Can I keep photos on external hard drive and still use iPhoto?

I have virtually no space left on my eMac's 80GB hard drive. For a long time, I have kept my sizable iTunes library on an external hard drive connected to the eMac. It takes a bit of extra time to open up the iTunes library and to upload music from newly purchased CDs, but generally the external hard drive and eMac perform well together. My question is: Can I do the same with my photos (put them on the external hard drive) and still use iPhoto to access them and edit them? I have checked some of the Apple knowledge base documents, and there seem to be warnings against this. I am currently using iPhoto 6.0.6. I have purchased iPhoto 7.0 (with iLife '08) but haven't put the new software on the computer because there is not enough space. I would like to straighten out this space problem and get the benefits of the new software. (I have backed up quite a few of the photos onto CDs, but I like to have them handy--therefore on the eMac or on a hard drive connected to the eMac.) Thanks ahead to anyone with some good ideas on this topic.

winesmile
Yes it is, but you cannot access the at the same time as iPhoto can only open one library at a time.
So, a solution might be to have the entire library on the external, and to carry the smaller subset on the laptop.
To do this, follow the instructions above to move the library, but instead of deleting the library on the laptop (in the final step), put the pics from the earlier years into the iPhoto trash and empty it. (iPhoto Menu -> Empty Trash. Hint: Don't so them all at one go! Better a few a a time.)
Now you have the full library on the external (and if you want to access the full library, use that) and the 07 & 08 years on your laptop.
To switch between libraries, simply hold down the option (or alt) key when launching.
As you add photos to the Library you can use iPhoto Library Manager to move pics and albums /events between libraries, and so keep them up-to-date with each other.
Please note this is the only way to sync the libraries, there is no app that can do this automatically.
Regards
TD

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