Need to copy pictures from Finder to EHD

[IPadNParadise]

After post processing my photos from my camera (in Affinity Photo) I export them individually/name them to Finder>Pictures. If I really like the photo I will add it to Photos knowing it is taking icloud space (that's just fyi). So I have ended up with thousands of pictures in my Finder that arnt in The Photos App, and that I want to get off my Mac.

I want to transfer all these photos to an external hard drive that I have formatted for this. I am not sure exactly how to do this, I am not very technical, so please just dont say 'drag and drop', i dont have much success with that usually. I can find steps on the internet to transfer Photos Library, but these are pictures I have exported/saved to the Finder and not part of the Photos Library altho I do see Photos Library as a line item among all the pics I have named in Finder>Pictures. Thanks for any help you might be.

 

[Kissmyne]

Well there are several ways to do this.. drag and drop is obviously one of them.. but since you don't want that as an option..

Go to the folder with all of your saved pictures.. once in the folder.. CMD + A to select all, then CMD + C to copy, then navigate to the external drive, then CMD + V to paste into this location.

IF you are curious.. the drag and drop method is similar.. Go to the folder with all of your saved pictures.. open another window and navigate to the external hdd.. then go back to the aforementioned folder, CMD + A to select all, then once all are highlighted.. click and hold on one of the icons representing your photos.. and drag them(this typically will have an animation corresponding to the amount of files you are dragging) to the open window that is navigated to your external HDD.. then release your click(drop).

In either instance.. after the steps you should see some type of progress bar corresponding to the copy function. The amount of time it takes to copy to your external HDD will vary based on the quantity and quality of your photos.

 

[simon lefisch]

I like to use Terminal for something like this. You can use the following command to copy your files from the source to the destination (which I recommend until you verify that all files have been moved).

cp <source> <destination>

So the command would be:

cp ~/Pictures/<subfolder> /Volumes/<name of external drive>

The above would copy the subfolder in YOUR Pictures folder to the root of your external drive.

If you want to move them instead of copying, use:

mv <source> <destination>

If your files are in the Pictures folder, I recommend moving them to a subfolder within the Pictures folder and use that as your <source>. Otherwise, if you use the Pictures folder as your source, it will copy all files in that folder to the destination.

 

[IPadNParadise]

Thank you. The EHD that I have for Time Machine shows up on my Desktop as a Time Machine icon. You say 'navigate to the external drive', If I format another and connect it by USB, where do I find it and then do I just double click to open it? I apologize for being so dumb, but I am just not technical.
[doublepost=1464211478][/doublepost]Simon - thank you for the response but terminal is above my skill. These pictures are the only files in Pictures. Other than the Photos Library and I wont touch that.

 

[Weaselboy]

Simon - thank you for the response but terminal is above my skill. These pictures are the only files in Pictures. Other than the Photos Library and I wont touch that.

That makes it a little easier. After you have formatted the USB drive, open the Finder and navigate to the USB drive in the left column and click to open the drive in Finder. Now hit command-n (both keys) to open a second Finder window. Now navigate to your Picture folder. Then hit command-a to select everything in the folder. Now hold down the command key and click the Photos library. That should Unselect the Photos library and leave all the other files selected in blue. Now just grab the selected section (blue area) and drag it from that Finder window over into the Finder window for the USB drive. That should do it.

 

[IPadNParadise]

Thank you, Weaselboy, I can use copy and paste while following the rest of your directions, right? The thing I dont like about drag and drop is that I have to try 2-3 times before I get it to drop in the right place. Dont laugh (too hard) I'm just not technical.

 

[Weaselboy]

Thank you, Weaselboy, I can use copy and paste while following the rest of your directions, right? The thing I dont like about drag and drop is that I have to try 2-3 times before I get it to drop in the right place. Dont laugh (too hard) I'm just not technical.

Sure... copy/paste will work if you are more comfortable with that.