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how do I view photos I transfered to external hard drive

I transferred many photos to a Lacie External Hard Drive. I would like to view them in a slide show. It seems the only way I can view them is by clicking each photo individually, which would take forever. Any suggestions. I have contacted Lacie, but no word back.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.12

Posted on May 28, 2020 11:09 AM

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Posted on May 29, 2020 10:25 PM

How many photos? Dozens, hundreds, thousands?

Are they all in one folder, all at the root of the external disk, scattered among many folders, what?

Are you still running macOS 10.12 ("Sierra") on your MBP 13" as noted in your profile?


If they are all in one place (either a folder or the root of the drive) or you can settle for viewing one folder at a time, I can suggest two simple, free ways. They both work in Mojave or Catalina; I think they both worked earlier, but maybe not back in Sierra.


You could use Quick Look. Click on the first photo you want to see, then hit the space bar. That photo should be visible, enlarged to nearly the full screen. Use the up arrow key to advance to the next photo (according to whatever order is chosen for the folder); use the down arrow key to go backward. Use the space bar or escape key to exit.


You could use Preview on blocks of pictures. I wouldn't do as many as a thousand at a time, but a hundred should be OK. Select a hundred photos, right-click (or control-click) on the first one, select to open with Preview (which may be the default), then use up/down to scan through them. Close the window or quit Preview to exit.


If you are looking for something more built for the specific purpose of viewing as a slide show, you may need to find an application in the App Store. The one I use is overkill for that (as it serves many other functions), but there are many shown in a quick search there.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 29, 2020 10:25 PM in response to diane41

How many photos? Dozens, hundreds, thousands?

Are they all in one folder, all at the root of the external disk, scattered among many folders, what?

Are you still running macOS 10.12 ("Sierra") on your MBP 13" as noted in your profile?


If they are all in one place (either a folder or the root of the drive) or you can settle for viewing one folder at a time, I can suggest two simple, free ways. They both work in Mojave or Catalina; I think they both worked earlier, but maybe not back in Sierra.


You could use Quick Look. Click on the first photo you want to see, then hit the space bar. That photo should be visible, enlarged to nearly the full screen. Use the up arrow key to advance to the next photo (according to whatever order is chosen for the folder); use the down arrow key to go backward. Use the space bar or escape key to exit.


You could use Preview on blocks of pictures. I wouldn't do as many as a thousand at a time, but a hundred should be OK. Select a hundred photos, right-click (or control-click) on the first one, select to open with Preview (which may be the default), then use up/down to scan through them. Close the window or quit Preview to exit.


If you are looking for something more built for the specific purpose of viewing as a slide show, you may need to find an application in the App Store. The one I use is overkill for that (as it serves many other functions), but there are many shown in a quick search there.

May 31, 2020 1:28 AM in response to diane41

On the external HD can they still be put into files. If not, ok. Thanks for your response.

When I have a folder of pictures in the Finder and want to see it as a slideshow, I am simply setting this folder as the source of the screensaver in the desktop & Screensaver System preferences and start the screensaver. There are several templates for slideshows in the Desktop & Screensaver preferences.


how do I view photos I transfered to external hard drive

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