Move photo libraries from iMac macOS Monterey to hard drives

I have an iMac macOS Monterey and I have many photo librarysI would like to upload to Hard drives--how? Thank you for your time and help!

iMac 27″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Jul 11, 2026 1:47 PM

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2 replies

Jul 11, 2026 2:06 PM in response to loveofallelephants

First: To avoid damaging the Photos Library an external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. The drive must be connected directly to the Mac by cable, not networked, clouded, NASed, etc. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted.

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac           


Let us know if you need more explanation…


Move photo libraries from iMac macOS Monterey to hard drives

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