Back up the library in Photos on Mac. Even if you use iCloud Photos, it’s important that you always back up your library locally using one of the following methods: Use Time Machine: After you set up Time Machine, it automatically backs up the files on your Mac. If you ever lose the files in your Photos library, you can restore them from the Time Machine backup. Mar 19, 2020  If you are facing issue to open iPhoto library on Windows 8 then you may try the steps mentioned in the following threads on Apple forum. Iphoto library from mac to windows? How to share iPhoto library with Windows 7 Media Center? IOS: Import personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer.

Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows, and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Photo Library and use Optimize Mac Storage, or move your library to an external drive.

Before you start, be sure to back up your library.

Prepare your drive

You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).¹ Find out how to check the format of your external storage device.

To prevent data loss, Apple doesn't recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.

Move your Photos library to an external storage device

1. Quit Photos.
2. In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library.
3. In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users > [username] > Pictures, and it's named Photos Library.
4. Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive's icon in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click , then make sure the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' checkbox is selected. If it's not selected, click to unlock it, enter an administrator name and password, then select the checkbox.²
   
   
5. After the move is finished, double-click Photos Library in its new location to open it.
6. If you use iCloud Photo Library, designate this library as the System Photo Library.

Delete original library to save space

After you open your library from its new location and make sure that it works as expected, you can delete the library from its original location.

In a Finder window, go back to your Pictures folder (or whichever folder you copied your library from) and move Photos Library to the trash. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash to delete the library and reclaim disk space.

Open another Photos library

If you have multiple libraries, here's how to open a different one:

1. Quit Photos.
2. Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
3. Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library.

Photos uses this library until you open a different one.

Learn more

If you have a permissions issue with your library, you might be able to resolve the issue by using the Photos library repair tool.

1. You can't move your library to a disk that's used for Time Machine backups.

2. If the volume isn't formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or has been used for Time Machine backups but hasn't been erased, this checkbox will either not be present, or won't be selectable after unlocking. Erase and reformat the drive for this option to be available.

Hi! I’m in the midst of some confusing computer issues.
I’m new to mac, and I’ve put a huge number of pictures into iPhoto. Now all of my old and new jpeg files exist in the iPhoto Library in Finder.
If a few years down the road I get a Windows laptop, will I be able to transfer my iPhoto Library to my Windows “My Pictures” and still be able to access the files? The Windows computer wouldn’t have iPhoto, so does that mean it wouldn’t be able to view them? I’m really nervous about losing the ability to access my pictures.
Would it be safer not to use iPhoto? I really like the program, but I don’t want to lose accessibility if I need to use Windows. I have two external hard drives that I frequently use to back up my files, and both are Mac/Windows compatible. The issue is just if the iPhoto Library will be transferable or not.
Thank you SO much in advance for any help! Sorry if I was repetitive – I’m trying to wrap my head around this!

3 Answers

Can Mac Photos Library Be Watched On Pc Free

iPhoto is a bit tricky. You will find iPhoto Library in your pictures folder. You need to get the pictures out of that. Right click (Command click) on it and select “Show Package Contents” In there you will see a folder with the originals. From there you can drag them to a external drive. They will open without a problem on a Windows machine.

@thisisfun Thank you for your help!! I love the idea of being able to get the pictures out of iPhoto. I followed through and did the Show Package Contents, then clicked on the Originals folder. However, the Originals folder was only 4KB big (and I have about 200GB of pictures) – and didn’t contain pictures. Does this mean iPhoto doesn’t have the originals?
Thank you, again!!

@hellolulu No, it doesn’t nessesarily mean that. If you’ve edited a photo, it puts the original version of it in the original folder. If you haven’t touched it up or anything, it wouldn’t be in the original folder.

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Can Mac Photos Library Be Watched On Pc Download

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