Transferring my Photo Library will take 2 days. Advice?

[bhsu21]

Trying to transfer files from my 2012 MacBook Air to my nTB MacBook Pro 13.

I like to start from fresh each time and just transfer the files I need.

I have an old 1TB WB external HD that I've had for years. I added my 173GB photo library from my MBA. Now it's plugged into to my MBP with the USB-C adapter. I moved the file to my computer and it's saying it'll take 2 days. It said 11 days to start, then 12 days, and now as I type this 2 days.

Is it slow cause of the USB connection?

Is there a better way to do this?

 

[Weaselboy]

I have an old 1TB WB external HD that I've had for years.

If it is that old, I bet it is a USB2 drive and that is the issue. The transfer speeds over USB2 are pretty slow compared to newer USB3 drives. You are just going to have to wait it out.

 

[erichui84]

If it is just photos then I am guessing it is more likely to be smaller files than larger files, and maybe even the USB 2 bandwidth aren't fully used. I guess if you do have a external SSD drive that would be quicker (then you would be limited by the USB 2 speed)

If you do have access to gigabit ethernet network it might be quicker otherwise can't think of much faster way. The MBA USB dongle for Ethernet network was only 100 mbit so that's no good either. (unless you got the thunderbolt version)

 

[Ries]

It contains a million small metadata files. Those takes ages to move. I compressed my photo lib to a zip before moving it. Went way faster.