Copying iPhoto Library to new Mac

My entire iPhoto library with over 4000 pictures and 30 albums is on my iMac G5. I would like to know what is the best way to "mirror" my iPhoto library to my MacBook without having to manually create each album and drag the pictures into it (which would take forever!). I have an external hard drive I can use.
Any suggestions?

If you want to mirror it up to the time you make the copy: Just copy the entire iPhoto library folder to your new Mac and point iPhoto to it there (option-launch and navigate to the iPhoto library folder)
Since that was too easy, I'm assuming you want to have both Macs to use the same set of images - i.e. when you add photos to one Mac, they should show up on the other's iPhoto as well?
You'd have to use something like iSync but I'm usually afraid to trust the application's view of what is "newer". Things could get messy.
Your album data is stored on the Library6.iPhoto file, so as long as you keep your Originals, Modified, and Data folders in sync, you should be able to copy the latest Library6.iPhoto file to both iPhoto Library folders.
Still, this method is fraught with peril so do it at your own risk.
You could share your entire library on each Mac and then use one Mac to look for new albums on the other one, and drag the entire album to the current Mac. A little less painful but not sure what you lose accessing a shared library's album. I don't know if RAW images would copy as RAW or JPEG.

Similar Messages

  • I copied iPhoto library from old Mac to NAS. I cannot access the library from my new Mac

    I've a nice new MacBook Pro (OS X 10.9.5) with iPhoto version 9.5.1. I decided to move my iPhoto library from my old MBP (running iPhoto 7.1.5) to a Synology NAS and expected I'd be able to open it from the new Mac.
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    iPhoto Libraries cannot be located on a NAS driver. Read this Apple document, iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives - Apple Support, and note the last sentence of the first paragraph.
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  • Copying iPhoto Library to new MacBook Pro

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  • Unable to open previous iPhoto library on new Mac

    Hello,
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    Having copied my old iPhoto Library (from OS 10.6),
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    This screenshot shows which previous versions of iPhoto are compatible with Mavericks.  It also indicates which versions qualify for a free upgrade to iPhoto 9.5.1 and which require a purchase:
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    Note 2:  If your previous version of iPhoto was iPhoto 7 (08) or earlier you'll need to download and run the iPhoto Library Upgrader 1.1 application on the library before opening it with iPhoto 9.5.1.
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    3 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
    4 - in the next  window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. Check the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos". Click on the Create button.
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    Note 2:  Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
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  • How best to restore iPhoto library to new Mac mini

    So I have a brand new Mac Mini and my iPhoto library from my old iMac is backed both on Time Machine and via CCC on different external HDs. I want to transfer my iPhoto library(>200 GB) to the new Mini. Is there any reason to restore from Time Machine versus CCC? Are there advantages to using one versus the other?  I would like to keep my events, albums, etc. if possible. I made the CCC backup just to have an extra backup.
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    You can use the one you prefer because it's the same. With Carbon Copy Cloner, you just need to go to the folder of the external disk with the library and copy the library to Pictures folder, and with Time Machine, you can use Time Machine UI to restore the iPhoto library

  • Migrating old iPhoto Library to new Mac

    Hi,
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    If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
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    Show File:  a. On iPhoto 09 and earlier:  Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.    3.b.
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  • Copied iphoto library to new 10.7.3 Air. Now 10.6.8 iphoto not working

    Hello,
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    Two questions:
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    2. Is it possible to reinstall just iphoto in it's previous version instead?
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    Try the following:
    1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
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  • Error when copying iPhoto Library to new computer

    Hello! I just got a MacBook Pro and I am trying to transfer my old iPhoto library (Macbook) to my new computer. I followed the suggestions on this forum to copy my iPhoto Library from my Pictures folder to my new computer. It gave me an error/warning message: "One or more items can’t be copied to “Desktop” because you don’t have permission to read them. Do you want to copy the items you are allowed to read?" I said yes, and it copied about 15G of my 17G iPhoto library. Then when I opened iPhoto most of my photos were there, except the movies from my iPhone and many (but not necessarily all) modified pictures taken from my iPhone (most often pictures that were taken landscape). The thumbnails are there, but the actual files weren't transferred, so I get the big exclamation mark.
    I have now deleted the iPhoto Library folder that was only partially transferred due to the permissions and I would like to start over. Why do I not have "permission to read" certain files? I am doing the transfer via file sharing wirelessly. I have the whole HD set to be read/write by my mobileme alias. As a side note, I tried to just select the iPhoto Library for sharing but it wouldn't allow that, so I selected the whole HD.
    Thanks in advance for any help!
    Message was edited by: kathleen.black

    kathleen.black wrote:
    Didn't make a difference It still says I don't have permission for some of the files. But I'm glad I got the disk repaired.
    The old computer is running iPhoto '09, could that be part of the problem? We have a family pack of iLife '11 at work so right now I'm installing iPhoto '11.
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    I would backup of course and try to update the iLife 09 to '11 and see if that works. I think I recall some changes in the iPhoto database from '09 to '11.
    Best of Luck!
    Thanks!

  • Best backup method? / copying iphoto library to alternate Mac iphoto

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  • Copying iPhoto Library to another Mac

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    Regards
    TD

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  • Moving Certain Events From iPhoto Library to new mac

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