How can I backup an Apple Photos Library to Dropbox?

Question

I use a Mac air and currently my photos library (about 400 GB so far) is stored on 2 external hard drives (which are duplicates of each other). I want to store one copy of my apple photos library on line as a unit (as my third back up). Does anyone know if I can copy an Apple Photos Library directly into DropBox Back up (I don't want to use it to access my photos - just as a pure 3rd back up).  Also what is the largest file size that one can back up to Dropbox back up? Many thanks

Jay · Answer

Hi @caikj001, provided that this copy of your photos library isn't the live version, then it should be a folder filled with files, which is relatively easy to backup using the external drive backup.

The photos library should be a package file (similar to a zip) so while it looks like a single file, it's actually a folder with many files in it, so it would show up like that on the Dropbox site.

caikj001 · Answer

thanks Hannah. thank you so much for your reply. Yes i have seen the back up feature of external hard drives and this is what i'm thinking about using but I wasn't sure if my apple library would be ok being backed up this way as its quite big (currently 400gb)  and and I wondered if there were any problems using dropbox back up to do this?

Hannah · Answer

Hi there @caikj001, thanks for posting to our Community!

I wouldn't suggest copying anything into your computer backup, but have you taken a look into our feature that allows you to back up external drives?

If your photos are in external drives already, you can just back those up, by following the steps in this article.

And as long as you have enough Dropbox space, you can back up files of any size.

Let me know if you have any questions.