Set up multiple drives in rotation and keep one off site if you can. You didn't ask how many drives are needed for Time Machine but the answer is more than one. This will backup the whole external device, but you can exclude all other files by hitting the + sign in that same view and selecting everything except the photoslibrary. Just go into settings -> TimeMachine -> options -> select the external device -> hit the - sign. To make sure which photoslibrary you are opening follow Steves answer.īacking up the library also still works e.g. Make sure to not interrupt the copy process, because restarting the copy process means you will lose all progress (unless you use e.g. Your iPhone photos will now be imported to the external hard drive. Instead, choose only those specific folders that you want to. Then under 'Download new photos and videos to my PC' click Change and set the default location as your external hard drive. photoslibrary package is located in /user/Photos/) to your external storage device. Choose the photos you want to copy from your iPhoto photo library if your are using iPhoto, select File from the top menu bar and then select Export. Depending on your backup solution, you may not want to make a copy of everything on your hard drive. If the storage device isn't formatted correctly for Mac, or was used for Time Machine backups but hasn't been erased, this checkbox won't be present or won't be. To change it, you might first have to click the lock button to unlock the setting. Make sure that the Ignore ownership on this volume checkbox is selected.

If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click the triangle to see more. You can simply copy and paste your current library (usually the. Select your external storage device in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. Yes, you can transfer the photo library to an external drive or NAS and still back it up.

Backup iphoto to external drive