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comatory

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2012
739
0
I am storing my Photos library on external USB drive. I plug this drive from time to time to my desktop mac so it can redownload all photos I've taken with my phone to the drive. I just like having a local copy as well.

However I'm confused what does "Download Originals to this Mac" option in settings mean? Does it store the photos in my library that is stored on external drive? Or does it somehow store it on my internal drive as well?
 

Nigel Goodman

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2017
171
84
UK
All photos download to your Mac using the Photos app are stored in the Photos Library - wherever you have that located. The "default" location for the Photos library in in ~/Pictures
 

comatory

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 10, 2012
739
0
All photos download to your Mac using the Photos app are stored in the Photos Library - wherever you have that located. The "default" location for the Photos library in in ~/Pictures
OK so if I opened photos with Opt+Click, selected library on my external drive that means the originals are downloaded to library on my external disk right?
 

fpb

macrumors newbie
Feb 21, 2021
7
3
hi, I have created my Photos library on an external drive just like you have @comatory, however, I think there are some cache image files on the internal drive. Have you found there is still a large amount of storage in the 'Photos' section in System Information -> Manage Store?
 

TinHead88

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2008
214
39
iCloud Photos only works with the system library. You can make any library the system library in the Photos preferences. If you have located your main library on an external drive you just need to make sure it's been designated as your system library and the iCloud library will be synced with that.
 
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