Transfer Photos from Mac to External Disk | Generated by AI

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Here are the safest and most efficient ways to move (or copy) a large number of photos from the Photos app on macOS to an external/portable disk — especially when they’re synced from your iPhone via iCloud Photos.

Method 1: Export originals (recommended – keeps full quality and metadata)

  1. Connect your portable disk and make sure it has enough free space.
  2. Open Photos app on your Mac.
  3. Select the photos you want to move:
    • To select all: Press Cmd + A
    • To select many at once: Click the first photo → hold Shift → click the last (for a range) or hold Cmd and click individually.
    • Or go to Photos → All Photos (in the sidebar) to see everything in one list.
  4. Go to the menu bar → File → Export → Export Photos… (not “Export Unmodified Originals” yet).
  5. In the export dialog:
    • Choose Photo Kind: JPEG (or Current if you want the exact format)
    • Subfolder Format: None or Moment Name (optional)
    • File Name: Use File Name or Sequential
    • Check Include Location Information, Include Keywords, etc. if you want to keep metadata.
  6. Click Export.
  7. Choose your portable disk (or a folder on it) as the destination → Export Originals wait, no — actually for the absolute best quality and all metadata (including Live Photos, edits, etc.):

Better version → Use “Export Unmodified Originals” instead:

Method 2: Export Unmodified Originals (best for full-resolution, untouched files)

  1. Select all the photos you want (Cmd+A for everything).
  2. Go to File → Export → Export Unmodified Originals…
  3. Choose your external disk/folder.
  4. Optionally check:
    • Include videos
    • Export IPTC as XMP (for metadata)
  5. Click Export Originals.

This gives you the exact files that came from your iPhone, including HEIC/HEIF, ProRAW, Live Photo pairs (.mov + .jpg/heic), etc.

After exporting — optional: delete from Photos library to free up Mac space

If you want to remove them from your Mac (but keep them in iCloud/iPhone):

  1. After confirming everything is safely on the external disk,
  2. Select the same photos in Photos app → right-click → Delete Photos
  3. Then go to Photos → Recently Deleted → Delete All (or wait 30 days).

Because you’re using iCloud Photos, deleting them from your Mac only removes them from that Mac — they stay in iCloud and on your iPhone unless you delete them there too.

Bonus: Drag-and-drop from Photos (quick but loses some organization)

You can also just select photos → drag them directly from Photos app to a folder on your external disk in Finder.
This creates copies with sequential names (IMG_0001, etc.) and keeps edits, but splits Live Photos and may not preserve all metadata perfectly.

Summary – Recommended workflow

  1. Connect external disk.
  2. In Photos → Cmd+A (or select what you want).
  3. File → Export → Export Unmodified Originals…
  4. Export to a folder on the external disk.
  5. Verify a few files open correctly.
  6. (Optional) Delete the photos from your Mac’s library if you need the space.

That’s it — you now have all your original iPhone photos safely on the portable disk without losing quality or metadata.

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