The external drive problem
Photos live across several disks, and only one is plugged in at a time. Searching means a lot of plugging, ejecting and scrolling.
Solution
Find photos on an external hard drive
You keep years of shoots on external drives because they do not fit on the Mac. Finding one photo usually means plugging each disk in and scrolling. PhotoCore indexes the drive once, then finds any shot on it later and tells you which disk holds each match.
Index onceSearch unpluggedMany drives, one searchOn device
How it works
From plug and scroll to type and find
Index the drive once
Plug the disk in, point PhotoCore at it, and let it read each image into a small vector and a thumbnail. After that, you can search the drive by description from your Mac, and the originals stay on the disk.
- Keeps your Mac SSD free
- Search the disk later, unplugged
- Each result shows its drive
Why it helps
Made for archives that live on disks
Index the drive once
Connect the disk and let PhotoCore read it. It stores a small preview and a vector per image, so the SSD on your Mac stays free.
Search later, plug in only when needed
Find the shot with the drive unplugged, then reconnect only the disk that holds it.
One search across many drives
Index every archive disk and search them together. Each result shows the drive it belongs to.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does PhotoCore copy my photos off the drive?
No. It reads each image to build a small local index and thumbnail. Originals stay on the drive.
How much space does the index use?
Very little. PhotoCore stores compact vectors and small previews, so you can index hundreds of thousands of photos without filling your SSD.
Can I search several external drives at once?
Yes. Index each one, and a single search covers them all. Results show which drive holds each match.
What if I move or rename the drive?
Reconnect it and PhotoCore points you to the current file. The index keeps the path for each match.
Get started free
Find any shot on any drive
Download PhotoCore free, index up to 200 photos, and search your external drives by description. Full access is a one-time purchase.