How to make a copy / backup iCloud photos?

[Zerna]

- I have 20,000 photos stored in iCloud

- I want to copy/backup ALL photos to my external 2T hard drive & store in a separate folder for safe keeping.



How can I accomplish this?



thank you,

Zerna.

 

[redpandadev]

- I have 20,000 photos stored in iCloud

- I want to copy/backup ALL photos to my external 2T hard drive & store in a separate folder for safe keeping.



How can I accomplish this?



thank you,

Zerna.

The most obvious thing that comes to mind is to choose the "Download Originals to this Mac" option in Photos -> Preferences -> iCloud. Once all of the photos have downloaded, either a) Copy the entire Photos Library File to the external drive or b) Use Time Machine to perform a total backup of your system.