How do I move my iPhoto library to WD My Cloud?

For Photos goes the same as iPhoto. Keeping the library on a network share is not supported and you are risking to lose your photos. See: Where is it safe to store a Photos Library? Requirements for the external drive

If you want your photos in the cloud, consider to use iCloud Photo Library. It is the only supported way to access a Photos Library over a network and to share it with other devices.

No - the iPhoto ibrary needs to be on a local drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) connected with a fast wired connection

and referenced libraries do not work well with iPhoto and are not recommended -- iPhoto and File Management

LN

This is really useful as I’ve been looking for an answer to this question for a long time. I was wondering if things might have changed since more than a year has passed since this post.

I have successfully moved my Photos library to an external hard drive (My Passport Wireless Pro) and can access it without problems when I connect the drive to my Mac with the USB. However, I get error messages when I try to access the library through the wi-fi. I take it it’s not possible or is there a way around it?

What if I use referenced files? Would this work?

Thanks a lot!

Not every app is right for every person, and sometimes the right decision is to use something else.

because I find that somehow it is not ethical for Apple to "force" us to pay a monthly fee to simply store our photos

Couple of flaws in that logic.

1. You don't have to use the Cloud, so you're not "forced" to pay for it. You might have an argument if iCloud was compulsory, but it's not. Also, smaller libraries are free, so again you're not "forced" to pay for it.

2. But most importantly: it's not a storage service, it's a sharing one. You'll still need your files stored locally too.

So, that should salve your ethical issues.

After that it's a service. I don't see that the similar alternatives from Adobe et al are free either. You get what you pay for. As for the google option... well that's free but it's not comparable and the old truth applies always with google: if you're not paying for the product then you are the product...

Thanks Terence. Leaving the ethics debate aside, I think I’m understanding that iCloud Photo Library may actually not solve my issue.

Here is my situation: I have a MacBook Air, an iPhone and and iPad and my wife has an iPhone. We store our pictures jointly on my Mac and use the Photos app. Unfortunately, there is not enough storage on my Mac for our growing photo library and my iTunes library so I’ve been looking at options to get more space. An external drive seemed the most logical option but we don’t want to have it always attached to the Mac. (We already use an external drive for our backups). We don’t really care about sharing our pictures across devices or having to import them manually, what we want is to have it all in one place and consolidated in one library (well, actually two places if you count the backup). This doesn’t seem possible with the storage options offered on MacBook Air.

I thought that iCloud Photo Library would store all our pictures in the cloud and we could just keep a backup on our external drive but, after reading your post, I’m not sure that’s the case?

Maybe I just need to stop using Photos and use another app like Plex which would sync wirelessly with my external drive?

I’m lost. My situation seems fairly standard so I’m sure I must be missing something.

Any advice?

You can save storage on your Mac with iCloud Photo Library, if you use "Optimize Storage". See this Help page: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/photos/from-icloud-photo-library-phtf5e484 89c/mac

Short answer: you don't. It's not a supported disk format and you risk major dataloss.

Long answer: iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.

See this article

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168

for more. Note also the comment:

“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”

This is doubly so in the case of wireless connections: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.

If disk space is a problem, and it most certainly is for you:

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.

3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.

4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.

Regards

TD

The Adobe version of this actually stores the files in the Cloud.

http://www.adobe.com/ie/products/photoshop-lightroom.html

Thanks Larry and Leonie for your quick replies. You really are the best Photos experts!!

Actually my objective was not so much to have my pictures in the cloud, but to deal with the fact that there is not enough space on my Mac for my pictures. Transferring them to an external drive seemed like the best and cheapest option but I didn't want to have to plug in my drive every time I want to look at my pictures so the wireless external drive seemed like a logical option. Since this is not possible, I guess I have no choice but to either drop Photos as my photo management program (and use the suggor subscribe to iCloud Photo Library.

I've been thinking about the iCloud Photo library as an option for a while but I must confess I have resisted it as a matter of principle because I find that somehow it is not ethical for Apple to "force" us to pay a monthly fee to simply store our photos....but anyway, I guess this goes beyond the purpose of this thread.

Thanks again for your help!!