to their albums. captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of One of the most common questions we get from Mac users is how to move their iPhoto Library to an external drive. Step 1 (if you use iCloud): Turn off iCloud sync on your old library. How To Move Your IPhoto Library To An External Drive. To start the conversation again, simply Because the library files are packages which look like files, the error gets reported for the package name, rather than revealing which file within the package is at fault. If you encounter an error popup, select your external drive in the finder window, then choose File > Get Info (Command or Ctrl + I). How do I copy my iPhoto 9.6 Library from my Pictures Library to a LaCie External hard drive? Any APFS or Mac OS Extended format drive works. If issue persists, try transferring smaller portions of the library at a time. Mac OS creates the library the first time you open Photos on your machine. Apples newest operating system, OS X Yosemite, has a new way of storing and organizing photos. only. Make sure the library on the external drive has enough free space. If you dont have an external hard drive connected, youll get an error message when you try to open iPhoto. This way, I do not have to wait for thousands of other shots to load or wade through hundreds of headshots to get to those most important images. If it fails to open appropriately, try to rebuild it per instructions above. 1-800-MY-APPLE, or, Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture, Sales and Before we get started, its important to note that this process will only work if youre using iPhoto 11 or later. So you still save space on your Mac. Her Photos Library file is 12.5GB, and she had just a few gigabytes left on the drive. The local copies on external drive are much better to save your photos. Select everything in the revealed folder, move to the trash, and delete it. A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Put it either in the sidebar or on the desktop. Select Get Info from the Photos library icon after clicking on the Photos icon. With a compact and sleek design, durable outer casing, and excellent storage capacity, its the perfect portable hard drive for photographers. Apples iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) and OS X Yosemite (10.10.3) are the most recent models. What kind of iCloud Storage? Click Photos > Preferences. By default, Photos Library is stored in the Pictures folder of your home folder. If youre copying the photos to the library, you should save them in the Photos library file as a package. This increases the odds that if you have a faulty file, it will scotch the copy. Looks like no ones replied in a while. Rename the copy of the library each time. You have a lot of possibilities to fix this. Drag the file to the bin, right-click, and select empty bin. And they show up on your computer! (Some forum posts are from folks who thought it was in NTFS format, but Macs can only read, not write, to NTFS without additional software, so you wouldnt be able to start copying at all.). If you are transferring an extensive photo library, it can take some time. A folder or folder that contains the photos in the Photos app is the most likely location for them. Available in sizes up to 4 TB, these drives are super fast, reliable, rugged, and portableperfect for your camera bag! Some external drives come preformatted for Windows in FAT32 format if theyre not listed as being specifically intended for Macs. Once you have deleted the library file from your pictures folder, your pictures will no longer be on your Mac. It is not uncommon for storage demands in your photo library to become an issue after a while. If its an image file and not a database or other file, you may have to just do without it. This will copy, not move, your photos library. Copy iPhoto libraries onto an external hard drive by connecting it. Grab all the folders except that one that didnt copy and drag them to the new library folder. (The latter is a fantastic screensaver on your Apple TV). Make sure you have quit Photos. The process of transferring photos from your Mac to an external drive is fairly simple, and no additional software is required. This is especially important for users with limited hard drive space, or who want to keep a backup of their photos off-site. I am trying to do this copy so to give the external drive to my grandkids for their future use. Select the Sidebar tab. Click Erase. First try copying everything to see if the Finder will report the problem: select everything in the folder, and drag to the new librarys folder. The volume appears indented named something else and, if mounted, with an Eject button next to it. Click Create New, and save the new files on the external drive. Macworld is your best source for all things Apple. It is worth stating that you must connect your external hard drive each time you use the Photos App. When youve completed copying everything you can, launch Photos with the Option key held down. SanDisk Extreme Portable Hard Drive (500 GB). Drag it to a drive, partition, or disk image formatted as Mac OS Extended. Click Other Library and navigate to the new location on the external device. 1-800-MY-APPLE, or. I have a 24" M1 2001 iMac. Search for jobs related to Cant copy photos library to external drive or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 19m+ jobs. (See: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture) Then drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures folder to the external drive. Heres what you need to locate to move your images. Then click and drag the Photos Library icon to your external drive. Do you only want to back up your Photos library to an external storage device? After you've cleaned up your library and formatted your external hard drive, then it's time to transfer your pictures. Put it either in the sidebar or on the desktop. any proposed solutions on the community forums. Your email address will not be published. This library appears in apps like iMovie, iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and Photo Stream. Because it is formatted for Windows, it is available for use on Macs as well. He specialises in creatively using long exposure times to give artistic, narrative experiences for the viewer. ask a new question. Here are 3 of the 7 steps we uncover in this 21 minute video: Sharing & Permissions, check the box that says then try again. In the Finder, open the folder that contains Photos Library. omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. Select iCloud Photo Library to turn iCloud back on for . When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. any proposed solutions on the community forums. Hes a senior contributor to Macworld, where he writes Mac 911. Quit Photos. For starters, while this is an oddball one, some of the people who have had this failure have solved their copy operation holdup by fixing the destination drives format type. Step 3: Drag Photos Library to the External Drive. You can use many Photo libraries from external drives. All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the. This is especially important for users with limited hard drive space, or who want to keep a backup of their photos off-site.The good news is that it's actually pretty easy to do, and there are a few different ways to go about it. Martha Helena writes in with a problem that may have a few different angles. If I upload my photos to a iCloud Drive on my Mac can I delete them from my iCloud Drive? Sales and The drive will be named something like Seagate, WD, or the like, followed by a model number. How do you transfer photos from a Mac to a hard drive? Drag Photos Library to a location on your external storage device. It is currently copied to my Time Machine and to cloud storage but I would also like to copy it to an external hard drive for storage in our safe deposit box. Required fields are marked *. macOS 10.15, Aug 24, 2022 11:47 AM in response to JDB38. We give you the scoop on what's new, what's best and how to make the most out of the products you love. Weve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: Connect your external drive to your machine. You can open your home folder by choosing Go > Home from the Finder menu bar. Apple lets you boot from a special partition on your startup drive into the Recovery mode. This is an excellent way to know which backup is which. I have a desk drawer full of external drives. captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Open folders that failed to copy and try to copy elements within them until you diagnose which file is bad. Mac OS X (10.6.8), Jan 21, 2015 10:09 AM in response to ron290, Make sure your external drive is formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). Now your copy is set up and working. If your pictures folder is not listed in your Finder window, use Finder preferences to select what you see in your sidebar. You can start managing your shoots like a pro! Select the item, then File > Get Info, or Command-I if youre using an Internet connection. (Error code -36). iCloud Drive will probably corrupt the library by syncing. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Photos Library is the folder where the Photos App stores the images you import. Privacy Policy Terms of Use. Her startup drive started to fill. All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the. Click on the iCloud tab . Whenever I try to copy my Photo Library file (GB) to an external hard drive it goes about half way and then stalls. Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac. To copy your iPhoto Library to an external hard drive, you will need to first locate your iPhoto Library folder. An external hard drive is a great way to back up your photos, and its also handy for storing other files such as music and movies. If that doesnt solve the problem, I have two more suggestions: You can open the media library package and copy items in small groups to see if you can identify which file or folder is corrupt. While she was able to copy an older iPhoto Library to the other drive, the Finder kept hanging up during the Photos Library transfer with this error: The Finder cant complete the operation because some data in Photos Library cant be read or written. A few gigabytes can transfer in a matter of minutes. Quit Photos. Go to System Preferences > iCloud > Photos > Options. If nothing fails, great! provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations (Repeat with failures as necessary.). (If you don't use iCloud Photos, you can skip these steps.) If you're into editing photos and post-processing, you need to check out this Topaz JPEG to RAW AI review. Mac 911 cant reply tonor publish an answer toevery question, and we dont provide direct troubleshooting advice. By capturing a duration of time within a single image, he strives to portray the vitality and excitement that can be found amidst the bustle of people, cars, clouds and everything else moving in the frame, whilst communicating calm, serenity and silence. Each major shoot or event is in its own library. This library will also synchronize with your other devices. Where are all your photos stored? This import is directly from a camera, device, or your iCloud photo library. A USB-C port gives you the fastest data transfer. Then, in the Format pop-up menu, select the file system format. I have reformatted the external drive (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and it is a 2.1 TB a 3.0 USB drive. The Ultimate Guide About Travelling In Burma, How To Reset Your Email Password On Yosemite, What To See In California Yosemite Or San Diego, Why Apple Chose The Names El Capitan High Sierra And Yosemite For Its New Operating Systems, Fascinating Reasons Why A Trip To Burma Is A Unique Experience, 10 Things You Must Know About Traveling In Burma And About Burma. All Rights Reserved. Control-click on that new library file on the external drive and choose. If Pictures is not an option, go to Finders Preferences > Sidebar and look for it. Make sure you have quit Photos. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. Move Photos Library to the storage device. I use and would recommend an external Solid State Drive (SSD) such as the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD. This is a lot to try, but its likely one of these solutions will move you along your way to success. omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. According to AppleInsider, you should have at least 1TB of free storage on hand. (See: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture). The app organizes photos into Moments, Collections, and Years. Looks like no ones replied in a while. When you connect a camera or phone, you will import the photos straight to the external device. Jan 21, 2015 10:10 AM in response to ron290, simple - get an external hard drive formatted Mac OS extended that is directly connected to your Mac with a wired connection (firewire, thunderbolt, USB 2 or 3) and, Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash), And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto, And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive, You must not have your iPhoto library on the same volume as your TimeMachine backup - eventually it will quit working since Tm uses all of the available space as it needs it and you have not backup, Jan 21, 2015 10:05 AM in response to ron290. Then drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures folder to the external drive. Another option is to try a different cable to narrow down what could be causing it. Whenever I try to copy my Photo Library file (GB) to an external hard drive it goes about half way and then stalls. A G-Drive Mobile SSD R-Series is an excellent alternative to traditional hard drives because it provides superior durability. My Passport, as an alternative to USB 2.0, can be plugged into USB 3.0. Disk Utility reveals the format type for a partition, which you can then erase (after backing up) and reformat to the preferred macOS type. This is mandatory if you use iCLoud with your Photo library. On June 1, 2015, at 6:40 a.m., the following was added: This package is usually located in the Pictures folder. It may take a few minutes or longer depending on the size of your library. Users can also create custom albums and add tags to help organize their photos. This means we may receive a commission if you purchase something by clicking on one of our links. Refunds. 3. mac911@macworld.com including screen captures as appropriate. You can check that with "File > Get Info" for the drive. Whenever you want to add more images or edit existing pictures in your library, plug in your external drive and open Photos. Now, instead of being stored in iPhoto, they are stored in the Photos app. Any iCloud-based images will automatically appear and download if you select them to edit. And check the folders you want to be displayed when you open a new Finder window. Once you have located your iPhoto Library folder, you can simply drag and drop it onto your external hard drive. On your startup volume, select an iPhoto or Photos Library and select. If you copied the iPhoto Library to iCloud Drive,you will not be able to restore the library. You can also select your interests for free access to our premium training: If youre like most people, you have a lot of photos on your computer. Assuming you have already copied your Photos library onto the external storage device, you can follow these steps. One of the most common questions we get from Mac users is how to move their iPhoto Library to an external drive. Your most likely method of storing digital photos is on your Mac computer. Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, So how do you transfer photos from a Macbook to an external hard drive? It has a variety of features, including, Having the best laptop for photo editing gives you the greatest advantage in the competitive world of photography. Control-click on that new library file on the external drive and choose Show Package Contents. Its actually pretty simple: just follow these steps. 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