User level: Level 1 (8 points)DATA STORAGE : mixing android data and apple data on same External Hard Drive
Using a new Ext HDD: Can I have photo albums from an android and an apple product such as an iPhone on the same new HD?. How to do this?
Posted on Nov 3, 2026 8:23 AM
User level: Level 4 (1,299 points)Nov 3, 2026 10:50 AM in response to Apple User 101
Do you mean folders of photos on the external drive or albums of photos in a Photos library?
If you mean folders of photos then what kind of computer the external drive connected to will determine the format of the drive.
The Android device and Apple phones both take jpegs and those are compatible with both Windows and Macs.
If it's a Mac the drive should be formatted APFS or OS X Extended (journaled). For a Windows computer it would probably be Ex FAT.
User level: Level 7 (25,466 points)Nov 4, 2026 7:25 AM in response to Apple User 101
In Photos on the Mac, the albums and folders that you see in the Photos app contain only pointers to pictures, not the pictures, themselves. Even the pictures that you see in Photos may not actually exist--they are created from some files and information in the Photos database. Pictures are not files. See this:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250010974
You can Export pictures from a Mac to an external drive by using Photos' File>Export>Export nn Photos. This can provide a nice backup. You can even have these pictures put into folders based on their recording dates. The external drive can be formatted in a Mac format, which may not be usable with Windows, or it can be in ExFAT that can be used by both computers.
You may be able to partition your new drive into separate Windows and Mac volumes.
The best backup of a Photos Library would be made by dragging the Photos Library from the Pictures folder to the Hard Drive. The Library can only be used while on the external drive if it is formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac
But if it is stored on an ExFAT, it can be dragged back to a Mac formatted drive and used from there.
Most of us use Time Machine to backup our Macs to a specially formatted volume on an external drive.
iPhones can't use a Photos Library on an external drive, but it can see pictures, there, with the Files app.. You can export pictures from Photos on an iPhone. You would plug the hard drive into the phone's port, select the pictures, and choose Share>Save to Files, navigating to the appropriate spot on the drive.
User level: Level 10 (242,520 points)Nov 3, 2026 8:46 AM in response to Apple User 101
Hard to say, it will depend on what kind of requirements the Android Photo album has.
An Apple Photos Library file will require the external drive be formatted as HFS+ or APFS. Whether the Android photo library can be stored there would need to be asked on an Android forum.
I suppose there should not be any problem though, don't think Android's photos app uses a specific library format. that requires the drive be formatted in any specific way.
To store the Apple Photos Library file on the external drive, just make sure the Photos app is closed completely and drag and drop the Photos Library file from its folder on the Mac into the external drive in Finder.
click here ➜ https://support.apple.com/en-us/108345
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256388204