Support Article
Can a Hive library live on a NAS or external drive?
Answer
An external APFS SSD, yes, with Pro. A NAS or SMB share is not recommended on iPhone and iPad, and exFAT drives are too slow for a library. For more than one device, iCloud Drive is the recommended location. Google Drive and OneDrive paths are not supported directly.
Details
What works
On-device storage and iCloud Drive on every plan, and an external SSD formatted as APFS with Pro.
Why not exFAT
exFAT is too slow for library-scale loading on iPhone and iPad, even for small libraries. The usual speed order is: local or downloaded iCloud, then APFS SSD, then SMB, then exFAT.
Google Drive and OneDrive
Not directly. iOS sandbox rules limit library paths to iCloud-compatible locations for now.
Questions
What is the best setup for a large library?
iCloud Drive with Keep Downloaded turned on, or an APFS external SSD with Pro.
Can I reformat an exFAT drive to APFS?
Yes, in Disk Utility on a Mac. Reformatting erases the drive, so copy the files off first.
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