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Zen Desk Pro

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 18, 2015
62
9
Chicago, Illinois
I'm trying to figure out a safe and easy way to transfer photos and videos from my iPhone (and then iPad) on to my Mac -- but more specifically an external hard drive connected to my Mac.

How do you guys ordinarily do this? I tried iPhoto and Image Capture, but it seems as if these apps only import photos and not video?

Usually on Windows, a window popups that gives you the option of "importing photos and videos" when you plug in your device, but I haven't been able to find anything like that on my Mac.


Is there a way to do this manually in iTunes? How do you guys import, and the subsequently delete the media from your camera rolls off of your phone?



Thanks
 
It should all sync

All my stuff from my iPad transferred to my MacBook Pro without me having to do anything
 
I don't use the new photos app on my mac because I can't stand it. The old one was so much easier to use and pull from my phone. Now it just syncs with my cloud and doesn't pull the originals from my phone. So I use imazing, I can pull all my photos as well as other files from my device as a choose to. Love it!

I move all my photos to an external drive and make folders myself. I don't let any software mess with my files because in the end they never get it the way I want everything to be.
 
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I just use icloud photo library to keep my photos synced amongst all my apple devices, but it seems that would quite work for external storage.
 
Photos and Image Capture both import videos from iPhone and iPad (things enter a gray zone with importing from other cameras, see below). Both programs give you the option to delete images from the camera/iPhone/iPad following import.

iCloud Photo Stream does not import videos.

iCloud Photo Library does.

If you want your images transferred to an external drive (rather than imported to the Photos Library), use Image Capture.

You can select either Photos or Image Capture to automatically open when you connect a camera/phone.

iTunes cannot be used to import photos or videos from cameras or iPhones/iPads. That's what Photos and Image Capture are for. iTunes is used for syncing photos from your computer to your iPhone/iPad.

Here's the fundamental support document for Image Capture: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH17894
Here's another useful article. Among other things, it explains why some videos may not be imported. https://support.apple.com/HT201734
 
Photos and Image Capture both import videos from iPhone and iPad (things enter a gray zone with importing from other cameras, see below). Both programs give you the option to delete images from the camera/iPhone/iPad following import.

iCloud Photo Stream does not import videos.

iCloud Photo Library does.

If you want your images transferred to an external drive (rather than imported to the Photos Library), use Image Capture.

You can select either Photos or Image Capture to automatically open when you connect a camera/phone.

iTunes cannot be used to import photos or videos from cameras or iPhones/iPads. That's what Photos and Image Capture are for. iTunes is used for syncing photos from your computer to your iPhone/iPad.

Here's the fundamental support document for Image Capture: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH17894
Here's another useful article. Among other things, it explains why some videos may not be imported. https://support.apple.com/HT201734
That's what I decided on doing.

Since a good ~75 percent of my photos are clumped into camera roll, I just import everything there, including lengthy videos and then delete after import. Then transfer to external HD.

I use Drop Box to make importing albums less of a headache. Basically what I do is just create an album in Drop Box on my device, then I click on upload new files, then select which album, then quickly select all the photos. Simple.


Only thing I dislike about it is that it duplicates all of the photos that were in the albums.
 
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