Q: How do I export photos from the new Photos app onto an external hard drive?

you are not clear

Do you want to MOVE your library to an EHD and run it from there?

Or do you want to make copies of you photos on an EHD - Note that Photos she no events - only Moments

LN

I would now like to export all my albums and events onto an external hard drive

Moments in Photos are the new Events, i.e. groupings of photos sorted by date taken.

When the iPhoto Library was first migrated to Photos there was a folder created in the sidebar titled iPhoto Events and all migrated iPhoto Events (which are now Moments) are represented by an album in that folder. To open the sidebar if it's not already open use the Option+Command+S key combination.

There's a way to simulate events in Photos.

When new photos are imported into the Photos library go to the Last Import smart album, select all the photos and use the File ➙ New Album menu option or use the key combination Command+N.  Name it as desired.  It will appear just above the iPhoto Events folder where you can drag it into the iPhoto Events folder

 

When you click on the iPhoto Events folder you'll get a simulated iPhoto Events window.

The downside to the simulation is that the Albums/Events can only be sorted automatically by Title. But they can also be sorted manually, either in the sidebar or in the folder's window at the right.

Ask Apple for more sorting options in Photos via https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html.

So if you want to continue to store your image files by date like Events in iPhoto follow the steps above and export the Albums in the sidebar to folders on the EHD.

Select each album and copy the original files to a folder on the EHD in one of two ways:

1 - use the File ➙ Export Unmodified Original... menu option

2 - Option-drag the thumbnails to the designated folder on the EDH.  Option-drag will give you the original file.

Hi.

First a comment, selecting and dragging resulted in some corrupt photos for me (half of the foto white for some), so I advice to use the export unmodified originals via menu!

Now my question: Is it possible to export multiple albums and export them at once into folders with the album name?

1. Select album "elephant" and "panter"

2. Export unmodified originals

3. End up with two folders in finder, one "elephant" and one "panter" with the photos of said album in photos.

Many thanks

No

you need to export each album separately to a separately created folder

LN

Though so:(

Really saddened by how much Apple keeps disappointing me with its decisions in recent years, ..might as well use Windows Explorer for my Photos!

Thanks for the reply though!

Not a problem - you absolutely should use MicroSoft software if you prefer it - crazy to do anything else - you have free choice - use it

LN

I certainly do not prefer Microsoft and hope I will never have to switch, haven't owned anything but mac my whole life ...however I have so many problems with Photos I can't but joke from now and then how bad the situation has gotten.

Cheers

All I can do is read your posts and assume you are being truthful  about your statements - now it actually sounds like you simply need to learn how to use Photos - it is a new and different program and have a learning curve just like all new programs

LN

Well let me say the following about "Photos". It is a 53mb application, iPhoto is 1'700mb, "size doesn't matter" but it certainly gives an indication of the program's capabilities.

I would say it is public knowledge that Photos was rushed and has many shortcomings compared to iPhoto and certainly Aperture.

I would call it a "rushed" move to catch up with iOS's Photo Stream advancements and how "most" people use it. "Most people" have a small photo library and maybe 1-2 streams, don't every need to do anything fancy with it.

well several of the experts here and many who post here prefer Photos to iPhoto - you choose which you want - RANTing here will accomplish nothing - making yoru personal choice is the only solution

LN

Hi, I have the same need to export my whole Photos library into a separate location, like an EHD. I've done "select all" ->File->Export Unmodified Original->chose a place to export, after several hours Photos were done exporting, but exported about 47k photos instead of the 64k photos which are in the library, I'm trying to figure out where are the 20k missing photos....  Do you have any suggestions what could've happened here?