moving Photos library to an external HD + (almost) all the originals are on iCloud.

Question

only-a-user Author

Level 1

5 points

moving Photos library to an external HD + (almost) all the originals are on iCloud.

My main machine is a McBook pro and I have quite a large photo library (~18000 photos).

Currently Photos is set using the "Optmize Mac Storage", so (almost) all the originals are on iCloud.

It's becoming uncomfortable not to have the originals always available.

I would like to have my library on an external HD (library and all the originals).

I read the guide to move Photos library and it's a simple process.

If all the original photos would have been already on my Mac, I would have no doubt.

but

I have almost all the originals in iCloud,

will the "new" library download properly the originals after moving in the new location?

Or, the system recognize the library in the new location as the "old" one and I will properly download all the originals?

(Or, I will loose my originals?)

I could not find this detail (or I did not catch anyway), so I would like to ask before proceeding.

Thank you in advance for your support!

MacBook Pro 15", 10.14

Posted on Feb 2, 2019 5:27 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,829 points

Feb 2, 2019 12:55 PM in response to only-a-user

Do the following:

1 - create a new, empty library on your external HD.

2 - set the library to be the System Photos Library.

3 - set the local storage to be the full sized originals (do not use optimize storage)

4 - let iCloud download the full sized originals to the new library. It will take some time, up to weeks, depending on the size of the library.

Reply

Answer 2

only-a-user Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 3, 2019 1:09 AM in response to Old Toad

Dear Old Toad,

thank you for the precise reply.

I will follow those steps and come back with a feedback.

This should be integrated in Apple guides.

Nowadays should not be very uncommon my situation.

Thank you again!

Best wishes,

Pier

Reply

Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

195,151 points

Feb 3, 2019 11:17 AM in response to only-a-user

The procedure outlined by Old Toad will be the fastest way, even it may take several days. There is one draw-back. Projects do not sync to iCloud Photos. So the slideshows and print projects will be missing.But even, if you copy the library from your Mac to the external drive and then enable it for iCloud, you will lose your projects, since your library is optimized. There is currently no way to transfer an optimized library to an external drive without sacrificing the projects.

Reply