Transfer/back-up photos from iPhoto to External Hard Drive

I have an External Hard Drive to which I wish to transfer/back-up my photos (from iPhoto). My External Hard Drive though has documents and photos that are in Microsoft Word. Please help me with the step by step process of transferring/backing-up photos to my ExHD. Can I still keep my MSWord files, or do I need to clear up the whole ExHD? My main concern, is really to free the memory of my MBPro because I have so many photos already. Thanks

Copy your entire iPhoto Library as a unit from the Pictures folder in your Home folder onto the external drive — just drag the iPhoto Library onto the external drive's icon or into its open main window. Do NOT try to copy your photos any other way than this.
After the copy is finished (it may take a while if your library is large), open iPhoto while holding down the Option key, and select the library on the external drive for iphoto to open. If it opens normally and everything seems to be in order, you can delete the iPhoto Library file from your internal drive. Don't forget to empty the trash afterward.
REMEMBER THIS: Now that your iphoto Library exists only on the external drive, it is not backed up! Back it up on a second external hard drive, or sooner or later you will lose it to a hard drive failure. The one sure thing about hard drives, like all other mechanical devices, is that eventually every hard drive will fail. Don't wait for it to happen and then think about the backups you should have been making all along!

Similar Messages

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    Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
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    3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
    4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
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  • Tranferring photos from iphoto to external hard drive

    Hi there, I'm a bit of a luddite, and am trying to back up all my photos on an external hard drive. I've dragged the library over, but none of the individual photos appear when you click on the folders (the ones I've created and named).
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    First off - and this is really important - what version of iPhoto are you using?
    iPhoto Menu -> About iPhoto.
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    TD

  • Hard time copying photos from iphoto to external hard drive

    Sorry this is so long, and perhaps unclear, but I would like to copy my photos from my iphoto library onto an external hard drive. The problem is that every time I try and copy the whole library, it finds a picture that crashes the whole effort. I then tried exporting Event by Event to the hard drive, and that worked for a while, but then after about 10 of them it stopped working: about 50 photos into each Event it tells me that it cannot create the volume on the hard drive. Do you think it's a problem with the hard drive?
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    mdg516
    Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
    The problem is that every time I try and copy the whole library, it finds a picture that crashes the whole effort.
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  • How to export photos from iPhoto to external hard drive keeping Events structure (files and titles)

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    OT

  • Can I keep my photos from iphoto on external hard drive?

    Before I got iphoto I used to keep all my photos on an external hard drive, is there any way I can still do that rather than keep on imac hard drive

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  • How to transfer some photos from iPhoto to external hard drive

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    Select your photos and then "Export" from the File menu.

  • How to transfer photos from iPhoto to external hard drive?, How to transfer photos from iPhoto to external hard drive?

    Hello folks
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    just move your iPhoto library to the extrnal drive being sure it is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) -
    Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
    And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
    And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
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  • Backup photos from iPhoto to external hard drive for use by PC

    Hi,
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  • How can I move photos from iphoto to external hard drive?

    My internal is full and I'm getting those messages to clean up the drive.  I've determined that my photos need to leave!  Can I move photos from my Air to the hard drive external and still view them?
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    Make sure the external drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) and is connected with a wired connection, quit iPhoto, drag the iPhoto library to the EHD intact as a single entity and launch iPhoto while depressing to option key. Use the resulting select library window to select the new location. Be sure the EHD is available prior to launching iPhoto
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  • Why cant i drag photos from iphoto to external hard drive

    W

    Make sure the external drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) and is connected with a wired connection, quit iPhoto, drag the iPhoto library to the EHD intact as a single entity and launch iPhoto while depressing to option key. Use the resulting select library window to select the new location. Be sure the EHD is available prior to launching iPhoto
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  • I moved all my photos and videos from iPhoto to external hard drive and now can't play any videos. Please help!!!

    I moved all my photos and videos from iPhoto to external hard drive, then totaly formated my macbook and now trying to play videos of external hard drive, but they wont play and they in "quicktime containers" and really small in size (50 - 150 Kb). Please Help!!! My misuse will kill me if find out that we have no more videos from our honeymoon...

    I moved all my photos and videos from iPhoto to external hard drive, then totaly formated my macbook and now trying to play videos of external hard drive, but they wont play and they in "quicktime containers" and really small in size (50 - 150 Kb). Please Help!!! My misuse will kill me if find out that we have no more videos from our honeymoon...
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  • How do I transfer photos from mac to external hard drive please

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