Photo Library transfer to external hard drive

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Level 1

9 points

Photo Library transfer to external hard drive

I transferred my Photos to an external hard drive some 2 years ago - successfully. Today I tried to transfer again, having deleted the original Photos Library on the external hard drive first. All goes well until about half an hour into transfer, it says the following: The operation can’t be completed because an item with the name “Photos Library” already exists. Howerver, when I check the external hard drive it certainly doesn't exist anywhere...! What has gone wrong? Much appreciate any help.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 5, 2022 9:10 AM

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Answer 1

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TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,861 points

Feb 5, 2022 9:13 AM in response to TRWEN555

Hi

Regarding the external drive - is it correctly formatted for a photos library?

It must be formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled) (preferred for spinning drives). If you have not formatted it after purchase it will most likely be ExFat - which is not compatible.

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 must be directly connected (No ethernet or wifi)

See

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

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Answer 2

TRWEN555 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 5, 2022 10:14 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi Tony

Thanks. it is not used for Time Machine. It is correctly formatted for Mac. However, since I posted this I note there is a photo library for another user on the external hard drive- our Mac is partitioned for me and husband separately. I previously transferred his Photo library.... this is possibly the problem. I shall delete the copy of his library now and try again

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Answer 3

Feb 5, 2022 10:16 AM in response to TRWEN555

Including "ignore ownership"?

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Photo Library transfer to external hard drive

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