Multiple iPhoto libraries on my ext hard drive back up
Hi I have a problem with multiple iPhoto libraries on my ext hard drive back up They are different sizes and large 120gb Is there any way I can rationalise the libraries without the risk of losing data? My iPhoto library on the Mac appears to be complete but with >200gb of photos I cannot be sure.
I upgraded to Lion OS and suffered multiple crashes necessitating a complete rebuild of the system - reformat the main hard drive and install Lion OS from a disk In an effort to be absolutely sure I didn't lose data I have been overenthusiastic in transferring photos to the backup disk dragging and dropping files that contained images as well as a full transfer of "mymac" before reformating. Time machine backup was not realistic as this was the one operation which caused most of the "hangs" System now appears to be working well with Lion OS but I have masses of duplicate jpeg files in multiple folders and libraries - I am considering purchasing Duplicate Annihilator to deal with the duplicates then perhaps I should try to merge the libraries with iPhoto manager?
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Problem: My wife and I both have MacBook Pros (MBPs). We take a lot of pictures and import them into iPhoto. When the storage capacity of our MBPs gets full, I have been moving our iPhoto libraries into external hard drives, which are now multiple (3 or 4). The problem I now realize we have been making, is that once the iPhoto libraries were copied onto the external hard drives, we were only deleting about half of the photos in each iPhoto library remaining in our MBPs (because we wanted to keep some of the important ones in our hard drives). Once the storage capacities of our MBPs got full again, I would repeat the whole process again and again. In essence I now have several large iPhoto libraries (each about 80 GB), each with multiple duplicate photos, divided among several external hard drives. And I am running out of space on my hard drive again. So what is the best way to:
a) merge all of these iPhoto libraries into just one, while simultaneously being able to delete all the duplicates? (or would you not recommend this?)
b) prevent this from happening again?
Thanks. BTW I am using OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 and iPhoto 8.1.2 (2009)If you have Aperture 3.3 or later and iPhoto 9.3 or later you can merge libraries with Aperture.
Otherwise the only way to merge Libraries is with the paid ($30) version of iPhoto Library Manager
The Library Manager app can be set avoid duplicates. -
I have two iPhoto libraries: one on the hard drive, and one on an external hard drive. I cannot access the iPhoto library on the external hard drive. Yes, it is plugged in!
How are you trying to access the EHD library? Can you open it by launching iPhoto with the Option key held down and selecting the EHD library in the window that appears?
OT -
i moved my itunes and iphoto libraries to an external hard drive to free up space on my mac.
after i had moved them and checked they could be found i trashed the originals and checked again that the could be found on the external hdd.
all seemed to be ok.
when i checked the disc utility it did not show i has made any more free space than i had before.
any help please as i am loving tje mac but i am still quite new to it.Did you empty Trash?
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How can I back up multiple itunes libraries to an external hard drive?
How can I back up multiple itunes libraries to an external hard drive? I have tried dragging them across but they all open up as the primary library.
See this -> https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2682
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Can I store my iPhoto Libraries on an external Hard Drive?
Hello All:
I am using iPhoto v5 along with an eMac700 with a tiny hard drive. It appears I cannot import/store all my iPhoto images and projects onto an external hard drive. Or can I?
Does anyone know if v6 allows this?
My plan is to place the IPhoto libraries onto a LaCie Ethernet Drive that could be shared on a small network (along with iTunes)
Any help would be appreciated, Right now, when done with a cook, I save it as a PDF file and then export it to an external Drive, but to print extra books, I still have to reload all the individual photos as the PDF file doesn't work for book printing through Apple.
MikeHi mlk,
Here are all the ways to backup your library.
Backing up your iPhoto Library
1. Burn the iPhoto Library folder in the Finder to a CD or DVD
This method will give you a burned iPhoto Library folder that can be copied back to your computer to replace a damaged library. You can also use this method to backup an old library when you want to create a new Library to use as your current library.
insert a blank CD into your internal or external CD-RW drive and copy the iPhoto library to the CD icon on your desktop. When you drag the CD icon to the Trash/Eject button in the Dock, you are given the option to burn the CD. Click Burn and the CD is created. To burn a DVD backup of your digital images, use a DVD and a SuperDrive-equipped Mac
The easiest way to burn an iPhoto Library folder in the Finder that is larger than 4.7 gig to fit on one DVD is to burn sections of the folder.
Drag the iPhoto Library folder to the desktop
Double click the folder to open it.
Drag each Year folder to the desktop.
You should be left with the iPhoto Library folder containing all the data files, and the Year folders.
Combine whatever year folders that amount closest to a DVD burn size on one DVD. Make sure that you have burned all the Year folders, then the iPhoto Library folder with all the data files.
If you ever need to use this backup, insert the DVDs into your computer and copy the folders to the desktop. Put all the Year folders back into the iPhoto Library folder. Then put the iPhoto Library folder back into the Pictures folder.
You can also check out applications for disc spanning:
Disc-spanning software
DropDMG
Toast
Dragon Burn 4
BackityMac
Retrospect Express-comes with some external drives
Retrospect for Macintosh Desktop Edition
2. Copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library to an external drive formated for a Mac. Do not use this as your only back up as the external can also go bad.
3. Copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library to your iPod in disk mode
4.Creating your own CDs and DVDs for viewing in iPhoto
This method is a great way to back up Albums of older photos or even your entire library if it is small enough to fit on a DVD. This method will give you a library that will mount within iPhoto in the source column to be viewed. To import any images from this library they need to be dragged into your library in the source column.
If you just want to backup the images in your library:
1) Within iPhoto select the images, albums or rolls you want to backup. Go to Share>Export and export them to a newly created folder on the desktop. Follow the directions in the next link.
Creating a CD or DVD to be viewed in Windows or by a photo processing company
1.. If you backed up the entire iPhoto Library by burning within iPhoto or burning the folder in the Finder, make sure the burned copy is a good working copy before you delete the iPhoto Library folder in the Finder. You delete the iPhoto Library in the finder by dragging it to the trash when iPhoto is closed. When you next launch iPhoto it will create a new empty library for you to start anew.
2. If you burned just the images, be aware that that is all you are archiving. No metadata will travel with the images such as comments, keywords, etc.
You can then delete those images within iPhoto by highlighting them and hitting the delete key, then empty iPhoto's trash. Do this often and in groups so iPhoto will not choke on too many images. -
How to transfer iPhoto libraries to an external hard drive.
I would like to transfer my iPhoto library from my iMac (2004) and my MacBook (2008) to an external hard drive (WD EX2, formatted for Mac). I will be purchasing a new MBP soon and handing down the older Mac's. I would like to be able to keep all of the photo/video information intact and maybe one day amalgamate them.
First things first though, any suggestions on the best way to transfer the files from each computer to the EHD?
Thanks in advanceI installed iPhoto Library Upgrader on both machines
Yes, I chose the transfered library by pressing "Choose Library".
You only need the iPhoto Library upgrader, if you want to open the library in the current version, iPhoto '11. If your current version is iPhoto '09, as you are saying, you do not need it. But for a new Mac with iPhoto '11 you will need to upgrade any iPhoto'07 libraries.
. I opened iPhoto and "switched to" the imported library. It opens but there are no files in it. I know the original file that was transfered is 50G.
Your screenshot is showing an empty, new iPhoto library. And that iPhoto Library simply cannot be an iPhoto '09 library. Just look at the icons in the library source list. These gray icons have been introduced with iPhoto '11, version 9.3 or later. We need to get the version numbers straight. When iPhoto is running on your MacBook, is the Dock icon blue/cyan or sunset-coloured? What version number are you seeing in the About panel "iPhoto > About iPhoto"?
If you are really runnin iPhoto '11, try to open your transferred library by selecting it directly and double clicking it.
Do you by any chance have two iPhoto versions on your MacBook?
I hope, LarryHN is still following this thread and can help, with getting the versions sorted . I have only the most recent iPhoto '11, version 9.5.1 available for testing. -
How do I transfer all my iPhoto contents from my external hard drive back to my MacBookPro iPhoto?
My MacBook Pro recently had to have it's software cleared completely by a genius at the apple store. I purchased an external hard drive to save all of my documents and photos safely on so I would not lose them. I now am having difficulty reloading all of my iPhoto contents back onto my laptop from my external hard drive. Has anyone else experienced this? Will my iPhoto library go back to it's original appearance with all of the special albums I had made and the way in which I organized my photos and videos? How do I find what folders my photos were saved on my external hard drive to drag back onto my laptops iPhoto library?
iPhoto stores it's pictures in the Pictures/iPhoto Library, so if you have this backed up on a external drive, then it's a simple matter of replacing the new iPhoto Library (free of anything) with the copy of the older one on the external drive and running iPhoto.
If you have some items in the new iPhoto Library you can export them to the Desktop until the old one is replaced and then reimport them. Also another mehtod is to right click on the iPhoto Library and "Show Package Contents" inside is a folder called "Originals" which contain your files.
If you replaced the files and iPhoto doesn't open up, then reset it.
iPhoto rebuild database: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2638
You might want to consider not having your movies in iPhoto, it's not designed to handle too much, in fact 10,000 pictures of mine seem to overload it.
You can keep seperate iPhoto Libraries, use the option key held at launching of iPhoto to select another iPhoto Library. -
Combining multiple iPhoto libraries into 1.
I have 4 different iPhoto libraries on my external hard drive that I collected in the last 5 years. I'm tired of switching libraries each time I need to see a different time period. What is the easiest and best way to organize everything in one place? I hear that Apeture is good for this. IS there a video tutorial that covers this process?
The best way woud indeed be Aperture: Here is a knowlege base article by Apple explaining the procedure:
Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries
Aperture 3.3: Using a unified photo library with iPhoto and Aperture
But since Aperture is not exactly cheap, you might prefer not to invest into Aperture, unless you are considering to switch to a more advanced image management software anyway. Then that would be a very good investment. Aperture has more advanced image editing options than iPhoto and better organisational tools. It works well with very large photo libraries. You'll find some tutorials, the manual, and other help on the Aperture Support Page: Aperture Support
Another option would be the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager, but that would not be able to maintain all metadata.
Regards
Léonie -
I have to transfer all of my events in iPhoto to an external hard drive. When I export an event from iPhoto to the hard drive, it copies each picture but does not keep them in a named event folder. I have over 14,000 pics in 600+ events to transfer and want to avoid doing it one event at a time. Any suggestions?
Thanks!IPhoto can't do anything with any photo that hasn't been imported into its library. Its default behavior when you import a picture is to duplicate the picture in the iPhoto Library "package" file inside ~/Pictures. This leaves the original picture wherever it was, and it can be deleted, as it is now just taking up space. Everything you do with the picture within iPhoto from now on is recorded and saved inside the iPhoto Library "package".
When iPhoto is used in that default mode, you have what is called a "managed Library". The alternative is a "referenced Library". Photos in a referenced Library can be stored anywhere that is accessible to your computer: anywhere on your internal drive or on any number of external drives, flash drives, network drives, etc., etc. IPhoto will keep track of all those original files, and whatever organization, alterations or metadata you create for them in iPhoto will be recorded in iPhoto's Library without altering the originals in their various storage locations. BUT--and this is a BIG but--if you THEN move, rename, modify, delete or reorganize any of those originals in the Finder or using other photo editing tools, iPhoto will lose track of them, and whatever you've done with them from within iPhoto will be lost. Backing up a referenced library that is stored on more than one drive is a nightmare, and restoring one from a backup is even worse. So I strongly recommend sticking wit a managed library if you intend to use iPhoto at all.
A managed library can be stored anywhere. The default location for it is in ~/Pictures on your startup drive, but you can have one there and another on an external drive if you like, or you can just have one on the external drive and none on the startup disk -- as long as the external drive is always available when you open iPhoto. If you open the application and the external drive can't be found, iPhoto will create a new iPhoto Library in the default location and will assume that's the one you want to use, until you tell it differently.
To direct iPhoto to use a particular library, hold down the Option key while clicking iPhoto in the Dock to open it. You'll be prompted to locate and select whatever library you want iPhoto to open, wherever it may reside.
I have nine iPhoto Libraries on my internal hard drive containing over 100,000 pictures in all. Each library contains pictures that have nothing to do with the pictures in any of the other libraries. I never want to be able to see the pictures in more than one of the libraries at once -- if I did, I wouldn't have separated them. Any of the libraries could be moved to another drive if I needed more space on this one, but so far I've got enough space to store them all together. That makes backing up simpler. -
Long title. Sorry. It pretty much explains the situation. I'd like to have all of my photos from two (ultimately three) computers on this central file and be able to access them from any of the computers. The error message I get when I start up my MBPro is: "You can’t open your current photo library using this version of iPhoto" and, "You have made changes to your photo library using a newer version of iPhoto. Please quit and use the latest version of iPhoto." It then forces me to quit iPhoto. I have tried the suggestion of holding down the opt key on iPhoto startup, but it doesn't seem to help.
Two questions:
Can I store multiple iPhoto libraries on the same central disc?
If so, how should I address the error message?
Thank you!Hey Kappy, thank you for your help! Yes, I can open both libraries on the iMac without problem. I am still confused why the computer that created one of the libraries cannot open said library after it was moved to the external disk. Why is the iPhoto format not readable by all versions across the board?? The reason I'm pushing the issue is because in my household, we have an older MB, my wife's MBP, my MBP and now a new "family" iMac. The MB (circa 2007) has an old version of iPhoto, the two MBP's have iPhoto '08 and the new iMac has '11. It is my goal to have all of the photos that we've accrued over the years, located centrally, and accessible from all of these computers. Is iPhoto the most appropriate program, or would Lightroom make more sense?
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Moving iPhoto library to Ext Hard Drive please help
Hi, I am moving from a Imac to Mac Book air. I copied the pictures folder on Imac to the External Hard drive. Plugged EHD into mac book air. Opened Iphoto and held down option key and then selected the libary on the EHD. Lots of activity on ext hard drive, but my pictures are not showing up in Iphoto. Any help would be really appreciated. Some priceless family photos I need to get access to. My Imac is no longer working, so I am going to be using the MacBOok air as my primary
I copied the pictures folder on Imac to the External Hard drive. Plugged EHD into mac book air. Opened Iphoto and held down option key and then selected the libary on the EHD. Lots of activity on ext hard drive, but my pictures are not showing up in Iphoto.
What are you seeing, when you are opening the iPhoto library in the copied Pictures folder? An empty iPhoto window? Error messages?
Is your external drive formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled)?
Do you have the same versions of iPhoto on your iMac and new MBA? What are the versions?
Regards
Léonie -
Photos in my from my iPhone have the same numbering as photos from my digital camera. They all go into iPhoto fine but when I backup to my ext hard drive it will only save one with the name IMG 1002 and I have two separate images both with that name. How do I get them all to save on my ext hard drive and hope do I prevent this numbering overlap in the future? I'm really hoping I don't have to go through and manually rename every single picture. Thanks.
How are you backing up the photos? The best way is to backup the library itself as that will preserve your organizational efforts as well as all metadata like keywords, titles, faces, places, books, etc.
You can use a backup application that does incremental backups. Thus only the first backup is a full one and subsequent backups just copy those files that are new or changed. I use Synk Pro. The lower cost version, Synk, will do the same job. Other similar apps can be found at MacUpdate.com.
OR: upload your camera to a folder on the Desktop. There you can rename the files to something that is more informative than just the file name. I use the date (international format) along with a brief desc: 2007-1-20-adian1stbday-001.jpg. File renaming apps can also be found at MacUpdate.com. Also you can give the folder an informatve name which will become the Event name when you import the folder of photos into iPhoto.
OT -
Can Iphoto be used with the photos already stored on my current ext hard drive?
I have stored thousands of photos on my passport external hard drive over the years.
Recently I bought an Imac and I like the idea of using iPhoto as the program, however I would like to keep all my photos on my external hard drive. These current photos have been organised in folders already.
How can I start using iPhoto so that it sees my current photos on this ext hard drive? (I've already reformatted my passport to OS/X journaled)
Any specific help would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Henkfirst off - I'm not sure where you got the idea that a referenced library is recommended - it is not - in fact it is very strongly NOT recommended - re-resd the link I gave you - expecially
At face value, and especially for new users and folks who are migrating from Windows or Linux systems the second, Referenced mode seems more attractive.
It's not. It really should be avoided, especially by those to whom it's most attractive - the inexperienced user.
And you really are not understanding how iphoto works
iPhoto is not a photo viewer - it is a SQLite Database program and can only work with photos imported into its database - see iPhoto and File Management for more information
I'm guessing you are looking inside the iPhoto library - you never ever go into the contents of the iPhoto library
iPhoto totally replaces the finder (a file manager rather than a photo manager ) for the photos you import - if you want to manage and access files then you can not use iPhoto - you need a different photos system
You can also read How to Access Files in iPhoto for mor info
LN -
How do you copy your iphoto library to ext. hard drive?
I am sorry to ask this lame question, but: How do you copy your iPhoto library to an external hard drive, just to back it up? I'm confused, because of three things: a) I can't seem to find, in iPhoto pref's, where you select what the "path" is to the library; b) in the iPhoto library folder on my computer (which is NOT on my boot drive, but a different internal drive..) the newest "year" folder in there says 2005, yet we have imported many newly-taken photos for the last 3 years, AND c) in the user>Pictures folder there is a "file" called iPhoto Library, but I can't quite figure out exactly what that is, what it does, etc.
So, I apologize, but if someone can help me figure what I would like to think should be a very simple backup, I would be grateful. Thank you very much.I am sorry to ask this lame question, but: How do you copy your iPhoto library to an external hard drive, just to back it up?
Drag it to the external drive
a) I can't seem to find, in iPhoto pref's, where you select what the "path" is to the library;
There not one - you change the path by launching iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) key and using the select library option to repoint to a different libary - however you would not do this to a backup library - it would just be a copy
b) in the iPhoto library folder on my computer (which is NOT on my boot drive, but a different internal drive..) the newest "year" folder in there says 2005, yet we have imported many newly-taken photos for the last 3 years,
This is probably an unused older library - a backup for a previous version
c) in the user>Pictures folder there is a "file" called iPhoto Library, but I can't quite figure out exactly what that is,
That probably is your iPhoto library and it is probably not a file but a Unix style "package"
Launch iPhoto and in events view select a photo and right click (control click) on it and select the show file option to see the path to the currently active library - I find the column view the easiest to see the path
LN
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