I have 10G of photos in a Photos Library on my Mac Air, that is running out of memory space. I would like to move the photos to another existing Photos Library in an external disk that already hosts the bulk of my photos archive. How can i execute the move?
Thank you!
Marco.
Copy the library from the internal drive to the external drive. You can then open the library on the external drive by double clicking it and check it, if the copy is working.
Photos has no tools to merge libraries. You can either use both libraries alternately, or export the photos from one library and import them into the other library.
Or use the application PowerPhotos to merge the two libraries y moving photos from one library to the other.
You will need the full, paid version f PowerPhotos to do that.
Brilliant!
Thank you so much. I was infact exploring PowerPhotos, i think i will use that, so i can use the whole archive simultaneously.
M.
You're welcome 🙂
I have another question, if you can forgive me for taking advantage of your knowledge and kindness ;-)
If i proceed as planned (copying the library into the external disk, and then merging it with the main library using PowerPhoto) and then the MacBook Air will connect to the Photo Library only if the external disk is connected, will i be able to access all my archive from the MacBook Air also when traveling, without the external disk, through iCloud Photo Library (i.e.: as i do from the iPad)?
I have noticed that when i open Photos on my other Mac (which normally sits on my desk and it is always connected to the external disk with the main Photo Library) and eventually the external disk is not connected, Photo requires to connect to a library anyway, otherwise nothing shows up...
Hope it is clear. Can you help? Thank you.
M.
If you do not have the external drive with the library connected, you cannot use Photos to browse your iCloud Photo Library.
You can access the iCloud Photo Library however using the web interface on your iCloud Home page . Open the Photos.app on https://www.icloud.com/to browse your photos, if the external drive with your photos is not connected.
You may want to keep a small library with your best photos to be used with the screen saver or similar an your internal drive, so you have a library to be able to use Photos as a photoeditor.
That is very helpful, thank you!
Just a clarification: as it is now, with the 'secondary' Photo Library resident in the MacBook Air (with iCloud Photo Library activated) i can access the photo in the library, and also the photos in the 'main' Photo Library in the external disk.
Question: when i designate as default library for the MacBook Air the Photo Library in the external disk, why do i need to have direct access to the files (i.e.: having the external disk connected to the Macbook Air) to see the photos, and i am not instead able to see them through iCloud Photo Library, as int happens now? Is this because the new default library for the Air is not reachable?
To overcome this, can i designate for for the Air a new library, resident in the Air, connected to iCloud Photo Library (a semi-empty library, just to activate the iCloud Photo Library)?
Thank you again.
M.
Only one of your libraries on each Mac can be an iCloud Photo Library, either your internal library or the one on the external drive. It is not feasible to switch iCloud Photo Library continually. Every time you enable another library as the iCloud library Photos will start to download all photos from iCloud and to upload all photos to iCloud. That is slow and wasting bandwidth.
if you want the library on the internal drive to be your iCloud Photo Library enable the optimize Mac storage option, then the Mac will only download smaller previews and not the full size originals.
Thank you so much.
i think i have quite an idea of how to resolve the situation.
Very helpful!!!
M.
You're welcome 🙂
how can i move photos from a Photo Library on my Mac to an existing Photo Library in an external disk?
