I recently imported all my photos and videos from my iPhone to my MacBook Pro because I had run out of storage. Now I want to save them onto my external hard drive, but they aren’t copying as a .mov or an mp4 file, so when I paste them into the drive they are .jpeg files and can’t be played. How do I get them to transfer as videos instead of pictures?
MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 14.5
You can't copy and paste photos or movies and get the original. You're getting the low res jpeg of the movie's first pane as a placeholder.
To get the original files to the external drive you must File ➙ Export ➙ Unmodified XXXX Originals. It's best to do it in batches of 1000 or so.
If you want to have a useable backup of the library just drag it to the external drive or use Time Machine to backup the entire boot drive which will also get the library.
If you don't have a backup strategy that's like driving without a seatbelt. You don't need it until you do and then it's too late.
You can't copy and paste photos or movies and get the original. You're getting the low res jpeg of the movie's first pane as a placeholder.
To get the original files to the external drive you must File ➙ Export ➙ Unmodified XXXX Originals. It's best to do it in batches of 1000 or so.
If you want to have a useable backup of the library just drag it to the external drive or use Time Machine to backup the entire boot drive which will also get the library.
If you don't have a backup strategy that's like driving without a seatbelt. You don't need it until you do and then it's too late.
You'll have to give us more information before anybody here can guess what's going on.
How did you import your photos and videos from the phone to the Mac?
To what destination on the Mac did you import them? (Examples: Finder folders or the Photos library)
How are you trying to save them onto the external hard drive? (What method, what steps, what destination on the drive?)
I plugged my phone into the MacBook, I clicked the import button and all the photos and videos went into the photo library. I was trying to copy and paste them onto the external hard drive. Does that help? Let me know if you need more information. Also, thank you for your help.
Transferring videos from my MacBook Pro to my external hard drive
