[4 Top Ways] How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive

• Can I Transfer iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive?
• How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive on Mac
• How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive on Windows PC
  Bonus Tip: Download / Transfer All iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive
• How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive on Mac & PC [2 Methods]
  Method 1: via iCloud.com
  Method 2: Apply MultCloud
• Bonus Tip: Backup iCloud Photos to Google Photos via MultCloud
• Conclusion

Can I Transfer iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive?

iCloud Photos is used to manage photos and videos that you keep in iCloud. All of your photos and videos will be put into different units as Years, Months, Days, and All Photos according to their dates. You can browse every photo and video on any device equipped with iCloud Photos. Besides, if you make some changes to the photos or videos on one of your devices, the changes can be reflected in those content on other devices, either.

As you can see, iCloud definitely can bring many conveniences to our daily life. But why there are many people want to know how to move iCloud Photos to external hard drive? The post will give 3 probable reasons below.

Now you know why some users transfer photos from iCloud Photos to the external HDD. The answer to the question in the title is yes and the remaining parts will give you 4 easy ways to move iCloud Photos to an external hard drive.

How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive on Mac

If you are a Mac user, you can try this method without entering the iCloud website.

Step 1: Open Photos on your Mac and select the photos that you want to move. Before following the steps, you have to make sure that iCloud Photos is open on all devices.

Step 2: Click “File” in the upper-left menu bar and choose “Export”.

Step 3: Look through the export settings to see if there is anything you’d like to change and click “Export”.

Step 4: Select your hard drive as the export destination and the photos will be exported to the external hard drive.

How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive on Windows PC

This method is especially serving for Windows users and you have to download iCloud for Windows at the beginning.

Step 1: Download iCloud for Windows in Microsoft Store and log in to your iCloud account.

Step 2: Tick the box next to Photos and open Options in the same line.

Step 3: Choose “iCloud Photos Library” and “Download new photos and videos to my PC”. Then click “Done” and “Apply”.

Step 4: Turn to File Explorer and find iCloud Photos. Then open the Downloads folder and copy the selected photos. Finally, paste the photos to the external hard drive.

Bonus Tip: Download / Transfer All iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive

You may come up with a question "How do I download more than 1000 photos from iCloud" since iCloud only allows users to download 1000 photos at once. This time you can request a copy of your Apple ID data. Follow these steps: 

Step 1: Enter privacy. apple. com and log in to your account.

Step 2: Click "Continue" in the Apple ID & Privacy interface and select "Get Started" under "Get a copy of your data".

Step 3: Tick the box behind iCloud Photos and click the "Continue" button at the bottom of this page.

Step 4: Choose the maximum photo size you want to download and tap "Complete request".

Step 5: Transfer these downloaded photos to your hard drive by copying and pasting.

How to Move iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive on Mac & PC [2 Methods]

This section will give you 2 wonderful ways which can be used for both Mac and Windows PC.

Way 1: via iCloud.com

This method doesn’t need you to download the app. iOS, macOS, and Windows users can use this method.

Step 1: Enter iCloud.com and log in to your account.

Step 2: Open Photos in the interface and select the photos that you want to move.

Step 3: Click the icon of download in the upper-right menu bar, then the photos are moved to your hard drive if you set the download destination as your HDD. If you don’t set it, you have to drag the photos from the local position and drop them into the external hard drive.

Method 2: Apply MultCloud

MultCloud is a professional cloud-management service and it allows you to download the files from your cloud as long as you add this cloud drive to it.

The specific steps of how to download iCloud Photos to external hard drive are shown below.

Step 1: Enter MultCloud and click the button “Sign up Free” to create a new MultCloud account.

Step 2: Click “Add Cloud” in the left sidebar and the iCloud Photos icon in the right part. Then, you should log in to your iCloud Photos account. Here you would enter the verification code to go through two-factor authentication.

Step 3: Open iCloud Photos and select the photos you are willing to move. Then click “Download” in the upper taskbar. Your photos will be moved to the external hard drive if you change the download destination to your HDD before on MultCloud.

Bonus Tip: Backup iCloud Photos to Google Photos via MultCloud

If you want to know how to move photos from iCloud to external hard drive just for the security reason, you can also backup iCloud photos to Google Photos or another cloud instead. In this regard, you can use MultCloud, too. MultCloud also supports cloud-to-cloud backup and you can restore photos back if you accidentally delete them on iCloud Photos.

Step 1: Add Google Drive to MultCloud with the same operations as adding iCloud Photos. 

Step 2: Click "Cloud Backup" in the left sidebar and choose iCloud Photos and Google Photos in the from/to boxes. Finally, tap on the "Backup Now" button to initiate the process.

Conclusion

This post introduces 4 easy solutions on how to move iCloud Photos to external hard drive for you. Whether you want to transfer photos on your Mac or Windows PC, you can find a specific way here. Or, you can use the 2 more compatible ways which can be used on Mac and PC. 

Additionally, MultCloud can do more things besides downloading and backing up. Transferring and syncing photos from one cloud to another cloud can be also easily realized on it. If you are interested in syncing iCloud Photos to Google Photos, just try it now!