How to Transfer Photos from iCloud to External Hard Drive Easily & Quickly

For most of the iOS users, iCloud is the very choice they choose to backup iPhone data, especially photos. As long as you enable the iCloud Photo Library and connect your iDevice to Wi-Fi, you can easily save all your photos to iCloud for preservation.

Also, iCloud Photo Library allows you to view files once the iCloud account logged in, like transferring photos from iCloud to an external hard drive for further use. Then how can you do that? Hence in this article, we will introduce how to easily move photos from iCloud to external hard drive on Windows PC and Mac. Check below and get iCloud photos to compuetr/hard drive quickly.

Further Reading: iPhone Photos Not Showing Up on PC/Mac Computer >

Download All iCloud Photos to Hard Drive with AnyTrans (PC/Mac)

If you want to select all photos on iCloud to transfer, then AnyTrans can help. As a professional iOS data management tool, it can help you easily manage your photos on iPhone/iPad/iPod, also notes, music, videos, contacts, etc. Besides, the iCloud Manager on AnyTrans enables you to download iCloud files selectively or wholly. You can check its features below:

To transfer iCloud photos to an external hard drive selectively:

Step 1. Download AnyTrans on your computer and connect your external hard drive to the computer > Click iCloud Manager > Sign in your Apple ID > Click Photos.

Step 2. Choose photos you want to transfer (you can Select All from the top-left corner) > Click the Download button.

Select all photos on iCloud to transfer:

Go to the homepage of iCloud Manager > Click Content to PC > Select export path and check Photos category > Click Next to start transferring.

[Video] Download All iCloud Photos to External Hard Drive 2023

How to Download iCloud Photos with iCloud.com

As iCloud offers storage for users to save content, it also enables users to download it back. This method will introduce the way to export iCloud photos to the computer from the website, please follow the step-by-step guide below to see how to do it.

Step 1. Get Photos from iCloud to Computer

1. Go to iCloud.com on your computer, log in with your Apple ID.
2. You will see the interface below when you log in > Choose Photos to start to manage your iCloud Photos.
3. Find the photos you want to save to the external hard drive, click the download button on the upper right corner (You can choose to only download original photos or edited photos included).

Step 2. Drag & Drop Photos Stored in Computer to Hard Drive

When the downloading process is finished, the photos you choose are successfully exported to your computer. Then connect your external hard drive to the computer via a USB cable, copy and paste the downloaded photos to it.

Transfer Photos from Photos App to External Hard Drive on Mac

1. Connect your hard drive with Mac and create a new folder in it.
2. Open the Photos app on your Mac.
3. Select the photos you want to transfer and choose Export from the File menu (also, here you can choose to only download original photos or edited photos included).

Also Read: How to Fix Photos not Showing Up in iPhoto >

The Bottom Line

In this way, you can easily save iCloud photos to your external hard drive both on PC and Mac. Moreover, AnyTrans can help you download photos from iCloud to an external hard drive with ease,  other kinds of iOS data like contacts, notes, ringtones, etc also supported. Besides, you can upload data to iCloud, merge two iCloud accounts, etc. Download AnyTrans to start a pleasant iCloud management tour.