Backing up: iphoto library folder = 1 gb, actual library = 24 gb

i desperately need to back up my photos. when i read what apple has to say about backing up my iphoto library, they simply says to, "Copy the iPhoto Library on your hard disk to another disk." The library, it says, is located in your Pictures folder on your computer.
so, why, is the iPhoto Library only registering as 1 GB, when i know i have over 24 GB (15,000 photos) in there?
i know i must be doing something wrong, but if i simply do what apple tells me to do, i am afraid that i only have the data and not the pictures themselves. how do i get it all?
thanks so much.

assuming that your iPhoto library is in the default location in the pictures folder just drag it to the external drive - it should be larger - mine is 36.6 gb in iPhoto (24,799 items) and 45.92 gb on disk in the finder
If you go to the pictures folder to the iPhoto library and right click (control click) and choose "get info" what size does it show?
LN

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Since my last software update, my iphoto 11 will not import any photos from any source. The circle just spins...when I go to force quit, it says iphoto not responding. Backed up iphoto library, uninstalled and reinstalled iphoto. Still not working. Help!

Since my last software update, my iphoto 11 will not import any photos from any source. The circle just spins...when I go to force quit, it says iphoto not responding. Backed up iphoto library, uninstalled and reinstalled iphoto. Still not working. Help!

Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

Using a backed-up iPhoto Library - HELP!!

Hi all. I'm looking for some guidance on how to recover photos that were recovered from a failing hard drive. My wife had a collection of digital photos that were originally imported in to Aperture 2.0. A while later, she started using iPhoto 09 for new photos. Eventually, she imported all of the photos from Aperture into iPhoto 09. Her collection is just over 2,500 photos. Well, last week, her hard drive started to act up and she asked me to back up her pics, and to do it from iPhoto as that's where the total photo collection then resided (Aperture + iPhoto). So I did, and we eventually had her hard drive repaired. After reinstalling iPhoto, I planned to just put the original saved iPhoto library that I backed up for her back into her pictures folder. I did, but now, when we open iPhoto, we are presented with the error message "unable to locate original" and the options are "cancel" or "locate original." So now you see our delimma (the originals went away with the bad hard drive).
Can someone please advise as to how to proceed? All of the photos are there, in the copied library, however, we are unable to use them as they are. Is there a way to convert them so they will work (hopefully without loosing all of their new attributes, e.g. "place", "faces", etc.)
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Regards, bamarich.

What do you mean when you say:
All of the photos are there, in the copied library, however, we are unable to use them as they are.
and
So now you see our delimma (the originals went away with the bad hard drive).
It sounds like iPhoto was running in Referenced mode.* Was it?
If the actual photos “went away with the bad hard drive“ then they are gone.
Regards
TD
*If you're running a Managed library, then it's the default setting, and iPhoto copies files into the iPhoto Library when Importing
If you're running a Referenced Library, then you made a change at iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced and iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing.
Regards
TD

Questions re backing up iPhoto Library

I have a 20” iMac purchased last January and have been using iPhoto a lot since recently acquiring my first digital camera. I am adding extensively to my collection of digital photos and wish to back up my photo images to DVDs in case the originals are accidently lost or corrupted. However, I am running into some seeming weirdness along the way that is making it difficult for me to figure out how best to accomplish this. I would appreciate one of the experts on this forum clarifying this situation for me.
It appears that one way to back up the photos to a DVD is to open up iPhoto, and then click Library/Share/Burn, after which you insert a blank DVD to complete the process. However, I note a discrepancy here. When I click on Library I note that I currently have 653 photos in the Library at a size of 3.4 GB which would easily fit on a DVD. The discrepancy shows up when I open up the iPhoto Library folder in the Pictures folder and find that the size of the iPhoto Library folder is 4.73 GB which would be too big to fit on a DVD. Why does the size of the Library show up as 3.4 GB in the first case and 4.73 GB in the second case? Which value is correct? Should I back up the Library in iPhoto per the Library/Share/Burn indicated above or should I attempt to burn the iPhoto Library folder to a DVD? If the latter, what would be the best way to do this?
A related issue is creation of new photo libraries. I plan to continue to back up my library by burning to DVDs, which means that I would want to create a new library every time the current library reaches a size of about 4 GB. This would assure that each library would fit on a DVD. I encountered another bit of weirdness in my attempt to find out how to create new libraries and to switch between libraries. It appears that in creating a new library or in switching to a different iPhoto library it is first necessary to locate the current iPhoto Library folder and rename it. I can find no explanation for this. My plan would be to retain “iPhoto Library” as the name of the original library with “iPhoto Library - 2”, “iPhoto Library - 3”, etc. as the names of subsequent new libraries. Why would I want to or need to rename these libraries? Weird!
Back to my current iPhoto Library: If the actual size is 4.73 GB it won’t fit on a DVD. It would seem necessary for me to create a new library and then transfer some of the photos in the current library to the new library in order to reduce the size to about 4 GB. I presume that this is possible and would appreciate guidance on how best to accomplish this. I don’t want to chance losing any images in the process!
To date, except for the oddities incurred in working with iPhoto, I have not had much difficulty in making the transition from a Windows computer to the new iMac. I’m now a definite Mac fan! I trust that one or more experienced hands here can steer me in the right direction so that I can continue to enjoy the use of iPhoto, hopefully knowing what I am doing and why.
Bob

Hello, Bob,
Terence is correct. You don't need to rename your library.
I use iPhotoBuddy to manage my libraries; currently I have ten of them. I separated them chronologically by dates and named them appropriately, such as iPhotoLibrary2007.
You can burn DVDs or CDs in two ways:
1. From WITHIN iPhoto Burn from iPhoto This method is good for iPhoto backup when you would like to keep iPhoto's structure. You can just insert the disk when you want to use the photos, and you will have them just as they were in iPhoto.
However, the photos cannot be read by photo print places nor by PCs. You may note that the disk used size is larger because you are getting the full iPhoto--thumbs, originals and modifieds. The disk icon will appear in iPhoto's source pane and can be accessed without having to reimport the photos.
2. From FINDER Burn from Finder This method is good for preserving your photos for use in any computer or photo processing company. You may find that this method will allow more photos per disk because you are only burning the photos that you exported to the desktop folder/file. When you insert this disk and open iPhoto, you will not see the disk in the Source pane and will have to reimport the photos to use them.
Which method you use depends on what your ultimate goal is. If you want to delete the photos from your current library, but have access to them easily,then method 1 would probably suit you better.
If you are looking to archive the photos as a backup and are ok with reimporting them if you need to, then method 2 may be better for you.
Another suggestion for you is to get an external drive (or two) to use for iPhoto. As your photo collection enlarges, you may find that it is too big for your computer's drive to handle. You keep the iPhoto application on the computer's drive, but you can put the library(ies) on the external. It is easy to do; just drag the entire iPhotoLibrary (located in Pictures folder) onto the external. (Be sure the external is Mac-formatted first).
When you open iPhoto and it asks you to create or locate the library, just point it to the external drive.
If you make use of an external for your iPhoto Libraries, remember that unless you copy them onto disks, you have not backed up. That is why you may need a second external, for backup.
I have two external drives for iPhoto, and I make iMovies->DVDs of all our family photos and videos, and I burn DVDs of my photos. I had an external drive fail once. Fortunately, none of my photos were on it, just some papers of my daughters and some documents of mine. Makes me extra-cautious

Error code -36 - when backing up Iphoto library to external

While backing up my iphoto library to my external hard drive - I got this message - "Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in iphoto library.2 could not be read or written. (Error code -36) What to do?

Right click on the iPhoto Library and "Show Package Contents" a folder opens a inside folder called "Originals"
Open that and copy in sections until you find the corrupted file(s), then remove them from iPhoto or replace with good copies.

Can't back up iPhoto library to external hard drive

Just purchased a new ext. hard drive; when I try to back up my iPhoto library (v. 5.0.4) to it I get a message "can't copy one or more of your items". When I click to continue, it simply stops. I had no trouble backing up iTunes and other files. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Lori;
Thanks to you for your support as well. I have tried dragging the iPhoto Library both directly from the Pictures File in Finder, and from a copy of the iPhoto Library folder on my desktop. I get the same non-result in both cases: "One or more items can't be copied. Do you want to skip them and copy the remaining items?" It doesn't specify what items can't be copied, and when I click yes (to continue) nothing gets copied.
As I said earlier, I successfully backed up my entire iTunes folder with room to spare, so I know the external hard drive is operating properly. Any ideas? Thanks again.

Backing up iPhoto library located on external hard drive

I recently moved my iPhoto 09 library to a 500gb WD portable hard drive in order to free up space on my MacBook Pro hard drive. What I would like to know is can I back up this external library to another external hard drive so that I have two copies of all my photos. Would it work if I had an external hard drive connected to my airport extreme?
Thanks

Most Simple Back Up
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex:
Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate

Backing up iPhoto Library from external hard drive through ChronoSync to Time Capsule

I have a 2008, 2GB Mac Mini. I moved my iTunes library, which is mostly movies, to a 4 TB My Book Studio, as it exceeded the space on my Mac. I back up my computer to a 2 TB Time Capsule. I exclude the My Book Studio from being backed up on the Time Capsule as it takes up all the space due to the iTunes library. I am wanting to move my iPhoto library as it is starting to take up to much memory on my Mac also.
My question is, if I move my iPhoto library to the My Book Studio, then get an application such as ChronoSync (or an App that will do incremental back ups & not do a completely new back up each time) to automatically back up my iPhoto library to my Time Capsule, can I set it to specifically bak up the library off the external hard drive, or will it only back up info that is stored on my Mac?
Thanks!

Thanks Terence!!! I received a reply back from Chronosync. I will be purchasing their app......it sounds pretty slick
Here is their reply to the same question I asked here:
ChronoSync Express will back up the contents of whatever volume or folder you target as your source target to the volume or folder you choose as the destination target. As long as you can access the volume or folder via Finder of your Mac, ChronoSync Express can access it as well. You can create a sync document that targets your iPhoto library and nothing else on the My Book Studio and backs it up to the Time Capsule then schedule it to run automatically.

Want to "move back" my iPhoto library +photos

Hi,
I am new to this forum and after reading a lot of pages I canot find any answer to my question !!
I changed my HD on my MBP (I have now a 320Go) and wanted to "get back" from an external HD, my iPhoto library and my files with originals photos wich have not been "imported" into iPhoto : menu "prefs/advanced/Import/copy in the iPhoto library is not checked".
I hope my explanations are OK !!
thanks
Jacques

James
Welcome to the Apple user to user assistance forums
my iPhoto library and my files with originals photos wich have not been "imported" into iPhoto : menu "prefs/advanced/Import/copy in the iPhoto library is not checked".
You are running a referenced library - which is not recommended for a number of reasons including it makes things like new hard drives and computers more difficult
One way to accomplish your desired move is to use alias herder - http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/downloads/aliasherder/ - to convert your library to a managed library - then you can simply quit iPhoto and drag the library where ever you want it and launch iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) key and point to it
Since the key to a referenced library is that the path to the photos does not change it may be possible to move the referenced library to your internal drive leaving the original photos where they are - I've not seen this but it seems that it might work - easy to give a try - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library to the pictures folder on the internal drive and launch iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) key - if it works you have a partial solution - if it does not simply launch iPhoto with the option key and point back to the library that still exists on the EHD and delete the one you just moved to the internal drive
And note that you have imported your photos into iPhoto - you simply have not copied the originals to the iphoto library - the importing process is much more than just copying the photo - it involved updating all of the iPhoto database pointers
LN
Message was edited by: LarryHN

Backing Up iPhoto Library

I have decided that it's time to back up my computer somewhere other than my house. Principally, I am concerned that I have a redundent backup of my family photos. I am looking at a service called Mozy. My question is this: if I want to backup the photos I have imported into iPhoto library, is there a single file I can serve to the remote server or do I have to export all of my albums to separate folders and then upload those to the remote server? Thanks in advance.

One caveat is this: If you have for some reason imported photos to your iPhoto library without copying files to the iPhoto library.
When I first switched that seemed like a non-distinction. I didn't want duplicates so I imported photos from an external HDD to the library *+without copying+* them to the library. With this setting the iPhoto file referenced in this thread will only contain links to the actual photos on the external HDD and backing it up will not actually back up the photo files.
It's a long shot but I thought maybe worth mentioning.

How to back up iPhoto Library to an external source?

I am using OS X Mavericks with iPhoto v9.5.1. This morning iPhoto tells me my photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable. Stupidly I have not backed it up. I am reluctant to try making a repair for fear of losing my photos. So, how can I back it up to an external source (iCloud/external drive), before attempting a repair, when I can't seem to find a folder marked iPhoto Library on hard drive because I can't get past the message which seems only to permit 'Quit'. Thank you.

Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

Backing up iPhoto library to SOS Online storage

The backup is suggesting I compress and zip my Iphoto library and back that file up. I see that is an option, but I am not sure what to do next. I think move the file to the desktop and then move it back to the photos folder afterward? Do I have to unzip the folder?

Nope
The rule is that the iPhoto library must always be on a volume formated Mac OS extended (journaled) - zipping it may or may not allow it to be stored on an incorrectly formatted volume
I would not do it
If you do your first action should be to do a test restore and see if it works\
I assume you are zipping a copy of the iPhoto library - you can not use a zipped library with iPhoto
I use local hard drives for backup - I am not aware of anyone successfully using an online backup - but someday there will be a first time
LN

What's the best way to back-up iPhoto library prior to update?

Am seeing this message when I try to open iPhoto, post-software update of last month.
I've been told I need to back up my iPhoto library prior to this update, but not sure what's the best way to do that.
I don't need to back up my whole system. Is there a way to choose just to back-up iPhoto when running Time Machine? Or, where can I access the folder that contains all my iPhoto images and just copy that to my external drive?
Ayy suggestions would be appreciative! THANKS!

Most Simple Back Up
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex:
Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate

Backing up iPhoto Library with DropBox

I moved my iPhoto library to DropBox in order to have a complete online backup of iPhoto (in addition to my local Time Machine backup and my SuperDuper bootable backup). The backup took a while since I have a large iPhoto library (20,000 photos, about 80 GB). What happened was that the size of the iPhoto library doubled on DropBox to 160 GB. There are a number of reasons for this (I found it too late), primarily because DropBox doesn't handle the symlinks well and creates duplicate copies of the photos in Folders called Originals, Modified, and Masters. Also my computer slowed down when I added a lot of photos to iPhoto, as it was syncing literally a couple of thousand files for every 100 pictures I added.
It seems like what I could do as an alternative to backing up the entire library is to just back up the Masters Folder to DropBox. However, I can't move the Masters Folder out of iPhoto to DropBox without breaking the iPhoto Library structure. I think I could use a symlink from the Masters Folder to DropBox, but I am not exactly sure how to do this (or whether this would work). I could also do some kind of automator script to copy the Masters folder to DropBox, but this doens't seem very efficient. I have scoured the web forums on this issue, but just don't see a good solution. It seems like a pretty fundamental issue to people with a lot of photos in iPhoto.

And the answer is that so far no one has found a good solution to cloud backup for the iPhoto library that I have seen here - If you want only the photos you could copy the masters folder to DropBox and then use image capture to get your photos off your camera adding each batch to DB and then importing to iPhoto
I go at it differently - two daily backups (Time Machine hourly and Carbon Copy Cloner making a bootable clone of my system daily) plus an occasional TM backup to an off site drive (at our vacation home) and rotating through three 32 GB SD cards so I have a year or more of the original photos on SD cards at all times
TD uses SmugMug to backup his photos along with a similar but more disciplined off site backup
LN

Backing up iPhoto Library to multiple DVDs

I'm pretty sure that iPhoto does not have built-in backup capability like iTunes, but is there an easy way to do this with another application? I do own a copy of Toast 8 Titanium which I believe will allow me to span a large file across multiple DVDs but I haven't tried it yet. Incremental backup capability would be nice too, but just having a safe copy of my entire photo library would be good enough. Any suggestions or recommendations?

Other apps that will do incremental backups of the entire library is LaCie's free SilverKeeper and Synk Standard. Another backup that should be performed frequently is in the tip at the end of my signature.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Backing up: iphoto library folder = 1 gb, actual library = 24 gb

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