[antgiant]

iOS 26 fixes this with an option to only show photos not in an album.

Additionally, if you are backing up photos to a hard drive you will be much better off using an app like PhotoSync. It has a one time payment and transfers direct to whatever you want with far less errors and more control than Apple’s terrible buggy disaster that is transferring photos by wire.

[radicality]

It’s actually already available in iOS 18! On the main Photos page, click the little filtering icon and select something like “Not in any album”