You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: graeme_ing
graeme_ing Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Copying photos to a new Mac

I have a Mac from 2013, but now running Catalina and I'm trying to get my photos to a 2019 MacBook Pro.

The trouble is that I can't find the files to copy. I've tried copying the Photos.library and an old iPhoto folder but all I get is a tiny subset of my 8000 photos.


I think the problem is that my photos were originally in iPhoto, then got migrated to Photos when iPhoto went away, but my photos library is somehow fragmented. I can see them all in Photos on the old mac, but I can't find any combination of copying files that gets my photos to the new MBP.


What' the secret guys? What arcane ritual do I need to perform to get my photos?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Nov 8, 2020 2:17 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,954 points

Posted on Nov 9, 2020 12:58 AM

Hi


On the old mac, go to photos, preferences, general tab and see where it tells you your library is. Everything you can see in photos is in that library (unless you are deliberately opening different libraries - you'll know if you are doing that)


That is the library you need to copy to your new mac.


If that is what you have done, and it is still not working, check the format of the drive you are copying it on. It should be APFS or MacOS extended journalled, and not have been used for timemachine.

View in context

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,954 points

Nov 9, 2020 12:58 AM in response to graeme_ing

Hi


On the old mac, go to photos, preferences, general tab and see where it tells you your library is. Everything you can see in photos is in that library (unless you are deliberately opening different libraries - you'll know if you are doing that)


That is the library you need to copy to your new mac.


If that is what you have done, and it is still not working, check the format of the drive you are copying it on. It should be APFS or MacOS extended journalled, and not have been used for timemachine.

Reply
User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,279 points

Nov 9, 2020 1:27 AM in response to graeme_ing

Are both your Macs running the same version of Catalina? In addition to Tony's advice how to find the correct library, check the system versions. And when you copy the Photos Library over, do it by copying it to an external volume with "ignore Ownership on this volume" enabled. That will prevent ownership and permission issues, when copying a library between different Macs - this flag is explained here: (Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support).


If you are using iCloud Photos on your old Mac, the easiest way to get your photos to the new Mac would be to enable iCloud Photos on the new Mac as well and to let the photos download to a new, empty library. Then you would always be seeing the same photos on both Macs and all edits and adjustments would always be in sync, even wit different system versions on both Macs.



Reply

Copying photos to a new Mac

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up