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h4lp m3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 29, 2011
502
46
New Orleans
I'm pretty savvy, but this one is taking me for a ride... Like a 3 week ride.

I've FINALLY downloaded my iPad's photos thanks to the built-in Mac app Image Capture, but surprise surprise, that app only moves files ONE WAY, so now I have the 55,085 photos and videos on an external hard drive and I don't know how to move them to my new iPad.
 
Just plug in the external hard drive to the iPad Pro. The Files app on the iPad will see the external hard drive. Go to the folder with your pics. Drag and drop into the Photos app
 
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Or, connect the drive to Mac to import the 55K into a Mac Photos library (or a new/temp Photos library if you want to keep them separate) and then connect iPad Pro to synch them to your iPad Pro.

Or if you have enough cloud space in iCloud, Dropbox or similar, you can upload all of them to the cloud and then download them from cloud into iPad Pro... or do a few thousand at a time.
 
Last edited:
I'm pretty savvy, but this one is taking me for a ride... Like a 3 week ride.

I've FINALLY downloaded my iPad's photos thanks to the built-in Mac app Image Capture, but surprise surprise, that app only moves files ONE WAY, so now I have the 55,085 photos and videos on an external hard drive and I don't know how to move them to my new iPad.

Assuming the photos are all in a folder, connect the hard drive to your iPad and drag the files over to the files app. I am assuming you don’t want them all in your photos app.
 
Create a folder named DCIM in the top level of the drive. Move all images or folder with images into it. Connect the SSD to the ipad. Open Photos on ipad, select the drive in it’s sidebar, import.
 
Isn't there an option when setting a new iPad up to copy data over from an existing iPad? Or is that function only available on the iPhone?
 
However you do it, make sure to verify correct transfer before deleting the photos on the original platform (if you planned to do so). I've had photos corrupted on transfer in the past.
 
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