Gerlof Du Bois

Q: How to access my photo library on an external drive

I have my library on an external hard drive, when I connect it to Photos on another Mac it requests me to upgrade my iCloud storage. I just want it to connect to my existing iCloud Library. Any help?

Posted on Jul 24, 2015 12:35 AM

Close

Q: How to access my photo library on an external drive

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 24, 2015 1:17 AM in response to Gerlof Du Bois
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 24, 2015 1:17 AM in response to Gerlof Du Bois

    When you switch to another Photos Library and have iCloud Photo Library enabled, all photos in the other library will upload to iCloud Photo Library as well. Is is not possible to keep a part of your library local and another part in iCloud.  You can open the library on your external drive by double-clicking it, but don't enable iCloud Photo Library after you switched to this library or you will need to upgrade your iCloud Storage.  You can browse your photos in iCloud using the web interface and the Photos.app at  https://www.icloud.com/   while you are browsing your local library.

  • by Gerlof Du Bois,

    Gerlof Du Bois Gerlof Du Bois Jul 24, 2015 1:27 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2015 1:27 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks for your reply. I actually have all of my photo's in one library on the external HD. It is fully synced with iCloud. I just want to connect this external HD with this library on another computer an use my photo library on the external HD. If I open photos on the other Mac it sees it is a new library and wants to upload it again, therefore requesting more storage. That is of course something I do not want. I think the issue is that the photo library on the external disk is not set as a Systems Photo Library.

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Jul 24, 2015 2:51 AM in response to Gerlof Du Bois
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 24, 2015 2:51 AM in response to Gerlof Du Bois
    I think the issue is that the photo library on the external disk is not set as a Systems Photo Library.

    You can only enable a System Photo Library to sync with iCloud. But even after you enable the library on the external drive as the System Photo Library the Mac will not know that all photos are already in iCloud and miscalculate the amount of iCloud storage needed.  You are risking to upload duplicates this way. Photos is checking for duplicates and should recognize them, but the process is terribly slow.

     

    To use the iCloud Photo Library from two macs it is easier to start with an empty library on the second Mac and to sync this empty library with iCloud.  (Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support)  All photos will download and recreate your Photos Library on the second Mac.  Create this empty library on your external drive to start with. The drawback will be, that you will have the library stored twice on your external drive.

  • by Gerlof Du Bois,

    Gerlof Du Bois Gerlof Du Bois Jul 24, 2015 5:54 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2015 5:54 AM in response to léonie

    Yes that's a workable solution. Thanks for thinking along!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 24, 2015 6:57 AM in response to Gerlof Du Bois
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 24, 2015 6:57 AM in response to Gerlof Du Bois

    You're welcome

  • by marinho.lu,

    marinho.lu marinho.lu Aug 14, 2015 11:22 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 14, 2015 11:22 AM in response to léonie

    Léonie,

     

    I have a similar problem! I have just  transferred my Photos Library to an external HD and made it my Photos System Library and now I would like to re-enable iCloud. When I try to do so, it asks me to upgrade my storage, but I am only using 90GB out of 200 GB. Then it tells me my external HD does not have enough space (100GB available). Will iCloud be able to recognize that the pics in my "new" Photos System Libray are the same as the ones already on the cloud? Will the sync process take too long? Why does it need HD space?! How should I proceed? Thanks!