Migrated Photo Library From One Mac To Another

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Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows, and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Photo Library and use Optimize Mac Storage, or move your library to an external drive.

  1. Feb 28, 2016  This method of transferring photos and files between mac computers does not require an external drive, the use of a migration assistant, or the firewire cable. This method involves the use of.
  2. Jun 19, 2018  Recently purchased a new Mac? Today I'm showing several ways to migrate your data from an old Mac to a NEW one. There are several methods and I.
  3. Oct 25, 2019 On your old Mac: If you started your old Mac in target disk mode or are migrating from a Time Machine backup, skip these four steps. Open Migration Assistant. Click Continue. When asked how you want to transfer your information, select the option to transfer to another Mac. Click Continue. On your new Mac.
  4. Save valuable space by moving your Mac Photos library to an external hard drive. Plus find out how to back up your entire iCloud Photos Library! One option is to use iCloud Photo Library to.
  5. Mar 18, 2020 In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library. In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users username Pictures, and it's named Photos Library. Drag your library to its new location on the external drive.

Nov 23, 2016  Click the Other Library button, navigate to the external hard drive that now houses your library file, select it and click Open. The Photos app should now display your relocated picture collection.

Before you start, be sure to back up your library.

Prepare your drive

You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).1 Find out how to check the format of your external storage device.

To prevent data loss, Apple doesn't recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.

Move your Photos library to an external storage device

Another
  1. Quit Photos.
  2. In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library.
  3. In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users > [username] > Pictures, and it's named Photos Library.
  4. Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive's icon in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click , then make sure the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' checkbox is selected. If it's not selected, click to unlock it, enter an administrator name and password, then select the checkbox.2

  5. After the move is finished, double-click Photos Library in its new location to open it.
  6. If you use iCloud Photo Library, designate this library as the System Photo Library.
Transfer photos library from one mac to another

Delete original library to save space

Move Photos Library From One Mac To Another

After you open your library from its new location and make sure that it works as expected, you can delete the library from its original location.

In a Finder window, go back to your Pictures folder (or whichever folder you copied your library from) and move Photos Library to the trash. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash to delete the library and reclaim disk space.

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Open another Photos library

If you have multiple libraries, here's how to open a different one:

  1. Quit Photos.
  2. Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
  3. Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library.

Photos uses this library until you open a different one.

Learn more

Migrated Photo Library From One Mac To Another Mac

If you have a permissions issue with your library, you might be able to resolve the issue by using the Photos library repair tool.

Migrated Photo Library From One Mac To Another Computer

1. You can't move your library to a disk that's used for Time Machine backups.

Migrated Photo Library From One Mac To Another Iphone

2. If the volume isn't formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or has been used for Time Machine backups but hasn't been erased, this checkbox will either not be present, or won't be selectable after unlocking. Erase and reformat the drive for this option to be available.