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Free Image Format ConversionDo you know how to back up Google Photos to an external hard drive? Now that Google is no longer offering unlimited free storage, you may want to download Google Photos to an external hard drive. Have you ever wondered how to backup thousands of photos? Today, we'll show you three methods to download all your pictures and videos from Google Photos to your computer and free up your account space.
There are several reasons to back up Google Photos to an external hard drive: 1. **Data Security**: A hard drive backup provides an extra layer of protection against hacking, loss, or accidental deletion of your Google account. It ensures you always have a copy of your photos on hand. 2. **Offline Access**: With a local backup, you can view and access your photos at any time without an internet connection. 3. **Storage Constraints**: While Google Photos offers substantial cloud storage, it is not unlimited. Backing up to a hard drive can help save cloud space when your storage limit is reached. 4. **Privacy Concerns**: Some individuals may prefer keeping personal photos on their own devices for increased privacy. 5. **Editing and Organizing**: Having photos backed up on a hard drive allows for local bulk editing, organizing, or project creation without relying on an internet connection. 6. **Device Synchronization**: Backing up to a hard drive makes it easy to sync and share photos between multiple devices. 7. **Long-term Preservation**: Over time, cloud services might change or cease operation. Backing up to a hard drive ensures your memories are preserved even if the service becomes unavailable. 8. **Cost Efficiency**: For large amounts of data, purchasing an external hard drive might be more cost-effective than upgrading cloud storage plans. Hence, backing up Google Photos to a hard drive is a wise choice that adds an extra layer of security and convenient access to your cherished memories.
There can be several reasons why you might want to back up Google Photos to an external hard drive. Perhaps you want to keep your photos in two locations, just in case you lose access to your Google account credentials and lose your pictures. Another reason is that Google no longer offers unlimited storage. Also, your pictures can get lost when your computer gets hit by a computer virus or malware attack.
So it might be time to back up your Google Photos to an external hard drive. The trouble is, downloading them one by one would be a painful and time-consuming process. How, then, do you download all of the photos you've uploaded to Google Photos? Don't worry – it's possible, and it's not too difficult. Here's how to download all of your Google Photos. It just takes a few simple steps.
If you're looking to learn how to back up Google Drive to an external hard drive, this article will serve as your comprehensive guide.
How to Move Photos from Google Photos to an External Hard Drive
Transferring photos from Google Photos to a hard drive is a straightforward process that ensures you can access these cherished memories even when offline. Here are two methods to accomplish this task:
1. **Download Photos Using a Computer:**
a. **Open Google Photos:** Visit in your web browser and log in to your Google account.
b. **Select the Photos to Download:** On the left menu, click "Library" to view all your photos. You can filter by date, album, or label. To choose multiple photos, hold down `Ctrl` (Windows) or `Command` (Mac) while clicking each photo. To select a contiguous sequence, click the first photo, then hold down `Shift` and click the last one.
c. **Download the Photos:** Click the three dots in the top-right corner and choose the "Download" option. This will create a ZIP file containing the selected photos on your computer.
d. **Extract the Files:** After downloading, find the ZIP file, right-click it, and select "Extract All" to unzip the photos.
e. **Move Photos to the Hard Drive:** Open the extracted folder, select all the photos, and drag them to the desired location on your external hard drive.
2. **Export Photos with Google Takeout:**
a. **Access Google Takeout:** Go to and sign in to your Google account.
b. **Choose Google Photos:** Scroll down the left list and check "Google Photos."
c. **Set Export Options:** You can choose to merge all photos into one file or create separate files for each album. You can also select the export quality and format for the photos.
d. **Select Delivery Method:** Choose to have the download link sent to your email address or save it to your Google Drive.
e. **Request the Export:** Click "Create Export." Google will process your request, which may take some time, especially if you have many photos.
f. **Download and Save:** Once you receive the email, click the link to download the ZIP file. Extract the contents, then move the photos to the appropriate location on your external hard drive.
By following these steps, you'll securely store your Google Photos on your hard drive. Remember to back up these photos regularly to guard against data loss.
To prevent you from losing your photos and videos stored in your Account Registry, we'll show you how to download everything to your computer or hard drive for safekeeping, and free up space in your account.
Methods
Method 1: Using Google Takeout
Google Takeout is a service that lets you download and export your Google account data, storing it all in one place. This allows you to create a backup of everything stored in your Google account, such as photos, documents, videos, and more. Here's how:
Step 1: Go to takeout.google.com and sign in to your account.
Step 2: Click “Clear All”.
Step 3: Scroll down and select “Google Photos” from the list.
Step 4: Scroll down, then tap Next.
Step 5: You can now select the file types, frequency, and destination for your downloads. It's recommended that you use the defaults, or customize as needed. I chose the default option to "Send download link via email," since I want to back up my data to a hard drive.
<Step 6> Click “Create Export” and wait a few minutes for the processing to complete. This may take a few minutes.
Step 7. Download your Google Photos and save them to your hard drive.
Method 2: Manually transfer photos from Google Photos to an external hard drive
If the above method is not available or you prefer a manual process, follow these steps to move your photos from Google Photos to an external hard drive:
1. **Sign in to Google Photos**: Visit and log in with your Google account.
2. **Select the photos to download**: In Google Photos, locate the photos and videos you want to save to your hard drive. You can find them by date, album, or by searching keywords.
3. **Create a download album list**: If you want to download multiple items, create a new album containing all the selected photos. Click the "Create" button, name the new album, and drag the desired photos into it.
4. **Download the photos**:
- For individual photos or small batches, click each one and then click the download icon (an arrow pointing down) in the top right corner.
- For an entire album, open the album page, scroll to the bottom, click the "More" button, and select "Download album."
5. **Connect the external hard drive**: Plug your external hard drive into your computer's USB port.
6. **Save downloaded photos**: On your computer, find the downloaded photos folder (usually located in the "Downloads" folder), then copy or move it to the desired location on your external hard drive.
7. **Check and organize the photos**: Ensure all photos have transferred successfully and organize them as needed on the hard drive.
8. ** Safely eject the external hard drive**: After the transfer is complete, safely disconnect the external hard drive from your computer to prevent data loss.
Keep in mind that manual downloading can be time-consuming, especially for users with a large number of photos. Additionally, make sure your external hard drive has enough storage space for all the photos.
It's a straightforward process. You can manually download all your Google Photos and save them to a hard drive. Here's how to download and transfer all your Google Photos:
Step one: Open Google Photos and select all of your photos.
Step 2. Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner.
Step 3: Click Download. Wait a few minutes, and the selected photos will be saved to your computer's “Downloads” folder as a ZIP file. You can then unzip the file and back up all of the downloaded photos on an external hard drive.
Method 3: Sync Google Photos with Your Hard Drive
This method uses the Google Drive desktop app to automatically download all of your Google Photos to your hard drive. Before you begin, download the Google Drive desktop app and log in with your Google account. Once you've downloaded the app and logged into your account, follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Tap “Add Folder,” check “Backup to Google Photos,” and then tap “Done.”
Step 2: Choose the folder with the photos you want to back up, and click Save.
Step 3. Go to Settings > Upload Size tab, and select “Upload size.” From now on, your hard drive will sync directly with Google Drive.
A better bet: back up your photos with a photo-uploading service.
As we know, Google does not offer us unlimited free storage; each Google account comes with only 15 GB of free storage. And this 15 GB of free Google storage is not specific to Google Photos alone; it's shared across all services. In other words, it's spread between Google Drive, Gmail, Google Photos, and so on. Besides, your WhatsApp backups are also stored on Google Drive. Hence, if you keep all your data within your Google account, you might run out of your free quota pretty quickly. Running out of storage can be problematic.
But don't worry, we'll introduce you to an incredible photo backup software – Todo Backup, with which you can back up your photos and keep those unforgettable moments safe.
Here are the detailed steps to back up your photos:
Step 1. To begin the backup process, click the Select what to back up button.
Step 2. Identify four categories of data to back up: files, disks, operating systems, and e-mail.
Step 3: A list of local and network files appears on the left side of the screen. Expand the directories and select the files you want to back up.
Step 4: Choose where you want to store your backup, following the instructions onscreen.
Make sure your backups are encrypted, and set up a backup schedule by clicking on the Options within Backup Options. You can also choose to start a backup at a specific time by clicking on Options within Backup Schedule. There are many other customizable options for you to explore.
Step 5: You can store the backup file on your computer, on the tool's cloud service, or on a network-attached storage (NAS) device.
Step Six: Todo Backup allows customers to store backup copies of their files on third-party cloud drives or on the company's own cloud storage.
If you want to back up to a third-party cloud service, choose “Local Disk,” then scroll down and add a “Cloud Device.” Enter your account information when prompted.
Click “Cloud,” register, and log in with your tool account to store backup files in the tool's cloud storage service.
Step 7. Click Backup Now to start the backup process. When it's done, the backup appears as a card on the left side of the screen. Right-click it for more options to delve deeper into your backup job.
Last Words
In this article, we've discussed how to backup Google Photos to an external hard drive, emphasizing the importance of our photos, the backup process and methods, and how to safely keep them backed up across different locations, devices, and clouds. Hence, tools like Todo Backup enable us to protect our precious and unforgettable moments and access them from anywhere. Additionally, it allows you to repair Windows 10 installation and backup SSD to an image. Now, the choice of which method to backup your Google Photos is entirely up to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Where are my Google Photos stored?
When you upload or sync your photos to your Google account, all the pictures are stored at photos.google.com, whether you manually uploaded them or initiated Backup and Sync from devices like Android, Apple, or Windows. However, when you download Google Photos for a hard drive backup, it's up to you where you save the downloaded images. You can keep the downloaded pictures in any location on your computer/laptop or hard drive that you prefer.
What's wrong with Google Photos?
Google Photos is a fantastic app for storing and managing your pictures. But we found two things missing:
- The first is that Google doesn't allow unlimited photo or data backups. It only gives you 15GB of free storage, which can get used up quickly if you have a lot of photos, videos, and other data to store with Google.
The second downside is that the photo editing options are limited and basic.
What happens if I delete a photo from Google Photos?
When you delete photos from Google Photos, they remain in the Trash for 60 days. So, if you want to recover deleted photos, you can do so within 60 days after deletion. However, once this period exceeds, your photos will be permanently removed from the Trash and cannot be restored.
Why is my Google Drive full even after I delete everything?
If your Google storage is still full after removing all data, check your trash folders. When you delete data, photos, videos, and other files from your Google account, they aren't permanently deleted right away. They're kept in the trash for 30 to 60 days. You need to empty the trash manually to free up space. You'll find separate trash folders for different Google apps or services, such as Google Photos or Google Drive.