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justanut Author

Level 1

9 points

Copying Photos Library to external SSD stuck on preparing to copy for days...

My library is >500gb.

Tried multiple times, rebooted... is there any other way?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 2, 2022 8:02 PM

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,954 points

Posted on Sep 2, 2022 9:25 PM

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). Not case sensitive. 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

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

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Copying Photos Library to external SSD stuck on preparing to copy for days...

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