How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to External Hard Drive Using Mac

An iPhone is more of a camera taking amazing pictures than a phone for many people. In a way, iPhone has always been taking pride in its leading camera technology. Thus, photo transfer is a hurdle for iPhone lovers to overcome.

Today, we're talking about transferring photos from iPhone to an external hard drive using our mac. Sometimes using transfer tools would make the migration process faster and easier. Now let's get in with the first method — EaseUS MobiMover.

1. How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to an External Hard Drive on Mac with EaseUS MobiMover

EaseUS MobiMover is a universal iPhone, iPad, and iPod content transfer and management tool, capable of backing up your music, photos, messages, and other valuable data. As an iOS data transfer application, it supports backing up files or data between iPhone/iPad and computer. 

Now we will cover this complete iPhone transfer and management solution. What follows below will step through using the EaseUS MobiMover to transfer photos from iPhone to an external hard drive on Mac.

Step 1. Connect devices and launch EaseUS MobiMover. 

Connect both the iPhone and the external hard drive to the PC and make sure these devices are recognized by the computer. Afterward, launch the photo transfer tool and click "Phone to PC" > "Next."

Step 2. Select the category.

Check "Pictures" among all the supported categories. If you need to, you can also transfer other files from your iPhone to the external hard drive, together with photos. Besides, since the default destination is the desktop, you need to click the storage path to change it to your external hard drive.

Step 3. Start transferring photos from iPhone to hard drive.

Click the "Transfer" button to start importing photos from the iPhone to the external hard drive. When it has done, go to the selected folder on the hard drive to check these items.

2. How to Use Image Capture on Mac to Transfer Photos from iPhone to an External Hard Drive

With the help of Image Capture, photos can be taken and uploaded from digital cameras, iOS devices, and other camera-equipped devices to Mac. For Mac users, you can use the built-in program to transfer your photos to a hard drive. And here, we'll mention the specific steps.

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive and iPhone to your Mac. You can use USB cables to complete the connections and ensure your Mac recognizes your devices.

Step 2. Launch the Image Capture application and then select your iPhone from the Devices list.

Step 3. At the bottom of the program, select your external hard drive as the storage path for your photographs from the Import To bar.

Step 4. Next, select Import All to transfer all the items to your hard drive. Or, if you only need a specific set of photos to move, you can choose them and click Import.

3. How to Back up Photos from iPhone to an External Hard Drive via iCloud

If you don't want to download other transfer software to complete the backup, you can also do so via iCloud. In such a case, iCloud allows the transfer of data more efficiently. 

The three simple steps presented below will help you use this cloud-based storage to transfer photos from your iPhone to an external hard drive.

Step 1. Turn on iCloud Photos on your iPhone: Go to Settings, tap [your name] > iCloud > Photos, and then turn on iCloud Photos.

Step 2. Log into iCloud on your Mac and find your photos to download.

Step 3. After login, click on the Photos icon and switch to Photos Tab. You can select the photos you want to transfer and click the Download button.

Step 4. Choose a storage path: Select the hard drive connected earlier from the left-hand menu in the next window and click on the Save button.

The Bottom Line

We have covered three methods to transfer photos from your iPhone to your external hard drive, including one transfer software, EaseUS MobiMover, cloud-based storage, iCloud, and a built-in Mac program, Image Capture. 

All of these methods are available here for your choice. And if you want to individually download EaseUS MobiMover for the convenience of transfer and management, then click the button below to download it.

FAQs

If you have any questions about data transfer between two devices, you may want to check the commonly asked questions below we selected. We hope it helps.

1. Do external hard drives work with iPhones?

You can use any USB disk with your iPhone, and you need an adapter cable to connect them.

2. How do I transfer pictures and videos from iPhone to computer?

• First, use a USB cable that can transmit files to connect your iPhone to your PC.
• Turn your phone on and unlock it. In the event that the device is locked, the computer cannot locate it.
• Click the Start button on your computer, followed by Photos, to open the Photos program.
• Select Import > From a USB device to transfer pictures.

3. How do I download directly to my external hard drive?

Drag files and data from your computer to the disk pane of your hard drive. Or you can right-click the file or folder you want to transfer to your hard drive and select Copy. Then Paste the items to your hard drive.