- Move Photos To External Hard Drive Mac Os X Drive
- External Hard Drive Mac Format
- How To Move Photos To External Drive
- Mac Os Encrypt External Drive
Prepare your drive
You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).1 Find out how to check the format of your external storage device.
If you have a large photo library on your Mac, transferring the photos to an external drive can save you valuable storage space. We advise you to get a reasonably fast external storage device. Apr 17, 2015 Much like making an entirely new Photos library in OS X, you’ll need to use the Option key during application launch to be able to migrate an iPhoto library into Photos app. Moving an iPhoto Library into Photos App of OS X. Quit out of Photos app (and iPhoto) if you haven’t done so already.
Move Photos To External Hard Drive Mac Os X Drive
To prevent data loss, Apple doesn't recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.
Move your Photos library to an external storage device
- Quit Photos.
- In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library.
- In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users > [username] > Pictures, and it's named Photos Library.
- Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive's icon in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click , then make sure the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' checkbox is selected. If it's not selected, click to unlock it, enter an administrator name and password, then select the checkbox.2
- After the move is finished, double-click Photos Library in its new location to open it.
- If you use iCloud Photo Library, designate this library as the System Photo Library.
Delete original library to save space
After you open your library from its new location and make sure that it works as expected, you can delete the library from its original location.
In a Finder window, go back to your Pictures folder (or whichever folder you copied your library from) and move Photos Library to the trash. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash to delete the library and reclaim disk space.
Open another Photos library
If you have multiple libraries, here's how to open a different one:
- Quit Photos.
- Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
- Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library.
Photos uses this library until you open a different one.
Learn more
If you have a permissions issue with your library, you might be able to resolve the issue by using the Photos library repair tool.
1. You can't move your library to a disk that's used for Time Machine backups.
2. If the volume isn't formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or has been used for Time Machine backups but hasn't been erased, this checkbox will either not be present, or won't be selectable after unlocking. Erase and reformat the drive for this option to be available.
File handling on a Mac isn’t particularly tricky. For example, if sharing your files between PCs and smartphones is a skill you need to learn, learning to move files on Mac is an easy intuitive process.
Normally, you’d just select the file you’d like to move using the cursor, and then drag and drop it to the location of your choice. However, depending on your desired destination, your Mac can either copy or move that file altogether.
Here we’ll take you through all the different methods of file handling on a Mac, including moving them on the same and to a different drive, and moving and copying your files to the cloud.
How To Move And Copy Files On The Same Mac Drive
Understanding the way the file handling system works in Mac OS will help you make your workflow more efficient. Once you learn the different ways of moving the files around, backing up files on your Mac will become effortless.
Let’s start with the most basic move when it comes to file handling. Drag and drop a file on the same drive on your Mac. When you do that, your computer will automatically move that file rather than make a copy of it.
- Click on the file you’d like to move to select it.
- Hold down the mouse button while you drag the file to the new location.
- When you drop it to the new folder you’ll see that the file has moved from its original place to the new destination.
If your goal is to keep the file in its original location, as well as have a copy of it in the new destination folder, you’ll need to use this keyboard trick to do it.
- Click on the file you’d like to move to select it.
- Hold down the Option key (or Alt) on the keyboard while moving the file to its new location.
You’ll see that instead of moving the file, your Mac will automatically copy it to the new destination folder. Now you can see that two identical files exist on your computer.
How To Transfer Files To a Different Drive
The default file handling behaviour of your Mac changes when you transfer files between the Macintosh HD and another drive. No matter whether it’s an external or an internal drive, the system’s automatic response is to copy a file rather than move it. That’s because your Mac assumes you’re backing up your files.
- Click on the file or folder to select it.
- Move it to a different location by dragging it to a different drive.
- When you drop it, you will see that Mac will create a copy of it in the new drive rather than move it there.
If you want to only keep the newly created copy of your file, you can trash the original to remove it. Or you can use this trick to move your file to another drive in the first place instead of copying it.
Before you drag and drop your file, hold down the Cmd (Command) key when you select the file. After you drop it in the new destination, you’ll see there’s only one file on your computer now. This saves you time and memory space.
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External Hard Drive Mac Format
How To Move And Copy Files From Mac To iCloud
![Move Photos To External Hard Drive Mac Os X Move Photos To External Hard Drive Mac Os X](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126023939/645980084.jpg)
If you’re choosing to transfer and store your files online, it’s important to know that your Mac is equipped with a great alternative for services like Google Drive, DropBox, and others. iCloud Drive is a built-in option that you can use to store and access your files by other iOS devices under the same Apple ID. Plus, since it’s already a part of your Mac, it doesn’t require any third-party logins or downloads.
Moving and copying files to and from the iCloud Drive is just as easy as transferring your files elsewhere on your Mac.
When you drag and drop a file from Macintosh HD to the iCloud, your computer’s default response will be to move it there.
If you want to keep the original file, as well as have a copy of it on the iCloud Drive, hold down the Option key (or Alt) on the keyboard while moving the file to its new location. That way, you will copy your file to iCloud.
Use The File Handling Keyboard Shortcuts
A great way to upgrade your user experience and to become a more efficient Mac user is to learn the essential Mac keyboard shortcuts. When it comes to file handling, there are two keyboard shortcuts that will quickly turn you into a power user.
- Cmd + C & Cmd + V
How To Move Photos To External Drive
The ultimate keyboard shortcut that most users will have known since day one of using a computer. You can use it to copy and paste any file anywhere on your Mac without touching your mouse or a touchpad.
- Cmd + C & Option + Cmd + V
This shortcut is a little less-known. Just add the Option key to the second part of the copy-paste action and you will move your file to the new destination instead of creating a copy of it.
File Handling Made Easy
Mac Os Encrypt External Drive
Moving your files on Mac is rather simple. Once you understand how it works, you can move on to learning how to move files between different devices. A useful skill when you need to migrate files from Windows PC or transfer your data from Android to Mac.
Have you struggled moving files to and from your Mac before? Share your experience with us in the comments below.