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How to back up iPhone and iPad photos to an external drive on a Mac

Published 27 September 2026 · by the team behind MySimpleBackup

An external drive is one of the simplest, cheapest ways to keep your iPhone and iPad photos safe, without filling your Mac or paying for cloud storage. Here’s how to set up a backup you can keep up to date.

The easy way: back up albums to the drive with MySimpleBackup

MySimpleBackup copies your iPhone or iPad into any folder you choose, including one on your external drive:

  1. Connect the drive and your iPhone or iPad, and open MySimpleBackup.
  2. Choose a folder on the drive as your backup folder.
  3. Tick the albums you want and click Backup Selected.

Each album becomes a folder on the drive, with the original files and the right dates. Next time, plug the drive back in and back up again: only new photos are copied, so it takes moments. Nothing is ever deleted from your phone or the drive. It’s free for your first 100 photos, then £10 / $10 once. Works with iPhone and iPad on iOS / iPadOS 18 and 26, on Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 14 or later.

Another way: move your Photos library to the drive

If you manage your photos in the Photos app, you can keep the whole library on the drive: quit Photos, drag the Photos Library from your Pictures folder to the drive, then hold Option while opening Photos and choose the library on the drive. Your photos stay inside the library rather than in folders, and the drive needs to be connected whenever you use Photos.

Choosing a drive

Keep a second copy

For photos you can’t replace, keep two copies in different places: for example, your Mac and an external drive, or two drives with one kept at a relative’s house. Because MySimpleBackup only adds new photos, keeping a second drive up to date is quick.

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