Cloud accounts · Google Photos

How do I move my Google Photos library to an external drive?

Short answer: Use Google Takeout: select Google Photos, export, and download the archives — in batches if your Mac is short on space — then move them to your external drive. Google Photos can't be connected as an account right now.

Use Google Takeout, then put the download on your drive. Google Photos can't be added as an account right now, so Takeout is the reliable route.

  1. Go to Google Takeout and select only Google Photos.
  2. Choose the archive size and format, and start the export. Google emails you when it's ready.
  3. Download the archives. If your Mac is short on space, download in batches and move each one to your external drive as you go.
  4. Unpack them on the external drive, or keep the archives as they are.

If you downloaded to your Mac first, you can move the folder to your external drive with Storage Studio to get the space back — see moving folders.

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