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When I try drag and drop the photos album onto an external hard drive, it does not allow me to do this even though there is ample space. Photo library is large - 30 Gb and I need to free up space

How do i store photos from the Mac to an external hard drive - I have tried the drag and drop approach using two separate Finder windows but system does not allow the drag and drop


MacBook Air

Posted on May 7, 2021 5:47 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 7, 2021 8:06 AM

Hi

Is the external drive correctly set up for using with a photos library?


It must be formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled) (preferred for spinning drives)

It Must not be (or have been) used for time machine. (A time machine drive can be used if re-formatted)

It must have the 'ignore ownership" checkbox ticked.

It should not be on a memory stick, SD or similar.

It must also not be a network drive (a direct connection is required - eg USB or Thunderbolt).

File sharing services such as iCloud Drive, Drop box, Onedrive etc are not compatible with Photos libraries.


It stands to reason that if you want any sort of reasonable performance it should be a fast drive with a fast connection.


See

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 7, 2021 8:06 AM in response to photoalbumtransferproblem

Hi

Is the external drive correctly set up for using with a photos library?


It must be formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled) (preferred for spinning drives)

It Must not be (or have been) used for time machine. (A time machine drive can be used if re-formatted)

It must have the 'ignore ownership" checkbox ticked.

It should not be on a memory stick, SD or similar.

It must also not be a network drive (a direct connection is required - eg USB or Thunderbolt).

File sharing services such as iCloud Drive, Drop box, Onedrive etc are not compatible with Photos libraries.


It stands to reason that if you want any sort of reasonable performance it should be a fast drive with a fast connection.


See

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517


When I try drag and drop the photos album onto an external hard drive, it does not allow me to do this even though there is ample space. Photo library is large - 30 Gb and I need to free up space

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