{"id":68521,"date":"2018-07-03T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=68521"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:45:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:45:48","slug":"back-photos-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/back-photos-library\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Back Up Your Mac\u2019s Photos Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"apple<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

It’s July 4 holiday week, so we thought it appropriate that we revisit the topic of backing up your digital photos. Everyone at Backblaze wishes you a wonderful holiday.<\/p>\n

—\u00a0Editor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Your photos are precious memories that can\u2019t be replaced so you should make sure that no matter what happens, your photo library is safe from disaster. The good news is that if you\u2019re using Backblaze, we back up the Photos library for you. But forewarned is forearmed. Here\u2019s how to make sure you\u2019ve got all your photos backed up in one place, even if you aren’t using Backblaze yet.<\/p>\n

How to Sync with iCloud Photo Library (If You Use It)<\/h2>\n

Apple’s iCloud Photo Library uploads and stores your photo library to iCloud. You can access photos and videos on every device connected using that Apple ID, or sign in to iCloud on the web to access your photo and video content.<\/p>\n

iCloud Photo Library is limited by your available iCloud storage. Everyone gets 5GB for free. Any more than that, and you have to pay for it. That right there is enough for many of us not to use it, so if you don\u2019t<\/b>, feel free to skip to the next section. But if you do, here are a few salient points to consider:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing permanent about iCloud Photo Library. Any change you make to your Photo Library on one device is propagated everywhere. Delete an image on your Mac, and that image will be removed from your iPhone, iPad or any other device connected via the same Apple ID, for example.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, if you find yourself offline for any reason, you might not have access to all your photos. The cloud might be the only place you have a full-resolution image, depending on how you\u2019ve configured iCloud Photo Library settings in your Mac and iPhone.<\/p>\n

iCloud Photo Library\u2019s settings on Mac and iOS enable you to optimize downloaded files to avoid photos taking up too much space. So your first order of business should be to make sure that your Mac is set to capture all of your original photos.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. Open Photos<\/b><\/li>\n
    2. Click the Photos<\/b> menu.<\/li>\n
    3. Select Preferences<\/b>.<\/li>\n
    4. Click the iCloud<\/b> tab.<\/li>\n
    5. Make sure iCloud Photo Library<\/b> is checked.<\/li>\n
    6. Click Download Originals to this Mac<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"download<\/a><\/p>\n

      Photos will store the original photos and videos on your Mac — make sure you have sufficient disk space to accept all the files. (Photos will warn you if your drive is too full to manage this.)<\/p>\n

      With all of your photos now stored locally on your Mac in their full splendor, you can back them up using whatever means you prefer.<\/p>\n

      How to Back Up Your Mac Photos<\/em> Library<\/h2>\n

      Using Time Machine? That’s Apple\u2019s built-in backup software<\/a>. If so, your Photo Library is being backed up already. And as we said, if you have Backblaze installed, we do that for you, too.<\/p>\n

      If you\u2019d like to back up your Photos library manually, here\u2019s how to find it:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Open Photos<\/b>.<\/li>\n
      2. Click the Photos<\/b> menu.<\/li>\n
      3. Select Preferences<\/b>.<\/li>\n
      4. With the General<\/b> tab selected, look for Library Location<\/b> and click the Show in Finder<\/b> button.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        For most of us, the Photos Library is located in the Pictures folder on the Mac\u2019s hard drive<\/a>. You can make a copy of that by clicking and dragging it onto another disk. Use an external hard disk, Network Attached Storage (NAS) device (like one from Synology<\/a>, QNAP<\/a>, or Morro\u00a0Data<\/a>) or other means to copy the library.<\/p>\n

        \"photos<\/a><\/p>\n

        For extra redundancy, upload the Photos Library to a cloud sync<\/a> service. Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, whatever you’d prefer. But it\u2019s a good idea to have a local<\/em> copy too.<\/p>\n

        Photos<\/em> allows you to create multiple libraries. That\u2019s handy if you take a lot of pictures, or if you want to compartmentalize the photos you\u2019ve taken. If you\u2019ve created multiple Photos Libraries, make sure to copy each one for safekeeping.<\/p>\n

        Protect Your Pictures<\/h3>\n

        We\u2019re shooting a lot more pictures than ever before. The days of sticking negatives in a shoebox are long behind us. Digital photography is by nature more ephemeral. So it’s much easier to lose track of your photos. Develop a workflow for backing up your photos that makes sense for you and stick with it. No matter what happens with the cloud or even with your computer or phone, your photos will be safe.<\/p>\n

        We’ve focused our attention on the Mac in this post, but if you have questions about how to backup your iPhone, make sure to check out our iPhone Backup Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

        Have questions about Photos, iCloud Photo Library, or backing up your pictures that we didn\u2019t answer? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n

        \n

        Note:<\/strong>\u00a0 An earlier version of this post was published on October 17, 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Your photos are precious memories that can\u2019t be replaced so you should make sure that no matter what happens, your photo library is safe from disaster. Here are some tips for Mac Photos<\/em> users to make sure your memories are preserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":68531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[121],"tags":[469,366,367,390,364],"class_list":["post-68521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backing-up","tag-consumerbackup","tag-dam","tag-dmm","tag-nas","tag-photography","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Back Up Your Apple Photos Library: A Step-by-Step Guide for Mac Users<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your photo library is one of the most important things for you to back up. 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