We have a MacBook Pro, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones. All are basically at their storage capacity. Currently, all of the photos on our iPads and iPhones are replicated on the Mac’s Photos Library. I’m in the process of moving all of my photos off of the Mac and onto an external wired SSD drive.
I want to copy all the photos on the Mac/iPads/iPhones to the mpwp, so that they can be viewed, edited or deleted from any of the 5 devices. All future photos and video footage would be directly downloaded onto the mpwp via cameras’ SD cards. They would remain on the mpwp for viewing from any of the 5 devices, and would be edited with final copies being made to the Mac’s external SSD drive. All photos would be removed from the iPhones and iPads because presumably as long as they are within wifi range of the mpwp, they would be viewable. This would solve my storage capacity issues on our mobile devices.
I can’t copy the existing Photos Library over to the mpwp because it’s incompatible with exfat file format on the mpwp. I assume I could reformat the mpwp, but I’m worried about losing some of the mpwp functionality especially Plex. I also would prefer not losing accessibility from a PC particularly to the Plex server. Is this a legitimate concern?
I am not wed to the Mac Photos Library and would be open to alternatives. Are there any?
Thanks, but I tried there first and I’m getting pretty frustrated. I was simply referred to all their knowledge base literature, which I have already read.
I’m not a computer technician, but I’m not computer illiterate either. I do expect in this day and age some intuitiveness to software design. From my perspective, there is no flow, no logic, and no clear direction on how to get the best out of this product on a Mac. I’ve been on it on and off for a week. Many times it takes multiple connect attempts just to simply get into it. I’ve made negligible progress.
Simple questions posed to support were not answered such as, if I reformat the drive do I lose some functionality. For example, Plex, one of the reasons I bought this. Wireless connectivity to my mobile devices. etc. I was referred to how to format a drive, which I already know, but they did not explain why I should bother changing it from exfat and the impact that would have.
Is there preferred alternatives to using the Apple’s proprietary Photos Library. Is that Plex? Not answered by tech support. If not, how does Plex access the Mac Photos Library?
Before doing anything(format or reformat) you should contact their support (WD). they will take care of it because at the end data is important for everyone; so call their support.
