Have you ever had trouble finding a photo and feared the worst — that you accidentally deleted it? Or maybe you’ve heard a friend bemoan of how their hard drive failed and they lost everything from pictures of their firstborn to that once-in-a-lifetime selfie with Michael Jordan?
- How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Computer
- How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac
- How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Drive
- How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Download
- How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Windows 10
After taking a moment to realize how fortunate you’ve been to have not lost any pics yourself, you probably think, “I should start backing up my photos.” Well, you’ve found the right article. We’re going to go through a few solutions for backing up your Mac and, more specifically, your photo collection. Because while losing an important piece of work is tragic, it’s usually replaceable. The moments that your pictures represent are fleeting, and there’s no way to recreate them.
Before you back up your photos
- Jul 12, 2017 Regardless, to create a new System Photo Library, first open the location where your current system library is and drag it to a backup spot if you want to keep it (recommended). Drag it to the Trash if you don’t. Next, open Photos, which will spur the following prompt.
- Jan 05, 2020 Note: If you plan on using Optimize Storage, we suggest having at least one device that stores your entire library locally (usually a Mac with a large local or external hard drive), so you have multiple backups of your photographs and video. Launch the Photos app on your Mac. Click Photos in the App menu in the upper left corner of your screen.
How to copy the Photos library to a hard drive. Open Photos on your Mac. Click Photos Preferences. Click on the iCloud tab. Choose Download originals to this Mac. Mar 18, 2020 Move your Photos library to an external storage device. In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library. In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users username Pictures, and it's named Photos Library. Drag your library to.
There’s truth to the adage garbage in, garbage out. So before you even ask yourself, “How do I back up my photos?” you’ll want to make sure your photo library is cleaned up. Space is precious, so backing up duplicate and almost-duplicate pictures will be a waste. Thankfully, a Mac app like Gemini 2 can help you unclutter your photos before you back them up. And the best part is, you can download it for free to give it a try.
Best ways to back up your photos on Mac
As mentioned earlier, there are a couple ways to go about backing up your photos. The ones we’re going to go over are:
- iCloud
- Time Machine
- Google Photos
- External hard drive
After reading this article, you’ll be able to weigh out the cost versus convenience for each of these options and see which one works best for you. At the end of the day, the best way to backup photos is the one that’s easy for you to use on a regular basis.
iCloud for cloud-based photo backup
The first method is the one that comes standard with your Mac and doesn’t require you to install any additional software. iCloud is cloud-based storage made by Apple and available to anyone with an AppleID. Using iCloud to back up photos is easy thanks to automatic backups and syncing, built into both iPhone and Mac. All you have to do is make sure iCloud is turned on on each device, and you’re all set.
The catch, as there always is, is that you only get 5 GB for free. And that includes not only photos, but also anything else you decide to store on your iCloud drive. Additional storage can be purchased and is fairly affordable compared to other cloud storages.
How to back up photos to iCloud
Backing up to iCloud depends on the device you’re using. Since we’re talking about Mac here, this is how you set up iCloud backup in macOS: setting we’re going to go through how to do it on both iPhone and Mac.
- Go to System Preferences > iCloud
- Click Options next to Photos
- Select iCloud Photos
After you turn on iCloud Photos, you’ll get access to other options for syncing and sharing your photos.
This might be helpful: The beginner’s guide to iCloud Photo Sharing
Time Machine to back up your photos and everything else
The next type of backup veers away from the cloud-based model. Time Machine is the built-in Mac application that will automatically backup your Mac to an external hard drive. Which means you will have to buy an external drive or use a network drive, but the bright side is as long as you have the hard drive plugged in your Mac will be backed up.
One of the major benefits to Time Machine is that it’s a differential backup. That means that after the initial backup it will only back up the files that are new and/or changed. So every backup after the first one will be faster because, in theory, it’s backing up fewer files.
Does Time Machine back up my photo library?
How to copy mac photos library to external drive. There can be some confusion as to what Time Machine backs up once it’s configured. Simply put, it backs up everything, including any photos stored on your Mac.
That being said the easiest way to search for photos and/or restore things from your backup is to ensure you’re using the Photos app on your computer. If you just have random photos scattered throughout your Mac it can be harder to track those down, whereas Photos helps you keep your library organized.
How to set up a Time Machine backup
Once you plug an external hard drive into your Mac, you should be automatically prompted to use the drive with Time Machine. iIf you’re not, you can do it manually:
- Go to Apple > System Preferences > Time Machine
- Click Select Disk
- In the Time Machine preferences window, select your external drive from the list of available disks
- Then click Use Disk
If the hard drive is not formatted properly to be used with Time Machine, you’ll be prompted to format it. You’ll also notice an option to encrypt the hard drive and your backup, which adds an extra level of security in case you misplace the external drive.
Google Photos for a free photo backup
The next option is another cloud-based backup solution, Google Photos. While not as well-integrated into iPhone and Mac as iCloud, Google Photos offers equally easy setup and ongoing backups.
The biggest difference between Google Photos and iCloud though is that with Google Photos you can store an unlimited amount of pictures — as long as you agree to have those photos compressed. While most people won’t notice the difference between compressed and uncompressed photos, it’s still something worth noting. If you choose to upload your images at full quality, you’ll be using your Google Drive space, of which you get 15GB for free. Additional storage can be purchased.
How to back up photos to Google Photos
Like iCloud, Google handles backups on a per-device basis, but in this case we’ll be covering how to set up a Google Photos backup on Mac:
- Download and install the Google Backup and Sync app on your Mac
- Sign in with your Google Account
- Select whether to back up only photos or videos or all files
- Select all folders you want to back up
- Under “Photo & video upload size,” select your upload quality
- Click Start
This might be helpful: Best photo sharing sites you can use for free
External hard drive: The old school way to back up pictures
This last option will definitely take the most manual labor. On the other hand, using an external hard drive will give you the most control over what you’re backing up, and many prefer to have it the old-fashioned way. Whether you’re using Photos, another photo manager, or just have pictures scattered around your Mac, you’ll be able to back them up. It’ll just take you a little bit of time to do it yourself.
How to back up photos to an external hard drive
- Open Finder > Pictures (or wherever your images are)
- Select your Photos Library, the folder you want to back up, or individual files
- Drag and drop the file onto your external hard drive in the left column.
While this method gives you the most freedom and assurance that you’re backing up exactly what you want, if you make any changes to your Photo Library on Mac, you’ll have to back it up all over again.
TIP:
As you back up and re-back up photos to an external drive, eventually you might find it riddled with duplicates. Gemini 2, the Mac app we mentioned earlier, can also scan your external HDD for duplicate photos, making it easy to delete them.
As you back up and re-back up photos to an external drive, eventually you might find it riddled with duplicates. Gemini 2, the Mac app we mentioned earlier, can also scan your external HDD for duplicate photos, making it easy to delete them.
Now that you’ve got some idea on how to back up your photos, it’s time to get started. The most important thing to keep in mind is that a backup is only as good as the last time it was done. So back up your pictures early, and back them up often. And if you’re truly worried about it — why only have just one photo backup? Combine a cloud-based option with an external HDD and sleep well knowing your memories are safe.
How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Computer
Summary
Losing photos and Photos Library corrupting can really drive Mac users crazy. If you are facing such a problem, calm down and read this article. Follow methods on this page to repair your Photos Library and recover all lost photos with EaseUS data recovery software for Mac immediately.
Applies to all new macOS: 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14(Mojave), 10.13 (High Sierra), 10.12 and old Mac OS X like 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.9, etc.
The article provides full solutions to recover photos after Photos Library corruption and fix the corrupted Photos Library:
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Part 1. Recover lost photos after Photos Library corruption | Fix 1. Restore lost photos with EaseUS Mac data recovery software in three steps..Full steps Fix 2. Recover corrupted photos from Time Machine backup..Full steps |
Part 2. Repair corrupted Photos Library | Step 1. Close Photo Library if it's opened. Step 2. Relaunch Photo Library. Step 3. Click 'Repair'..Full steps |
Photos Library corrupted, help me restore my photos, please.
'Hi there, can anyone of you tell me how to restore my lost photos on Mac? The Photos Library corrupted suddenly. All my photos stored in the Photos Library all disappeared. https://baseballyellow974.weebly.com/blog/fftw-mpi-library-mac. What can I do?
![Photo Photo](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134047807/265521231.jpg)
Please help me. And this is important for me to recover photos. Any solutions or suggestions are all welcomed.'
How many of you guys are facing Photos Library crash or corrupt problem and unable to restore photos? Here EaseUS software provides effective methods to prevent similar problems from happening again, follow to repair Photos Library and recover all photos on Mac immediately. Open mac photo library on windows 7.
Tip: Back up photos in case of losing them
If you didn't lose photos, the best choice is to backup them first. When unexpected troubles happen to your photos, you'll still have the backups. Here we recommend you to use Time Machine to backup all important photos and other data on Mac:
1. Click Time Machine and choose Set Up Time Machine.
2. Click Select Backup Disk or select locations (an external storage device is preferable) back up photos, and then click Use for Backup.
You can also copy photos and files one by one and paste to another storage device where you want to store the backups. Be patient and careful while copying and pasting.
Part 1. Recover lost photos after photos library corruption
If photos lost due to Photos application or Photos Library corruption, you have two ways to restore the lost photos: 1. Restore lost photos with Mac data recovery software; 2. Retrieve Photos Library with photos from Times Machine backup.
Method 1. Restore lost photos with EaseUS Mac data recovery software
If you didn't create a backup of Photos Library in the Time Machine, you'll need Mac data recovery software to help. We recommend you try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac which supports to recover photos from corrupted Photo Library and even worse situations.
Step 1. Select the location where your valuable photos were lost and click Scan button. What is in the mac hardrive library file.
How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will start immediately a quick scan as well as a deep scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane.
Step 3. By Path and Type, you can quickly filter the photos you've lost earlier. Select the target files and click Recover Now button to get them back at once.
Method 2. Restore corrupted Photos Library with photos from Time Machine backup
If you've created a backup of Photos Library with Time Machine, follow the steps below to restore Photos Library and all lost photos:
1. Connect Time Machine backup drive.
2. Click Time Machine in the Dock and enter Time Machine
3. Find backups - your photos then click Restore to recover lost photos.
Part 2. Repair corrupted Photos Library
If the Photos behaves unexpectedly or Photos Library corrupts, follow next steps to start repairing Photos Library with Photos library repair tool:
Step 1. Close Photo Library if it's opened.
Step 2. Relaunch Photo Library by holding Command + Option key.
Step 3. Click 'Repair' when the 'Repair Library' dialog pops up and ask whether you'd like to repair the library.
You might be asked to enter your account and password to authorize the library repair. And the Repair tool will analyze the database of Photos Library, repair detected errors.
How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Drive
If your Photos library is automatically updated with iCloud Photos, the entire contents of the library will re-updates with iCloud when the repair process completes.
How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Download
Bonus Tip: Create a new Photos Library
The other alternative way to repair corrupted Photos Library is to create a new Photos Library on Mac. By doing so, you'll have your Photo Library back and reuse it to edit your photos again:
Step 1. Hold the Option key and double-click the Photos icon in the Applications folder (or click the Photos icon in the Dock).
Step 2. In the Choose Library dialogue, click Create New.
How Do I Backup My Photo Library On Mac Windows 10
Step 3. Type a library name and choose a location to store the library. Click OK to confirm.