HT204264: iCloud Photo Library

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MisterQuint

Q: moving Photos library to external drive

I've run out of space on my MacBook air with my photos library. Can I move it to an external drive to it's based there (even though everything is backed up in the cloud?)

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Jun 29, 2015 11:15 AM

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Q: moving Photos library to external drive

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  • by Old Toad,Apple recommended

    Old Toad Old Toad Jun 29, 2015 11:32 AM in response to MisterQuint
    Level 10 (141,169 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 29, 2015 11:32 AM in response to MisterQuint

    Yes, you can copy the library to the external hard drive provided it is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) with ownership set to be ignored.

    ignoreownership.png

     

    However, you should open the library on the EHD and set it to be the System Photo Library.  That will start a new upload of photos to the iCloud Photo Library (actually we believe it will just check both locations to verify they match and will upload only those photos that are in the library but not in the cloud).  It may take some time to complete depending on the size of the library.

     

    Then you can delete the library from the boot drive.

    OTsig.png

  • by MisterQuint,

    MisterQuint MisterQuint Jun 29, 2015 11:39 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2015 11:39 AM in response to Old Toad

    Thanks much Old Toad.. I'll give it a go!

  • by MisterQuint,

    MisterQuint MisterQuint Jun 30, 2015 7:18 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 7:18 AM in response to Old Toad

    Hi Old Toad,

    I'm going to move my whole library over to an EHD.. but just to help me free up memory now, I"m hoping just to move the 175 videos I currently have in Photos.

    When I export into a folder on my EHD.. 8 of the videos moved but the rest didn't and I'm getting an "Unknown Error (1,012) for those.

     

    I'm selecting the videos from the Photos file "smart folder" called Videos.

     

    Maybe I need to create my own smart folder and dump all videos there first and then export ...like I used to do in iPhoto?

     

    Any ideas?

    Thanks,

    David

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jun 30, 2015 8:40 AM in response to MisterQuint
    Level 10 (141,169 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 30, 2015 8:40 AM in response to MisterQuint
    I'm selecting the videos from the Photos file "smart folder" called Videos.

    See if you can Option-drag those stubborn videos to a folder on the EHD or Desktop and then to the EHD.

  • by MisterQuint,

    MisterQuint MisterQuint Jun 30, 2015 11:41 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 11:41 AM in response to Old Toad

    I've copied about 50 videos to a folder on desktop and then off to EHD folder.. and then I delete the videos from Photos.

     

    Seems like it's downloading all the videos from the cloud as I try to export into folder outside of Photos. (As opposed to just copying them from Photos files on my MacBook Air.. but with iCloud.. I understand the photos are "based" in the cloud so I guess I just have to work with that.

     

    Meanwhile.. my MacBook Air is nearly out of memory.

     

    So I'm scrambling to dump all the videos to free up memory...

    So I guess when I ditch the files from Photos.. they are being ditched both from the Cloud and from my local computer?

     

    At any rate.. I had a good run doing as many as 15 at a time. Now I'm crapping out.. and getting error:

     

    "Could not convert image (1,015)" when I try and export or copy from Photos into a desktop folder even if I do 1 at a time.

     

    It's my fault for allowing memory to deplete to current low level... seems to help a bit when I reboot..but now I'm just stuck.

     

    Any suggestions?

  • by MisterQuint,

    MisterQuint MisterQuint Jun 30, 2015 12:05 PM in response to MisterQuint
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 12:05 PM in response to MisterQuint

    So I'm googling /making this up as I go.. which probably isn't good!

     

    All the videos I deleted today were still in Photos in Recently Deleted items.. so I went in and deleted from there.

    Maybe that will help.

     

    Maybe I should hit the Apple Store for a class in how to manage your Photos library!