I have a mac mini and use an external drive to store and view my photos library. I tried to plug my external drive into my ipad but while it shows a photos library file, it says zero kbs and I cant view the photo's. Is there a way to have my photos on an external drive that will allow me to view and work with them on my ipad?
iPad Air, iPadOS 17
An iPad doesn't handle Mac-style Photos libraries on external drives, as far as I know. The Files app could view photos stored as normal files on the external drive, or the Photos app could import photos stored in a file structure that mimicked that of a storage card from a digital camera (in a "DCIM" folder).
The interoperability mechanism that Apple chose to maintain among its various Photos implementations on different platforms and systems levels is iCloud Photos.
I'm continually amazed at how much apple products don't work together in spite of the bloviating at their annual marketing show.:).
Speaking of bloviating, Apple products do work together - but they don't make external drives...
Thank you for that. I'm continually amazed at how much apple products don't work together in spite of the bloviating at their annual marketing show.:).
viewing photo library from external drive on an ipad
