I'm trying to download my iCloud photos to an external HD instead of my Mac computer hard drive. My issue is when I select the photos, then press the download arrow there is no choice, it is the Mac HD only. I do have the external HD connected to the Mac, but there is no place to select 'where' to download.
What am I missing? Thanks
iMac (M1, 2021)
Photos can’t be transferred directly from iCloud to an external hard drive for that you need to set up iCloud photo library see the article Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple
And its preferences Change preferences in Photos on Mac - Apple open finder > Go > home > your user name > pictures either drag and drop Photos Library.photoslibrary to an external hard drive , the second method is right click on Photos Library.photoslibrary and click on show package contents in the upcoming column , you can also drag and drop complete masters folder to an external hard drive that is connected .
Also as per the article Back up the library in Photos on Mac - Apple
Manually copy your library to an external storage device: Drag the Photos library (by default in the Pictures folder on your Mac) to your storage device to create a copy.See this article also
Photos library - Move your Library to an external storage device
Photos can’t be transferred directly from iCloud to an external hard drive for that you need to set up iCloud photo library see the article Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple
And its preferences Change preferences in Photos on Mac - Apple open finder > Go > home > your user name > pictures either drag and drop Photos Library.photoslibrary to an external hard drive , the second method is right click on Photos Library.photoslibrary and click on show package contents in the upcoming column , you can also drag and drop complete masters folder to an external hard drive that is connected .
Also as per the article Back up the library in Photos on Mac - Apple
Manually copy your library to an external storage device: Drag the Photos library (by default in the Pictures folder on your Mac) to your storage device to create a copy.See this article also
Photos library - Move your Library to an external storage device
The easiest solution might be to store your synched photos library on an external drive to save space. Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
iCloud photos download to external drive
