How to transfer photos from photos app to hard drive

An external hard drive can be beneficial for backing up photos from a MacBook. For photographers, marketing managers and all other professionals who keep a large library of business photos, backing up the files not only protects your business by making duplicates in case your computer crashes, it frees up system memory if you choose to delete the photos from your computer's hard disk.

Export from Photos App

The macOS Photos app does not store photos as separate graphic files, it keeps them in a special photo library. For those who manage their photos with the Photos app, you must first transfer photos from the Photos app to files.

• Click the Photos app to launch it. 
• Click the Photos button to see all the images in the app. 
• Select all the images you want to copy, holding down the "Command" (⌘) key. 
• Click the File menu, choose Export, and click Export xxx Items..., where xxx is the number of photos you've selected. 
• Choose the type and quality of image file from the dialog box that appears.
• Click the Export button. A file browser will appear; choose or create a folder to hold these photo files, then click Export again to generate the files. 

Connect the External Drive

Connect the external hard drive to the computer using the USB cable and power on the unit. The external hard drive's icon appears on the desktop.

View Files on the External Drive

Double-click the external hard drive's icon to view the files on the drive.

Use Finder Search Tool

Click Finder on the Dock to launch a new Finder window, then locate the photos to transfer to your external hard drive. Use the Spotlight search tool in the upper-right corner to search for photos if you're not sure where they are located on your internal hard drive.

Open "Pictures" Folder

Click your computer's name under Favorites and click the Pictures folder to view images and albums created with photo applications. Double-click the folder containing the photos to open it.

Select the Photos

Browse and select the photos. Press and hold the "Command" key while clicking photos to select multiple non-adjacent files. Press and hold the Shift key while clicking photos to select multiple adjacent files.

Drag Photos to External Drive

Drag the selected files from their locations to the external hard drive's window that you opened. When you click and drag a group of selected files, the Finder copies all of them. A status bar displays the progress of the transfer. Wait for the transfer to complete.

Organize Photos in a Folder

Click the File menu at the top of the Finder window and select New Folder to create a folder to organize the photos. Name the folder and then drag images to it. You may want to create many different folders to organize photos by content and purpose.

Eject the External Hard Drive

Close all open Finder windows when you finish and then drag the external hard drive's icon from the desktop to the Trash bin on the Dock. The Trash bin changes to Eject and the icon disappears from the desktop.

Using Backup Software

The above steps will organize and copy only the selected photos to your external hard drive. To conveniently copy all files, including your photo library, to an external drive, use Apple's Time Machine backup software or a third-party program such as Get Backup Pro, ChronoSync or SuperDuper!. These programs automatically copy your files based on date and other criteria.

Over time, we accumulate so many photos and multimedia files in our iPhones that there is hardly any space left.

Therefore, when your phone starts broadcasting the message “storage full” the only way is to transfer the photos to your personal computer or any other device. If you are trying to transfer photos from your iPhone to the external hard drive to free up space, then we can help with some tips.

In this article, we are going to discuss all the possible ways to transfer photos from iPhone to hard drive. So, let us begin:

You can learn the video tutorial below:

Part 1: Transfer Photos from iPhone to External Hard Drive with MobileTrans

While there are many other ways to transfer data from your iPhone to an external hard drive, MobileTrans is the most sought after choice. This is one such software that streamlines the way we transfer data from iPhone to any other device. 

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Transfer iPhone photos to external hard drive with a few clicks!

• • Export photos from Phone to PC (Windows & Mac) and hard drive.
• • Backup 18+ types of data from Android and iPhone to PC (Windows & Mac).
• • Supports transfer 18+ types of data between 6000+ devices.
• • Support transfer of WhatsApp data between Android and iOS devices.

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Check how to move photos from iPhone to hard drive with MobileTrans

Step 1: Launch MobileTrans

First, connect the iPhone and hard drive with your computer. Once the connection is established, click on the “Phone Transfer” option. From there, select the “Export to Computer” option.

Step 2: Select Photos to Transfer

Once you have completed the first step, a window will pop up displaying all the data types that can be transferred from your iPhone. From the many options, choose the photos that you want to transfer to connected hard drive. 

Step 3: Export Photos to Hard Drive Directly

After that, just click on the Export button to proceed. A pop-up window will appear, giving you the option to select a location where you want to transfer the file. Choose to save your iPhone photos to the connected hard drive.

Step 4: Transfer Completed

That's it! Once the data has been exported, you can notice that all your photos are saved on the external device now.

Part 2: Move Photos from iPhone to External Hard Drive on Windows PC

Method 1: Transfer iPhone photos to external hard drive with Windows Photo

One of the easiest and the go-to methods to copy pictures from iphone to computer is using the photos app that comes with your Windows. The process is quite simple and you just need to follow these steps:

• Using a USB cable, plug the iPhone into the PC and once the connection is established, launch the Photos app. The photos app can be accessed from the Start menu of your Windows

• Once the app has appeared, click on the import option in the top right corner
• The next step would be to select the images that you want to import.
• Now make sure that the external hard drive that you want to transfer the image has been connected to the PC as well.
• Proceed with the import process, and select the external hard drive as the saving space to start the transfer.

Method 2. Move iPhone photos to the external hard drive via file Explorer

If you are wondering how to transfer images from iPhone to external hard drive using file explorer then follow these steps:

• Just like the previous methods, the first is to make sure that your iPhone is connected to your PC using a USB cable.
• Next plugin the external hard drive to the computer
• When you connect the iPhone, you will receive a prompt asking you to approve the iPhone. Grant the permission and in case you missed the prompt, launch the Windows Explorer by clicking on the start menu.
• Inside the Window Explorer, go to the PC and select Apple iPhone’s internal storage. From there you go to DCIM. This is where you'll find all the images.

• Now copy these images and paste them directly into the external drive

Method 3: Backup Photos from iPhone to hard drive with iCloud

One easy way to copy your photos from iPhone to an external drive is using an iCloud. To complete the process follow these steps:

• First, enable "iCloud Photos" on your phone and then go to the iCloud site on your computer.
• Sign in with your apple Id and click on the image section.
• Now select as many photos as you want and download them.
• Either change the download location to your external device or download the image to your PC and then copy it to the drive.

Part 3: Transfer Photos from iPhone to External Hard Drive on Mac

Method 1: Store iPhone photos to external hard drive using Image Capture 

The procedure for backing up your photos on Mac is a little different from what you can do on Windows PC. Apple has its photo apps and it definitely wants you to leverage these apps.

• First, connect your iPhone to your Mac. You can do it using either a dongle or a USB cable.
• Just as you create a connection between your Mac and iPhone, you will receive a question asking if you can trust the computer. If yes, then go ahead and confirm.
• Browser your Mac for the “image capture” app. You can do so by directly searching “image capture” in the search bar.
• In the left portion of the image capture app, select the iPhone and within it the images.
• Next, select the location where you want to save the photos.
• Select the photos and click on the import button. Once the data has been imported, you can transfer the data to the external device.

Transfer Photos to external Device via Photos

Another method that you can use to transfer images from iPhone to your external drive via MAC is using the photos app. The process is quite similar to windows. And the steps goes as following:

• Open MAC Photos and while it's running, connect your phone and it will start showing the device in the sidebar.

• From here you can import the data into the photo library and then export the images to the external drive.

Part 4: Transfer iPhone Photo to External Hard Drive without Computer

Another question that we are continuously asked is how to transfer images from your iPhone to an external hard drive without the use of a computer.

The process is very easy, as you just need to have a portable external device like SanDisk that can be connected to your iPhone directly. This feature is available for all the devices with IOS 8 and above. To successfully transfer the data follow the step mentioned below: 

• Use the lightning cable to connect the iPhone to an external hard drive.
• Check if the connection is established and open the photo app to select all the images that you want to transfer.
• Transfer these photos to the file app and select the hard drive that you want to save your photos to.

Even though there are many other ways to transfer data from your iPhone to an external hard drive, MobileTrans is the most preferred choice. This is one such software that streamlines the way we transfer data from iPhone to any other device. So, if you want to transfer data to an external device, use any of the above-mentioned methods.

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