Migrating Photo's library to external hard drive

[Phil22]

Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro (512 Gb SSD) which is getting close to full, primarily with photos (I use a DSRL and shoot in RAW). Can someone explain the workflow to migrating my photos library to an external hard drive so that all of the albums, favourites etc. are retained? I am planning on getting an external SSD so that the speed when editing etc. is hopefully not impacted too much - looking at purchasing the G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile SSD R-Series Storage.

Once the migration is done and I have deleted the photos on my internal hard drive, what would happen when I open the Photos application without the hard drive connected? Would it throw up an error stating that the external is not connected?

I upgraded to Catalina incase this makes any difference to the workflow.

Thanks in advance.

 

[WinterWolf90]

Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro (512 Gb SSD) which is getting close to full, primarily with photos (I use a DSRL and shoot in RAW). Can someone explain the workflow to migrating my photos library to an external hard drive so that all of the albums, favourites etc. are retained? I am planning on getting an external SSD so that the speed when editing etc. is hopefully not impacted too much - looking at purchasing the G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile SSD R-Series Storage.

Once the migration is done and I have deleted the photos on my internal hard drive, what would happen when I open the Photos application without the hard drive connected? Would it throw up an error stating that the external is not connected?

I upgraded to Catalina incase this makes any difference to the workflow.

Thanks in advance.

You basically go into the photos folder and just copy or drag the icon into the external hard drive. That will keep everything the same, then you have to set the photos app to open the library from there

 

[Phil22]

Thanks for the reply, didn't think it would be that easy! So once I copy the Photos icon onto the external drive I would delete this folder on my Mac and point the Photo's application to the external directory. How do you change where photos points to?

 

[Fishrrman]

"So once I copy the Photos icon onto the external drive I would delete this folder on my Mac and point the Photo's application to the external directory. How do you change where photos points to?"

1. Hold down option key
2. Open Photos
3. Choose the library you wish to use.

I wouldn't delete the old library for a while until you are satisfied the new one is working as intended.

Also, and very VERY IMPORTANT:
Since you now have your photos on an external drive, you MUST BACK UP THAT DRIVE (as well as your internal drive) to protect your data. If that drive fails, your photos will be gone.

I recommend using either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
Either one will produce an EXACT COPY of the "primary external storage" drive onto a backup drive.

And... you ought to think about keeping a SECOND backup drive "off-site", to protect again home disasters.

 

[Phil22]

That's great thanks for the input on this. I already use a dedicated external hard drive for Time Machine backups. Once I've moved over to the new SSD hard drive for storing photos, when the Time Machine external is also plugged in at the same time and I kick off a backup, will it also backup the photos on the SSD external? Or does Time Machine only backup local files stored on the Mac?

 

[Brian33]

Time Machine can easily backup files from external drives attached to your Mac. While the external "photos" drive is connected, go to System Preferences-->Options button and ensure the "photos" drive is NOT in the excluded items list. If it is in there, just select it and hit the '-' button.

Then the next TM backup will include all files on the external "photos" drive (provided it's attached at the time, of course).
[automerge]1573570149[/automerge]
My opinion: considering the importance of your photo library, I suggest you regularly make two backups using two different methods. For example, Time Machine plus Carbon Copy Cloner (to yet another drive) or Time Machine plus iCloud Photo Library.