Using external drive with Photos

I don't have enough room on my MacBook Pro to keep adding photographs using Photos. How can I add Photos to a hard drive yet still be able to use Photos to review and edit them as if they were on my MacBook? I was the same user experience of using Photos but for photos stored on a hard drive.

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Nov 18, 2022 1:00 PM

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Posted on Nov 18, 2022 2:58 PM

Move the Library to an external. Make sure it's formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or apfs, and then copy the library to it. The Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch Photos. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and point it at the library one the external. Make it your system library in the settings. Done.


Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support (IE)


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Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Nov 18, 2022 2:58 PM in response to Kelster8

Move the Library to an external. Make sure it's formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or apfs, and then copy the library to it. The Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch Photos. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and point it at the library one the external. Make it your system library in the settings. Done.


Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support (IE)


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Using external drive with Photos

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