How to Load Photos from External Hard Drive into a Mac Photos Library Without iCloud

Managing your photos can be more challenging when your Mac tries to automatically sync photos to iCloud, especially if you prefer to keep them local. This tutorial will guide you through the steps to load photos from an external hard drive into your Mac Photos library without having them sync to iCloud.

Note: Ensure you back up your external drive to prevent future data loss.

Disabling iCloud Photos

The first step is to disable the iCloud Photos feature, which is causing your Mac to try and sync your photos to iCloud automatically.

Open the Photos app on your Mac.

Click on Photos in the menu bar and select Preferences.

Click on the iCloud tab.

Uncheck the box for iCloud Photos. This action will prevent any new photos from syncing to iCloud. However, existing photos will still be in the library, just without automatic syncing.

Importing Photos from External Hard Drive

Once iCloud feature is disabled, it's time to import your photos from the external hard drive.

Connect your external hard drive to your Mac.

In the Photos app, go to File Import.

Locate the photos on your external hard drive and select the photos you want to import.

Choose Review for Import to see the photos you are importing. You can select to import all new photos or choose specific photos to import.

Managing Your Library

After importing the photos, they will be stored locally in your Mac's Photos library. They will not be uploaded to iCloud unless you enable iCloud Photos again.

To swap between different libraries, hold the Option (?) key when opening the Photos app. This will allow you to choose between your local library and iCloud library.

Quick Tip: Organize your photos by creating different libraries. This is similar to having different playlists for different moods, allowing you to keep everything neatly organized as you want it.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can maintain local control over your photos without them being uploaded to iCloud. This allows you to keep your photo library organized without the constraints of automatic syncing.

Remember to always back up your external hard drive to avoid any data loss.