Tokyo
Level 1 (81 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Best practice for large Photos libraries.

What is the best way to manage photos using Photos when the library is too big to fit on the internal drive.

 

Will this work for adding new photos.

 

1) Copy the new photos to an external or NAS drive.

2) In Photos:- Preferences > General  Deselect importing.

3) Import from the external, or NAS, drive into Photos.

 

It would seem that this leaves the new photos on the external, or NAS, drive, but keeps the database on the Mac's internal drive. Do the new photos appear in Photos as if they were in the Photos library on the Mac internal drive? Is editing the new photos the same as if they were on the Mac's internal drive?

 

Will this work?

 

From the management point of view there are two questions here, how to manage an existing library that is too big, the second is adding new photos, but keeping them on an external or NAS drive. Any thoughts on how to offload some existing photos in Photos, but leave them in the Photos library. Any thoughts?

 

It would seem that, if selected, iCloud would backup the photos on the external drive. Is this correct?

Posted on Sep 8, 2016 6:19 PM

by léonie,Solvedanswer
léonie léonie
Level 10 (105,806 points)
iCloud
A:

What kind of Mac do you have?  Is it a portable Mac, where an external drive would be cumbersome, or is it a desktop computer?

 

  • For a desktop computer you can always keep an external drive connected, and there the best solution would be to move the Photos Library to an external drive. The drive needs to be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled) and connect it to a fast port.  Include that external drive into your regular Time Machine backups.
  • If your Mac is a portable Mac, where you do not always want to have an external drive connected, you could keep a small photos library with the favorite photos you always want to able to access on the internal drive, and move the main Photos Library with all your photos to an external drive. Then you only need to connect the external drive, if you want to update your archive of old photos and need to access older photos.
  • If you are using iCloud Photo Library, are willing to pay for a storage plan sufficient to host all your photos in iCloud, and if you have a fast and reliable internet, you can enable iCloud Photo Library with "Optimize Storage".  Your Mac will replace full size originals in your Photos Library by optimized versions, so even a large photo library will fit on the internal drive. The Mac will download the originals from iCloud, if you want to edit or export photos.

 

Referenced originals worked well in Aperture, but are risky on Photos, because the tools to maintain referenced photos are missing in Photos. It will be very difficult to move referenced photos to a new drive, if the drive needs to be replaced, or to restore them from a backup. There is simply no tool to relocate referenced originals.  And if the referenced item cannot be found, you have to track it down manually, but Photos has no reconnect tool with information that will help you to search.

Posted on Sep 9, 2016 6:12 AM

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Tokyo

Q: Best practice for large Photos libraries.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Rysz,Helpful

    Rysz Rysz Sep 11, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Tokyo
    Level 7 (20,274 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 11, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Tokyo

    Photos, especially if iCloud Photos Library is ON, doesn't work well with NAS.

    There are no issues with moving your consolidated Photos Library to an external drive.

    All you need yo do after moving it is to double-click on it to "teach" Photos where it is now located. You do need to always have that drive it and running before Photos is launched, or it will create a new Library on the startup disk.

  • by LarryHN,Helpful

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 11, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Tokyo
    Level 10 (84,217 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 11, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Tokyo

    Yes but it really is strongly not recommended - in unchecking the preference to copy imported items to the Photos library you are creating a referenced library - they do not work well and have many major problems and are strongly not recommended- this article is for iPhoto but it is essentially still the same for Photos - iPhoto and File Management

     

    and tow other issues - iCloud is NOT a backup and it does not work with referenced photos at all

     

    If you have an external drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) that is directly connected using a fast wired connection like FireWire, ThunderBolt or USB that is not used as a TimeMachine backup volume and that is always available prior to Photos being launched then you can run your Photos library on the EHD - quit Photos and drag the Photos library to the EHD - double click on the new location to select it and set it as the default and fully test - in Photos preferences set it as you system library and then you can delete the library on the internal drive

     

    As an alternative you can use iCLoud Photos Library with optimized photos on your Mac and any other device with limited storage

     

    LN

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Sep 9, 2016 6:12 AM in response to Tokyo
    Level 10 (105,806 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 9, 2016 6:12 AM in response to Tokyo

    What kind of Mac do you have?  Is it a portable Mac, where an external drive would be cumbersome, or is it a desktop computer?

     

    • For a desktop computer you can always keep an external drive connected, and there the best solution would be to move the Photos Library to an external drive. The drive needs to be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled) and connect it to a fast port.  Include that external drive into your regular Time Machine backups.
    • If your Mac is a portable Mac, where you do not always want to have an external drive connected, you could keep a small photos library with the favorite photos you always want to able to access on the internal drive, and move the main Photos Library with all your photos to an external drive. Then you only need to connect the external drive, if you want to update your archive of old photos and need to access older photos.
    • If you are using iCloud Photo Library, are willing to pay for a storage plan sufficient to host all your photos in iCloud, and if you have a fast and reliable internet, you can enable iCloud Photo Library with "Optimize Storage".  Your Mac will replace full size originals in your Photos Library by optimized versions, so even a large photo library will fit on the internal drive. The Mac will download the originals from iCloud, if you want to edit or export photos.

     

    Referenced originals worked well in Aperture, but are risky on Photos, because the tools to maintain referenced photos are missing in Photos. It will be very difficult to move referenced photos to a new drive, if the drive needs to be replaced, or to restore them from a backup. There is simply no tool to relocate referenced originals.  And if the referenced item cannot be found, you have to track it down manually, but Photos has no reconnect tool with information that will help you to search.