Copying Photos library to a new MacBook

SR2111 wrote:

copy library to new macbook

If you only want to copy the Photos Library, you can do it many different ways:

• copy it to an external drive, then connect that drive to the new Mac. Use of Apple disk format on the external drive is recommended for this.
• connect from one Mac to the other on a network, and log in and copy from one Mac to the other
• use iCloud Photos ... make this Photos Library your System Library and use iCloud Photos with both Macs, the old and the new, this will synchronize the Library on both Macs
• I recommend NOT using third party cloud storage (like Dropbox) to synchronize the libraries because at least in the past, some of them did not properly preserve the Photos Library structures

If you want to MIGRATE your entire account then leroy has provided good instructions and links.

SR2111 wrote:

copy library to new macbook

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: copy photos library

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.7

the most current version of Big Sur 11.7.10

?

The most trouble free way to move to a new machine, is using the Setup Assistant on the initial boot of a brand new machine— you have one shot here. Set up your MacBook Pro - Apple Support

The second best way is use the Migration Assistant.

How to move your content to a NEW Mac: Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support

you do not paint a very big picture— have you used Photos.app in the past or you are trying to access an old iPhoto.app Library...

see if there is anything meaningful here—iPhoto library cannot be opened in macOS … - Apple Community

SR2111 wrote:

I had all of my photos in iCloud. When I used migration assistant to transfer to the new MacBook it only copied part of my library to the new MacBook. I finally figured it out. I created a new photo library on the new MacBook and made it the system library. I set iCloud photos to sync to the MacBook and it successfully downloaded all of my photos.

Good computing SR2111 ! Appreciate your updated feedback here.

Downloading from iCloud, as you did, is the best way to transfer the library, if you have been using iCloud Photo. However, there may be missing items, where you still need the library from the old Mac.

• Your projects are not synced with iCloud. If you have created slideshow projects or third-party book projects, they cannot be restored from iCloud and are only available in the library on your old Mac.
• Not al named faces will be synced with iCloud Photos; some faces you have marked manually may be missing.

Compare the library on the old Mac to the the one on the new Mac, so you can fix any missing items.