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how to back up photos onto an external hard drive

How do I back up photos from Macbook to an external hard drive?


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 17, 2022 12:39 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 17, 2022 12:48 PM

If using the Photos App to store photos:

  1. You can copy the Photos Library.photoslibrary file from the Pictures folder in your Home folder to the external drive. The drive must be formatted as HFS+ or APFS for that option. link-> Back up the library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
  2. Or you can use the export feature in the Photos app File Menu to export the photos to the External drive.


If you are not using the Photos app, you can simply copy the pictures from wherever they are to the external drive in Finder.


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 17, 2022 12:48 PM in response to Suznadam

If using the Photos App to store photos:

  1. You can copy the Photos Library.photoslibrary file from the Pictures folder in your Home folder to the external drive. The drive must be formatted as HFS+ or APFS for that option. link-> Back up the library in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
  2. Or you can use the export feature in the Photos app File Menu to export the photos to the External drive.


If you are not using the Photos app, you can simply copy the pictures from wherever they are to the external drive in Finder.


how to back up photos onto an external hard drive

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