Use Photos Library from external Hard Drive

[ramen5677]

Hello,

as I am about to be buying a 256GB MacBook Pro I wondered how, exactly, moving your Photos and iTunes Library to an external SSD works. I do not want to only backup to the SSD but rather use the library from there while plugged in, moving the default location for the library to the external SSD. I know this is possible, but I am concerned about the case of loss or theft.
Are the libraries on the SSD encrypted?
Can I backup the content of the SSD via time machine to my stationary home harddrive?

Thank you very much in advance for any help.

 

[JohnDS]

You can encrypt the external drive using FileVault. Just remember the usual caveat that if you forget your password and lose your recovery key, your data is gone for good.

http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/displa...leVault+on+External+Disks+in+OS+X+10.8+and+Up

According to this: http://pondini.org/TM/32.html

Time Machine can back up external USB drives (but not external network drives) provided they are formatted in Mac and not PC format.

 

[satcomer]

This is a little older but it is very similar to how to still do it with ease How To Move Your iTunes Library to an External Drive. I sure hope this external is a NAS external with your precious music/videos!