Categories: Archived Post

How to move a Photos library to an external drive

Since many modern Macs come with limited internal storage, it can be handy to move space-consuming items like your OS X Photos library to an external drive. Thankfully, it’s easy to do this. Quit the app, attach an external drive to your Mac, and then:

Make a copy of the Photos Library by dragging it from the startup volume on your Mac’s hard drive to the external drive.

When the library is copied, hold down the Option key and launch Photos.

When you see the above message pop up, click on delete incomplete items.

In the Photos app, go to Preferences and under General, click Use as System Photo Library.

Then go to System Preferences > iCloud > Photos > Options, Select iCloud Photo Library to turn that back on.

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

Voila. That’s all there is to it.

 

Dennis Sellers

Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.

Recent Posts

Top Apple-related stories this week (April 29-May 3)

Here are the top Apple-related articles at Apple World Today for the week of April…

8 hours ago

Today’s deal: Join the Spot Club, Get 2 Days of Parking at The Parking Spot for Just $9.99!

With the The Parking Spot, you can get easy long-term parking at airports nationwide. With…

8 hours ago

Apple motion to be removed from Astroworld catastrophe denied

The start of the civil trial over who is responsible for the deaths and injuries…

23 hours ago

iPad sales expected to grow by double digits this year

iPad sales are expected to grow by double digits this year.

23 hours ago

iPhone shipments decline 13% year-over-year, but average selling price grow 2%

The global smartphone market grew by 6% year-over-year (YoY) to reach 296.9 million unit shipments…

23 hours ago

Slight Change of Sawblades +, Dicey Sungeons +, and Summer Pop + now available on Apple Arcade

Slight Change of Sawblades +, Dicey Sungeons +, and Summer Pop + are now available…

23 hours ago