How to set up separate name folders on an external HD with 3 different programs. Photos, Quicken, and MS Word. That way, if you want to restore only backup photos and not the others, they remain on the external drive. Currently, each has its own external drive.
Are you talking about somehow backing up files that are all mixed together to separate backup folders?
Because if you want to separate the originals, it is very easy. You make one folder where the Photos library lives, one folder where you put Quicken documents, and one folder where you put Word documents. And then keep to that discipline when you create / save / copy files.
Note that Photos libraries should only be stored on volumes formatted using APFS or HFS+, not on NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, iCloud, or other "cloud" volumes.
Are you talking about somehow backing up files that are all mixed together to separate backup folders?
Because if you want to separate the originals, it is very easy. You make one folder where the Photos library lives, one folder where you put Quicken documents, and one folder where you put Word documents. And then keep to that discipline when you create / save / copy files.
Note that Photos libraries should only be stored on volumes formatted using APFS or HFS+, not on NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, iCloud, or other "cloud" volumes.
Your request sounds reasonably easy. Simply create three new folders on the external drive, each one named for the app that you want to use it. Your single external drive will need to have a capacity that is great enough to hold all of that data.
Similarly, your backup drive(s) will have to have the capacity then to backup your Mac plus this external drive.
For the Photos app, you can move your photo library to that folder on the external drive and then point the app to that location for photo management.
Change where photos and videos are stored on Mac - Apple Support
As for the workings of Quicken and Word, I don't use those apps, but I will assume that their file and data save locations can be similarly reestablished. You'll have to look up those specifics at their respective support sites or google it. The settings for that are likely in the Settings or Preferences menus of those apps.
Please see: Organize files in folders on Mac - Apple Support
Are you new to using the Mac? 🙂
Do you know how to find your way to different locations on your Mac using a Finder window?
Use the Finder on Mac - Apple Support
ronfrommurrieta wrote:
Help me with this. Not a young tech-knowledge person. Let me speak better on this. On my iMac desktop, I have all three sitting in my Doc's (plus other like Safari, etc.) One to go into QuickBooks, one to go into Photos, and one to go into MS Word for Mac. So how do I set them up in the external drive as three different folders?
I apologize for appearing dense, but I'm not understanding your posting.
You "have all three sitting in your Doc's".
Are you saying you have all three folders, named Photos, QuickBooks and MS Word, all sitting in your Documents folder (?).
Backing them up to an external drive may be as easy as selecting one, then click the Edit menu > Copy. Then go to the desired location in the external drive and click Edit menu > Paste.
Or are you referring to three applications in the Dock on your Desktop?
Then, if I wanted to back up, say, Quicken, explain how to move that program into the external drive, and then if I want to send it back onto my hard drive under Quicken?
I'm sorry. This question makes no sense to me.
One does not typically back up a program (application) by moving it to an external drive and back again.
One might backup the saved files for a program by making copies to an external drive. Once there, they can be opened and used simply by double-clicking them. The appropriate application will open the file.
Files and folders can easily be moved from location to location on the Mac and external drives by dragging.
Drag and drop items on Mac - Apple Support
I suspect I may have completely missed the mark trying to answer your questions here.
If so, perhaps you can rephrase your question and/or provide clearer details about exactly what you are trying to accomplish and why.
Photos normally keeps photos stored within its own database.
The default database is called Photos Library.photoslibrary and it lives within the Pictures folder within your user account folder. The Finder makes it look like a single file, but it might have hundreds or thousands of files inside – the idea of the "single file" illusion being to discourage you from poking around and possibly breaking things.ronfrommurrieta wrote:
Sorry, Dock the area at the bottom of my iMac screen. (Yes, I know, the dock can be moved around.)
For example, if I wanted to work on Photos, I would click on Photos (I call them icons). So, using that as an example, while in the Photo program, I can save and send them to the external drive as a backup.
You can use the File > Export menu items in Photos to export copies of one or more photos to areas outside of the Photos database. Say, if you were going to copy them onto a USB flash drive (to take to a print kiosk at a store), or if you were going to include them in a mail message or word processing document.
However, the normal way to back up the Photos library would be to use
Photos normally keeps photos stored within its own database. The Finder may make this database "look like" one single huge "file" (Macintosh HD > Users > your account > Pictures > Photos Library.photoslibrary), but there can be hundreds or thousands of files inside.
A backup utility can determine which of those many files have changed, and incrementally update backup copies of the entire library. So you wouldn't need to remember that "these specific 47 photos need to be backed up and the others don't." You'd run an incremental backup (or let Time Machine work in the background) - and leave the job of identifying all of the specific photos to back up to the Mac.
Help me with this. Not a young tech-knowledge person. Let me speak better on this. On my iMac desktop, I have all three sitting in my Doc's (plus other like Safari, etc.) One to go into QuickBooks, one to go into Photos, and one to go into MS Word for Mac. So how do I set them up in the external drive as three different folders? Then, if I wanted to back up, say, Quicken, explain how to move that program into the external drive, and then if I want to send it back onto my hard drive under Quicken?
Sorry, Dock the area at the bottom of my iMac screen. (Yes, I know, the dock can be moved around.)
For example, if I wanted to work on Photos, I would click on Photos (I call them icons). So, using that as an example, while in the Photo program, I can save and send them to the external drive as a backup. Carry that example further, if I open Quecken, and like Photos, I can download them into an external drive for safekeeping.
Going back to my first question......How to set up separate name folders on an external HD with 3 different programs. Photos, Quicken, and MS Word.
D.I. Johnson wrote:
ronfrommurrieta wrote:
Help me with this. Not a young tech-knowledge person. Let me speak better on this. On my iMac desktop, I have all three sitting in my Doc's (plus other like Safari, etc.) One to go into QuickBooks, one to go into Photos, and one to go into MS Word for Mac. So how do I set them up in the external drive as three different folders?
I apologize for appearing dense, but I'm not understanding your posting.
You "have all three sitting in your Doc's".
I think the OP is saying that he has three application icons sitting in his Dock.
Are you saying you have all three folders, named Photos, QuickBooks and MS Word, all sitting in your Documents folder (?).
It seems likely that Photos is accessing a database named Photos Library.photoslibrary, in the Pictures folder. Also that Photos is configured to store photos in that database (Photos > Settings… > General > Importing: [X[ Copy items to the Photos library), whether or not the OP is using iCloud Photos.
Separate folders for Photos, Quicken, Word on external HD
