Thinking of replacing my 2017 iMac with a new MacBook. I want the portability the MacBook offers. My issue is what do I do with all of the Photos I have on the old iMac? Obviously the MacBook doesn’t have the same level of storage. I know I’d need some external storage but I’m unsure how to move the files and have them accessible on the MacBook.
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New MacBook- Help storing photos
- Thread starter Jte1130
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Buy an external drive. Connect it to your iMac, and using Disk Utility(in the Applications>Utilities folder) format the drive.
Then go to Home Folder>Pictures folder. Drag and drop your Photos Library file onto the External Drive.
Connect the drive to the MacBook. Launch Photos while holding down the Option key. This box will appear:
Click on "Other Library..." and navigate to the Photos Library on the external drive, select it and click on "Choose Library.
Photos will open using that Library and should automatically use that Library in the future.
Then go to Home Folder>Pictures folder. Drag and drop your Photos Library file onto the External Drive.
Connect the drive to the MacBook. Launch Photos while holding down the Option key. This box will appear:
Click on "Other Library..." and navigate to the Photos Library on the external drive, select it and click on "Choose Library.
Photos will open using that Library and should automatically use that Library in the future.
Take a look at the Crucial x9 SSD.
Very small (about the size of 2 USB flashdrives side-by-side).
Quite fast (USB3.1 gen2).
Reasonably priced.
You could copy the Photos library folder from the iMac to the SSD, and set up Photos on the MacBook to use it either as your "default" Photos library, or, just access when you need it.
Note: you would need to address "permissions issues" first, if you did this - not hard.
Very small (about the size of 2 USB flashdrives side-by-side).
Quite fast (USB3.1 gen2).
Reasonably priced.
You could copy the Photos library folder from the iMac to the SSD, and set up Photos on the MacBook to use it either as your "default" Photos library, or, just access when you need it.
Note: you would need to address "permissions issues" first, if you did this - not hard.
Do you not currently use iCloud for your photos? As that would download them into the new Mac automatically when you log in.
My advise if you are comfortable spending is getting the size SSD you need on the laptop so you can have all your files stored locally. There is nothing worse than using an external storage all the time (other thank back up)
My advise if you are comfortable spending is getting the size SSD you need on the laptop so you can have all your files stored locally. There is nothing worse than using an external storage all the time (other thank back up)
Why "Obviously"? 🧐 If the MacBook Pro is "Replacing" the iMac, it should have the storage that the iMac had. You can get MacBook Pros with up to 8TB internal storage.
If the MacBook is "In addition to" the iMac, not replacing it, then just use iCloud. The Mac can keep all originals downloaded (so you can back them up). The MacBook Pro would have access to all the photos, but would download older ones only when you want to access them.
I have iCloud set up on my phone but never included the photos on my iMac as it’s a huge library and I think I’d need to up my iCloud plan. I will look into it though.