I have a sizable iCloud library, an don't nearly enough to download to Mac to store in Backup.
I am told you can bypass downloadin got Mac with an ExternalDRive but I have been unsuccessful
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7
It's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.
In Safari (for instance) Settings>General set the Downloads location to the external drive. You'll have to decide if you want the Unmodified Originals or the edited version of the pictures. If you want both, it will take twice the space.
Then first be sure the drive is formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Then you can create a new empty Library on the external drive (close Photos, option click the Photos icon, and choose Create New from the Library dialog,) set the new Library as your System Library (Photos' Settings>General) and sit back and wait for it to fill from iCloud. I will take awhile, but it will take up only half the space of downloading individual pictures, and there will be much more information.
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Let us know what you want, and we can give more explicit help if necessary…
I appreciate your thoughtful response. I’m not tech savvy.
I have 873Gb on my ICloud Photo Library. I have a 1T Mac Hard Drive that only has 275Gb free space.
my goal was to use LaCie 8T Drive as the System Photos Library and download ICloud Photos directly.
I couldn’t get the create new to be accepted as the SPL
I hope this helps clarify.
Thank you
OK-- sounds like choice #2. Is your drive Solid State? SSDs are way faster and more satisfying. Some mechanical drives seem very slow. I copied files to a 10GB spinning drive last night for archival storage, and it took forever! This would be awful for a Photos Library.
Two odd things about running a Library off an external drive: (1) if you unplug the drive, it could cause a major re-sync that takes a while to stabilize. If need to travel or something, I'll just turn off the WiFi, unplug the drive, then plug the drive back in and finally turn on the wifi again. I haven't actually seen any problems. (2) location maps seem to sometimes be confused-- the location is recorded properly, but the map may not work on recent pictures. I hope this will be fixed.
You created a new Library on the external drive, is that right? If so then double click on it to open it-- you should see an empty Library. Then do Settings>General to see this:
Double check the path to be sure you are working with the right Library. In this picture "Use as your System Library" is grayed out, because it already is the system library. Only the System Library can connect to iCloud. So if your "Use as" isn't grayed out, then click on it to set it as the System Library.
Be sure that Importing has "Copy Items" checked.
Go to Settings>iCloud and connect this new Library to iCloud.
Set "Download Originals," since you have the storage space available on your drive.
Then wait. Wait some more, and eventually this new Library will fill with full sized images from iCloud.
Make sure this Library has all your pictures, then you can trash the old Library.
Is this doesn't work for you, let us know where it goes wrong and what you see…
Conflict with iCloud Size and HardDrive limitations
