external storage for photos app?

[pshady]

so i'm running out of space on my imac for the photos library, and i want to move it to an external drive. if i attach two external drives via usb, does time machine support backing up one external drive to another? it seems that a nas would be a better solution but i read that photos app doesn't support nas?

thanks for your help!

 

[jk1002]

Hi,

I think NAS might be a little slow. If your library needs to sync with the Icloud the drive needs to be formatted in Apple format (MAC OS Extended Journaled) which I don't think many NAS support.

I am using a Samsung 1TB SSD which I remember I had to reformat on my 2014 Macbook Pro to work with the photo library and speed is fine, but could be better (I did have to exclude it from Spotlight Search in system settings)

You could backup the external drive with time machine, I am simply exporting the originals by end of the year by album and keep them outside the Apple Library on a drive. I am also planning to move these files to another cloud.
Cheers
JK

 

[justlexi]

I used Dropbox aside from iCloud. All I need to do is to transfer the photos and I can access it on my smartphone and Macbook.

 

[Stephen.R]

so i'm running out of space on my imac for the photos library, and i want to move it to an external drive. if i attach two external drives via usb, does time machine support backing up one external drive to another? it seems that a nas would be a better solution but i read that photos app doesn't support nas?

thanks for your help!

Yes time machine will backup external drives. I recommend an ssd for the photos drive if you can afford it (better speed) and then just a regular mechanical (spinning) HDD for the time
Machine drive - ideally at least 2x the size of your internal iMac drive + the photos SSD.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I've experimented with NAS for Time Machine, and overall the experience hasn't been great. Wireless connections aren't as robust/reliable as hard-wired (and slower). Every so often, Time Machine over NAS generated a Time Machine error message that required me to do a new, full Time Machine backup. I'd be concerned about a Photos library on NAS for the same reason.

 

[pshady]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.... i’m going to try the external USB drive route this weekend. I’ll let everyone know how it goes!!

 

[ignatius345]

I'm doing exactly this. My iTunes and Photos databases are on an external SSD and that SSD backs up to a huge external hard drive I use for Time Machine. Works perfectly.

 

[pshady]

I'm doing exactly this. My iTunes and Photos databases are on an external SSD and that SSD backs up to a huge external hard drive I use for Time Machine. Works perfectly.

What SSD are you using? i have an older late 2015 iMac so i only have thunderbolt 2 and usb 3.0. should i try to get a tb 2 drive with ssd for fastest speed? thx!