How to Transfer Files from iCloud to External Hard Drive on PC

Are you looking to Transfer Files from iCloud to External Hard Drive? It's a good idea to make a backup. Please read our article in detail to learn the easy methods with which you can do so.

EaseUS Todo PCTrans

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Page Contents
 

Page Table of Contents

Workable Solutions When to Use

1. Transfer Files from iCloud to External Hard Drive

iCloud gets full, save private data to a local drive, access iCloud files on a local PC
2. Download Photos from iCloud to External Hard Drive

iCloud gets full, free up iCloud photo space, backup personal photos to local disk

3. Transfer Files to Another Drive Free up disk space, save all valuable data to one drive, better manage and store files on PC

Can I copy files from iCloud to an external hard drive? Yes, sure. This page will walk you through transferring images from iCloud to an external hard drive today. The former 2 methods are provided by Apple. To the end, we also suggest EaseUS Todo PCTrans at the bottom of this page to assist you in transferring bulk Files from iCloud to External Hard drives.

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Follow to grab all the details here and start your journey now.

Transfer Files from iCloud to an External Hard Drive

Are you seeking a way to swiftly move all of your data from iCloud to the hard disk on your local computer? When they receive a new Mac with sufficient storage space, many want to retrieve their iCloud data, including their iCloud documents and desktop folders. This is an excellent idea in and of itself. Here's how you can go about doing that, and you should note that the steps vary on Mac and Windows.

#1. Copy files from iCloud Drive to Mac with External Disk

Step 1. Click "iCloud Drive" in Finder, log in with your iCloud account and password.

log in icloud

Click the iCloud Drive button to access it, pick the Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folders to access them, and then select the items you want to download.

Note: You can only download individual files, not whole directories; thus, you must enter each folder individually to pick files to download.

Step 2. Select and right-click the files you want to copy to Mac and select the "Copy" section.

synchronize your device

Step 3. Then, open the external hard drive connected to your Mac and paste your copied files to the device.

#2. Copy Files from iCloud to an External Drive on Windows

Step 1. Connect an external hard drive to your PC, and open iCloud.com in your browser.

Step 2. Sign in to iCloud with your account and password.

Step 3. Open iCloud Drive, find and select files you want to copy.

Step 4. Click "Download" to add your files to the computer.

Step 5. Copy and save all files from the Downloads folder to your external disk.

Or, if you prefer to bulk transfer files, you can take reliable file transfer software - EaseUS Todo PCTrans, as recommended at the end of this page, for help.

  Free Download

Support Windows 11/10/8/7

Continue reading, and you can learn more solutions to transfer photos from iCloud to the external hard drive. If you think this guide is useful, don't forget to share it with others in need.

 

Download Photos from iCloud to External Hard Drive

In the same way that iCloud gives consumers space to keep stuff, it also allows them to download that content again. Please follow the step-by-step tutorial below to learn how to download photos and image files from iCloud to your computer using this approach. 

Step 1. On Mac or PC, go to iCloud.com.

Step 2. Sign in with your account and password, and click "Photos".

Step 3. Choose the photos you want to download and click "Download".

download photos

Step 4. When the download is complete, using a USB connection to attach your external hard drive to the computer, copy and paste the photographs you downloaded onto the external Drive.

Warning
You may simultaneously choose the photographs stored on iCloud by pressing the Control key and A key. After that, you can download up to one thousand images from iCloud. However, iCloud.com does not allow the transfer of more than 1,000 photographs with a single click.

If you've downloaded thousands of files from iCloud, you can use the next method to execute bulk file transfer with EaseUS file transfer software.

Transfer (Downloaded) iCloud Files to An External Drive in Bulk

If you think it's way too complex or slow to manually copy files one by one from your computer to an external hard drive, you can take EaseUS Todo PCTrans with its Move Large Files feature for help. The software allows you to move thousands of files from one computer to an external or internal drive in bulk.

  Free Download

Support Windows 11/10/8/7

With only a click, your photographs, music, and movies will all go to the target drive at one time. Here is how to transfer your iCloud-downloaded files to an external device at one time:

Step 1. Create a backup file of the source hard drive

Launch EaseUS Todo PCTrans on your Windows computer. Navigate to the "Backup & Restore" mode and click "Start".

backup-restore-interface.png

Hover your mouse over "Data Backup", and click "Next". Later, confirm the default settings of the file name and file path, or you can customize the settings on your own.

choose create image file to create a hard drive image

Now select the items you want to transfer to the other hard drive. EaseUS Todo PCTrans allows users to create backup files of multiple file types, including applications, personal data, and user accounts. To transfer files from one drive to another, deselect the "Applications" and "Accounts", hover your mouse over "Files", and click "Edit".

choose files to create a hard drive image

This is where you need to select files on the source drive. Expand the drive so you can selectively choose desired files, after then click "Finish". In the end, click "Backup". Wait for the process completes. 

edit files to create a hard drive image

Step 2. Restore the file to the destination drive

Launch EaseUS Todo PCTrans and follow the same way to reach the step of selecting a transfer method. This time choose "Data Restore" and click "Next".

choose recover via image file to restore the image file to other drive

Choose the existing backup file presenting on the interface, or navigate to the exact file path where the backup file is, click "Restore".

click recover to restore the image file to other drive

You're back to the "Files", click "Edit" to get in. The backup file is viewable here. You need to click the pencil icon to set the target location, which is the other hard drive, and submit the change. After the basic settings, click "Finish" and finally "Restore". Wait patiently until the transfer process is over. 

recover image file to restore the image file to other drive

If you need to update your computer and switch everything to a new device, EaseUS Todo PCTrans is the one you need, as it offers features for PC-to-PC file transfer, migrating installed programs, switching your PC settings and accounts to a new PC without requiring any skills.

Also, don't forget to share this page online to help more people there switch their iCloud data to a local device likewise:

 

Conclusion

In the process of sharing and moving files to iCloud drive, some people may also come up with the insufficient storage space issue in their iCloud drives. To fix this issue, you can have two options, one is to update the iCloud drive with more storage capacity, and the other one is to copy and transfer iCloud files to an external drive for saving more storage space.

Here on this page, we introduced you how to free up iCloud space with the latter option - by copying and transferring files from iCloud to a local external disk on both Mac and PC. During the process, you can download or sync files, photos, videos, etc., to a computer and then transfer them to your target drive.

However, if your files are too many, grabbing a bulk file transfer tool is exactly smart and wise for you. EaseUS Todo PCTrans is the very tool that you can trust and take a try.

  Free Download

Support Windows 11/10/8/7

About the Author

Updated by Tracy King

Tracy became a member of the EaseUS content team in 2013. Being a technical writer for over 10 years, she is enthusiastic about sharing tips to assist readers in resolving complex issues in disk management, file transfer, PC & Mac performance optimization, etc., like an expert.

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How to Transfer Files from iCloud to External Hard Drive on PC

Try smart Windows 11 data transfer tool to move all data in 1 click.

EaseUS Todo PCTrans

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Support Windows 11/10/8/7