Automatically Transfer Files From Mac Folder To External Hard Drive (SSD)

In this video we show you how to automatically transfer your Mac files from a folder on your mac to an external Hard drive (or external SSD). In this example we use Automator, a program built into MacOS, to automatically transfer files from any folder to another folder or external hard drive (SSD). This technique also works to automatically transfer files of one type (like image files) to various folders for file organization on a Mac.
If you like learning new things built into MacOS you will like this video. Not only will you learn a new technique for moving files on a Mac but you will get an introduction to Automator in MacOS and some techniques to using Automator for specific tasks like this one. So if you can't transfer files from your Mac to an SSD automatically - watch this video.
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[@PeeGeeTips]

This is exactly what I was looking for instead of external software to do the same when shooting photos tethered to a laptop while simultaneously backing up to an external drive. Thanks for this!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback on this. Yes, this is just another way to transfer files from a folder on a Mac to an external SSD or somewhere else on the Mac.

[@6StringPassion.]

Great intro into the world of Automator. From a practical standpoint, Time Machine, although not as portable, provides a more storage-efficient, elegant and flexible way to do this.

[@craigneidel]

Yes but you can use this to move files from downloads to other folders so it's more the intro and principles

[@6StringPassion.]

@@craigneidelVery useful. Thanks.

[@craigneidel]

Weclome.

[@MohammadSalah1979]

Good for Backup the Data 🥰Thanks Craig

[@craigneidel]

It's one way you can do it. Thanks for watching.

[@MohammadSalah1979]

But how to transfer information to a specific file inside this folder because the process I presented copies the file to the local hard disk@@craigneidel

[@craigneidel]

I just provided you with an intro but go in there and fool around to test thing out. There are a ton of functions on the left side to create the programs with and you night find the correct function there.

[@tincans87]

Helpful video Craig, I will certainly put it to use on my Mac. Thank you sir.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching the channel.

[@Giovani90]

Double blessings to you for updating the video!! you rock Craig 🙏

[@craigneidel]

Thank you.

[@fourex59]

Thanks for the quick and helpful tutorial. If I wanted to stop or delete the saved actions, where do I go to stop that? My first experience with automator, that's the only thing I would add to your tutorial. I appreciate the response.

[@craigneidel]

@@fourex59 you can turn it off in automator

[@johnbowden3537]

This is good as far as it goes, but it doesn't go very far. No-one should be copying files to the root folder on an external drive, it pays to be more organized. It would be more helpful for Automator to watch all nested file folders in a Mac folder, and then copy to the equivalent folder on the external drive. For example, I have all my photos stored by year, one folder for each year, all inside a top level folder called PHOTOS on the Mac. Every time I add a photo to any year folder, Automator should copy it to the equivalent folder on the external drive. From your video, I don't see a way to do that without setting up an Automator routine for each year folder on the Mac.

[@craigneidel]

This video is just to show people how to do it not really to do it the 100% correct way. It's more of a teach a person to fish thing.

[@asan1050]

Informative! Thanks Craig!

[@craigneidel]

Glad it was helpful!

[@poeda6637]

Thanks very much!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching the channel.

[@cheapjoker3321]

Good information. What if you delete something from the folder you are inputting items in, will it delete the items in the back up folder?

[@craigneidel]

It should not do that since you only programmed to copy it. It would not know how to do that unless you programmed it in.

[@adamnelson9661]

Love this video! Please do more helpful little tutorials!! THANK YOU

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching. I do these from time to time so keep an eye out.

[@digitalmarketinghumans]

Oh this is cool. Never knew. Thanks, Craig!

[@craigneidel]

Yes, you can do a ton with Automator. Basically automate anything on the Mac.

[@kernzilla]

will automator detect SD cards and streamline offloading in a similar way you have here?

[@craigneidel]

I actually have not tried it with SD cards so just give it a quick try.

[@Ztheone]

What is the difference between this video and the previous one you posted several years ago?

[@craigneidel]

Just updated info is all.

[@hamzariazuddin424]

Brilliant Video. I was wondering is this possible with a single file. So example i have file name 123 and everytime i save it, in the main folder, i want it to automatically make a copy and send it to another folder. The 2 files are always needed. Basically i want 1 (main one) on my mac and another in my cloud storage. so need 2 locations. any help would be much appreciated.

[@craigneidel]

I would need to research that a bit more but I recommend just trying it and and playing with the variables and you may be able to do it. I'm just swamped a bit now with all the Black Friday stuff so don't have time at this moment to research. Thanks for watching.

[@leicayu442]

@@craigneidel Hi Craig, was hoping you could help me troubleshoot when the file does NOT show up in the SSD. I rewatched the video a few times and made sure I followed exactly your steps but still no luck :( Thanks!

[@craigneidel]

You can imagine I can't really troubleshoot individual items. I respond to all my comments and that is over a hundred per day but if I got into troubleshooting I would not be able to do anything. I wanted to show people what is possible in the video but I can't really help program individual requests. I hope that makes sense.

[@GrinnUltra]

thanks, that's awesome tutorial 👍👍

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the follow up.

[@EastMontana1]

Fantastic Craig.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@craigneidel]

Thank you for the feedback.

[@yo_itsjw]

Can you set it to automatically copy a folder from one external hard drive and paste it into another external hard drive...and schedule it to do this weekly? I'm trying to find an easy way to get my videos for the week backed up from my work hard drive to my backup drive every friday...

[@craigneidel]

I would need to review that but I'm sure that can be done. I would just go in and start looking at all the pre-built in functions that you can choose from and see if you can program it. Maybe setup a testing folder etc. before you do anything with any real data. My video was more to get people started but there are a ton of things that you can do with this.

[@yo_itsjw]

I ended up messing with it and got it to work. Did a "get specified finder items" and a "copy finder items" and then i set a calendar event to open that action on a day and time...@@craigneidel

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the follow up.

[@cuonguyen]

Does it automatically delete from SSD when I delete from folder?

[@craigneidel]

@@cuonguyen it would not

[@craigneidel]

@@cuonguyen but test it with sample file

[@quyana]

I programmed it to copy my downloads folder, because ultimately, I want to keep my downloads folder and desktop clean and work off the external hd. The issue I'm having is when I download something new and it automatically copies over, it also copies the other things in that folder back onto the external drive. (I checked the replace box, but I also had put some files into folders and folders into folders to clean it up, and those are the files and folders that a coming back.) Do you have a suggestion on how to amend the workflow so that I'm not getting duplicates?

[@craigneidel]

I wasn't seeing that after I checked the replace box (if I can remember), but if I get some time to recheck I'll let you know. I'm doing a bit of traveling but I would see if you can find any other think build into automator that could work. It might come down to trial and error as that is what I do sometimes.

[@quyana]

@@craigneidel understood. thanks for the reply. if you do get a chance that's be dope, i'll be trial and error-ing in the meantime lol cheers

[@craigneidel]

Ok, thanks.

[@EngagedEvolution]

I followed the instructions created and saved the program yeah it didn't transfer to the T7 SSD. I tried it several times. Any ideas why? and what i can do?

[@craigneidel]

I'm not sure as it should work and I did this on multiple external drives. Are you sure the drive is formatted for MacOS?

[@andreabolldorf675]

Same here - it only does its job when I hit run Automator. And the SSD is recognized from Mac and iPad. No idea and I do not want to poke around and mess up something else.

[@carlosc1512]

why does apple make it so difficult? I can't figure out how to do it even after watching video...

[@craigneidel]

It's only a few steps. Watch it again and I'm sure your get it quickly.

[@emzeperiksz8138]

toooooo complicated

[@craigneidel]

It literally takes 30 seconds to do.