Moving Mac Photos Library To External Drive

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How to safely move your Mac's iPhoto library onto an external drive. By Stephen Robles Saturday, January 24, 2015, 11:00 pm PT (02:00 am ET) Today's digital cameras and advanced smartphones like.

  • Nov 23, 2016 Moving a Mac’s Photos Library. Drive space by moving your picture library to a new external drive (and deleting it from its original location), but this means you do need to have the.
  • Dec 11, 2018  Moving Your Photos Library. To understand how this works, it’s important to know how the Photos app catalogs files. It’s actually simple; there’s a single file that contains your entire library. If you want to back this up, you plug in your external hard drive and drag the whole file over to that hard drive in the sidebar of Finder.
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By Stephen Robles
Saturday, January 24, 2015, 11:00 pm PT (02:00 am ET)

Today's digital cameras and advanced smartphones like the iPhone 6 take stunningly detailed photos, but all that extra resolution comes at the price of larger image files. Moving part or all of your iPhoto Library to an external hard drive is one of the most effective ways to free up precious space.



Before starting the process, we suggest making an up to date Time Machine backup of your computer to an external hard drive or Time Capsule. Be sure the external hard drive you use to perform this backup is a separate unit from the one you will move the iPhoto Library to should anything happen.
If you have an account with a cloud storage service, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or even iCloud Drive, you can also upload the iPhoto Library to these services for extra redundancy.


To begin moving your library, open iPhoto, click File in the Menu Bar and select Switch to Library.


A new window will appear listing any and all iPhoto Libraries detected on your computer. If you're not sure where the iPhoto Library file is located, look at the (Default) listing and the file path will be listed underneath. This should be located in the Pictures folder of your Home directory.


Quit iPhoto by going to Quit iPhoto in the iPhoto Menu Bar or pressing Cmd+Q. Connect the external hard drive that you will use to copy the iPhoto Library. You should see it appear on your desktop.


Open a new Finder window and click Pictures in the left sidebar. Click and drag the iPhoto Library file onto the external hard drive icon on your Desktop.


Depending on how large your library is and the connection speed of the external drive, it may take several minutes or longer to complete the copy process.
Once the copy is completed, hold the Option key on your keyboard and open iPhoto from the Dock or Applications folder. A new window will pop up asking you to Create a New Library, Choose the Selected Library or Other Library. Click on Other Library.


In the browser window that appears, navigate to your external hard drive, click the iPhoto Library file you've copied and click Choose.
iPhoto will open and as long as the external hard drive is connected, will reference the library on the external drive and not on your computer's drive.

Quit iPhoto once again and eject the external hard drive holding your new iPhoto Library. Open a new Finder window and navigate to the Pictures folder in the left sidebar again.
Right click or Ctrl+click on the iPhoto file and move it to the Trash.


Finally, to free up the space on your internal hard drive, open the Trash from the Dock or Finder window and click Empty Trash in the upper right corner.


Your iPhoto Library has officially been removed from the internal drive. You can now reconnect the external hard drive you used to copy the iPhoto library, open iPhoto and use it as normal.
If you open iPhoto without your external hard drive connected, iPhoto will give you an error message saying the 'Library cannot be found.' Quit iPhoto, connect the external hard drive and reopen to fix.
For those looking to expand their beyond their Mac's internal storage HDD or SSD, AppleInsiderDrive recommends having at least 1TB of extra space at the ready. A few high quality external and portable hard drive options from Seagate, HGST and Western Digital are listed below.
  • Seagate 1TB Backup Plus Slim for Mac for $72.99 from B&H and Amazon.com or $88.99 from MacMall
      Also available in 2TB for $99 from Amazon and B&H or $149.99 from MacMall

  • HGST 1TB Touro S Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive for $69.99 from B&H or $83.99 from MacMall
      Available in 4TB for $149 from Amazon and B&H

  • Western Digital 1TB My Passport Drive for Mac from Amazon for $68.45, $69.00 from B&H or $70.99 from MacMall
      Available in 2TB for $96.24 from Amazon, $99 from B&H or $101.99 from MacMall

Apple's photo management software for the Mac, Photos, has grown to be a fairly competent all-purpose storage locker. But as your photo and video library grows — and especially if you've taken advantage of iCloud Photo Library — you may find that your Photos library strains to fit on your Mac's hard drive.

While there are options to keep your Mac from running out of space, like optimizing your photo storage if you use iCloud Photo Library, it comes at a cost: Without a fully-stored Photos library, you won't be able to create secondary backups of your images and video. (And as good as iCloud has become, your photos and video are precious enough that they're worth keeping backed up in multiple places.)

There is an alternative: Moving your Photos library to an external drive (or creating an entirely separate library and syncing it with iCloud). Here's how to do it, and some reasons why you should — and shouldn't! — consider it for your needs.

Why you should (and shouldn't) use an external drive with Photos for Mac

There are a number of reasons why an external drive might make sense when you're working with Photos for Mac:

  • You have a giant Photos library (and, if you use iCloud Photo Library, you want to ensure you have a secondary backup of everything in that library)
  • You frequently swap computers and want to work on your images from any Mac
  • Your library isn't huge, but you'd prefer to save space on your Mac for other files
  • You share a computer with other users and you have limited drive space
  • If you're working with space constraints on your primary computer, it's one of the easiest ways to back up your full iCloud Photo Library
Moving mac photos library to external drive work

That said, there are some downsides, too. Here are some reasons you might not want to use an external drive:

  • You don't have a big enough library to warrant moving it off your Mac
  • You don't want to have to worry about always having your external drive connected to view and edit your images
  • You use a laptop frequently and can't afford an SSD, and you don't want to risk breaking your disc-based hard drive by constantly moving it
  • You don't want to accidentally create duplicate libraries that can't be connected to iCloud Photo Library (because your offsite library is connected)
  • Unless you purchase a speedy drive, working externally is almost always slower than working on your default hard drive
  • You don't want to spend the money on an external drive
  • If you use an automated backup service for your computer, you'll have to set up a second set of rules for backing up your hard drive

Best external drives for storing photos

Okay, so you've decided to move your Photos library over to an external drive. What next? If you already have an external drive, you can always use it for storing your Photos library (and save on cash). But if you're considering getting a new drive for this endeavor, here's what I suggest:

  • Get a drive that's at least 1-2TB in space, preferably 4TB. With the iPhone able to save 4K video, our space needs aren't shrinking anytime soon: The bigger hard drive you can afford, the better.
  • If you're buying a stationary hard drive, buying a disc-based hard drive is great, but buy good brands — don't try and save $50 on an off-brand hard drive. It's rarely worth the HDD failure.
  • If you're buying a portable hard drive, consider SSD: It's very pricey in comparison to a disc-based drive, but if you know you'll be frequently moving around — especially if you plan to move around with the drive connected — you want a drive that can take a little rumble and tumble without skipping or failing.
  • Hard drive speeds are important, too: The faster a drive's write speed, the quicker your images will copy; the faster a drive's read speed, the easier it will be for you to view images or video and edit them, too.

Want some recommendations for specific external hard drives? We've got those, too.

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

  1. Connect an external drive to your Mac via USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt.
  2. Open a new Finder window.
  3. Open your external drive in that window.

  4. Open a new Finder window. Don't close your previous window (open to your external drive), as you'll need it shortly.

  5. Click the Go menu and navigate to your Home folder.
  6. Select the Pictures folder.
  7. Select your old library.

  8. Drag it to your external drive in the other Finder window.

Your library will begin to copy over to your external drive. Depending on the size of your library and speed of your drive, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, so be patient. Don't unplug your drive or turn off your computer during this process.

Step 2 (if you use iCloud): Turn off iCloud sync on your old library

Before you open your copied Photos library on the external drive, you have to disassociate the library on your Mac from iCloud. (If you don't use iCloud Photo Library, you can skip these steps.)

  1. Open Photos on your Mac.
  2. Go to the Photos menu.
  3. Select Preferences.
  4. Click on the iCloud tab.

  5. Uncheck iCloud Photo Library.

  6. Press Remove from Mac to remove any undownloaded low-resolution items from this library.

  7. Quit Photos.

Step 3: Make your new library your system default

Now, it's time to make your newly-copied Photos library your system default.

  1. Open Photos on your Mac.
  2. Go to the Photos menu.
  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Click Use as System Photo Library.

Step 4 (if you use iCloud): Connect your new library to iCloud

Your external library is now set up to be your system default, but it's not currently connected to iCloud. If you use iCloud Photo Library and want to keep that connection active so that you can continually download items you've stored, read on. (Otherwise, you can skip this step.)

  1. Open Photos on your Mac.
  2. Go to the Photos menu.
  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Click on the iCloud tab.

  5. Check iCloud Photo Library.
  6. Click Download Originals to this Mac.
  7. Wait for your Mac to download your images from iCloud. (Depending on the size of your iCloud library and your internet connection, this may take up to 24 hours; don't disconnect your external drive or turn off your Mac during this time.)

Once your library has fully synced and downloaded images, you can disconnect your drive; whenever you want to use your Photos library, you now need to connect your drive to your Mac.

Step 5: Get rid of your old library

A personal plea: Please, please, please make sure your library is fully copied and working on your external drive before you follow the steps below — once you've thrown away your original library, it's gone!

  1. Open a new Finder window.
  2. Click the Go menu and navigate to your Home folder.
  3. Select the Pictures folder.

  4. Select your old library.

  5. Drag it to the Trash (or press Command-Delete on your keyboard).
  6. Empty the Trash.
  7. Open a new Finder window. Don't close your previous window (open to the Pictures folder), as you'll need it later.
  8. Select your external drive.
  9. Right-click (or control-click) on your copied Photos library on your external drive.
  10. Select Make Alias.
  11. Drag the alias to the Pictures folder.

  12. Rename the alias to remove the 'alias' part of its name.

Now you have a direct link to your copied Photos library from the Pictures folder: This prevents your computer from accidentally creating multiple Photos libraries in case you forget to launch Photos with your external drive connected.

Note: If you're worried about accidentally creating libraries, you can always launch Photos by option-clicking on its icon in the Dock or Applications folder; this will give you the option of picking which library you'd like to launch.

How to create a new Photos library on your external drive and use it as your primary library

Creating a new library on your external drive is a multi-step process. Here's how to go about it.

Step 1 (if you use iCloud): Turn off iCloud sync on your old library

Before you create a new Photos library, you have to disassociate your current library as your system default. (If you don't use iCloud Photo Library, you can skip these steps.)

  1. Open Photos on your Mac.
  2. Go to the Photos menu.
  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Click on the iCloud tab.

  5. Uncheck iCloud Photo Library.
  6. Press Remove from Mac to remove all low-resolution items from this library.
  7. Press Remove from Mac once more to confirm.

  8. Quit Photos.

Step 2: Create your new Photos library

Once you've done this, it's time to create a new library.

  1. Connect an external drive to your Mac via USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt.
  2. Option-click (and continue holding down option) when launching the Photos app on your Mac.
  3. When it asks you to choose a library, click on Create New….

  4. Name your library.

  5. Press the Down arrow to expand the File picker and choose your external drive as the new location.
  6. Press OK to save it to your external drive.

Step 3: Make your new library your system default

You'll now have an empty library on your external drive. Next up: Making it your system library.

Drive
  1. Open Photos on your Mac.
  2. Go to the Photos menu.
  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Click Use as System Photo Library.

Step 4 (if you use iCloud): Connect your new library to iCloud

Your external library has now been set up from scratch. If you use iCloud Photo Library and want to download all the items you've stored there to have an external backup, read on. (Otherwise, you can skip this step.)

  1. Open Photos on your Mac.
  2. Go to the Photos menu.
  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Click on the iCloud tab.

  5. Check iCloud Photo Library.
  6. Click Download Originals to this Mac.
  7. Wait for your Mac to download your images from iCloud. (Depending on the size of your library and your internet connection, this may take up to 24 hours; don't disconnect your external drive or turn off your Mac during this time.)

Once your library has fully synced and downloaded images, you can disconnect your drive; whenever you want to use your Photos library, you now need to connect your drive to your Mac.

Step 5: Get rid of your old library

A personal plea: Please, please, please make sure your new library is live and working on your external drive before you follow the steps below — once you've thrown away your original library, it's gone!

  1. Open a new Finder window.
  2. Click the Go menu and navigate to your Home folder.
  3. Select the Pictures folder.

  4. Select your old library.

  5. Drag it to the Trash (or press Command-Delete on your keyboard).
  6. Empty the Trash.
  7. Open a new Finder window. Don't close your previous window (open to the Pictures folder), as you'll need it later.
  8. Select your external drive.
  9. Right-click (or control-click) on your new Photos library.

  10. Select Make Alias.

  11. Drag the alias to the Pictures folder.
  12. Rename the alias to remove the 'alias' part of its name.

Now you have a direct link to your Photos library from the Pictures folder: This prevents your computer from accidentally creating multiple Photos libraries in case you forget to launch Photos with your external drive connected.

Note: If you're worried about accidentally creating libraries, you can always launch Photos by option-clicking on its icon in the Dock or Applications folder; this will give you the option of picking which library you'd like to launch.

Copy Photos Library To External Drive

Questions?

Let us know in the comments.

Updated March 2019: Updated for macOS Mojave.

Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this post.

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