how to transfer photos from portable hard drive to icloud

See this article Import photos from a camera or phone using Photos on Mac - Apple Support

( 1 ) Click on finder in the dock , select iCloud Drive and take cursor on top menu bar file click on new folder an untitled folder will be created .

Connect an external hard drive to your Mac then select all photos ( command and A ) from system library folder of photo application and copy them ( command and C ) and paste ( command and V ) over the external hard drive , all photos will get transferred .

( 2 ) You can create more folders and subfolders inside the main folder and name them in finder ( under iCloud Drive ) and drag and drop some photos to primary folder and rest of photos to subfolders , just to differentiate and get identified for your convenience .

( 3 ) Once the photos are transferred you can view them as icons or in list details are mentioned in this articleChange options for Icon, List, Column or Gallery view in the Finder on Mac - Apple Support

( 4 ) You don’t want to get these photos in iPhone / iPad if they are syncing with Mac with same Apple ID and password for iPad and iPhone sign out from Apple ID in both iPad and iOS and regarding your mac pro go to system preferences - iCloud uncheck the box of photo .

1. I'd like the photos to be in a separate folder in the iCloud Drive, not in Photos.

2. I'd like the photos to retain their corresponding folders and sub-folders for easy identification and access.

3. I'd like to see thumbnails of the photos not just a huge list of files making it impossible to identify photos without opening each file.

4. I don't want these photos to appear Photos on my iPhone, iPad or MacBook Pro.

You can certainly store anything you wish in iCloud Dfrive.

Photos stored there won't be visible in the photo app.

Viewing options in the Files app/iCloud Drive is limited.

Welcome !