Copying iPhoto to an external hard drive

I bought a Lacie Firewire external hard drive but I can't remember how many GBs it holds b/c I bought it a while ago, can't find the reciept and can't see it displayed anywhere on the unit. Does anyone know how to find that out?
I'm trying to copy my entire iPhoto library onto the Lacie drive. I've read through many threads on this site about the procedure for this but I get stuck on the first step: copying the iphoto library folder to the Lacie. When I try the system copies for a while, but then a pop up comes up and says, "You cannot copy the item "Icon" b/c the name is too long or includes too many characters that the disk cannot display". From here I'm forced to click OK and then the system stops copying. What I'm left with is a partially copied iphoto library on the Lacie. Can anyone help me solve this problem? I tried coping each folder individually, but in the threads it seems that that is not the correct procedure.
How can I ensure that I have my ENTIRE iphoto library on the external hard drive? I'm also worried now that I may have copied some folders twice. Is there anyway to discover and get rid of doubles?
Many, many thanks for your help.
Powerbook Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Hi
if your drive won't accept the filenames used on your mac - I imagine that the external drive may be formatted to something other than the std Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
You can see how the external is formatted using Disk Utility, found in the Utilities folder.

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Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

That code is
-36
ioErr
I/O error (bummers)
Make sure the EHD is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and run Disk Utilty on the EHD and repair the disk. If that fails to help I'd try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button,
navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
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
In the next window name the new library and select the external HD as the location of the newly rebild library.
Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

I can't copy iPhoto to my external hard drive. It will not allow me to drag and drop or copy and paste., I can't copy iPhoto to my external hard drive. It will not allow me to drag and drop or copy and paste.

I can't copy iPhoto to my external hard drive. It will not allow me to drag and drop or copy and paste., I can't copy iPhoto to my external hard drive. It will not allow me to drag and drop or copy and paste.

NTFS is your problem.
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
See this article
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168
for more. Note also the comment:
“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”

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The interesting thing is that for the first year I have had the external hard drive, this was my routine:
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3. Put cursor on folder of pics on iPhoto I wanted to copy
4. Click, hold, drag, and drop in folder
5. Copying automatically starts and finishes
Now, in order to copy, I have to open the particular folder on iPhoto, select all, copy all, then go to the EHD folder and select paste.
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How to copy iPhoto library to external hard drive?

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Not without more information - what happens - what errors do you get - if the external drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)?
This procedure has been used thousands of times successfully
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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How do i copy my itunes and iphoto to an external hard drive?

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Apple has instructions at:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229?viewlocale=en_US
and in case you are interested in iMovie....
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1097

How do I get the pictures from my iPhoto on my external Hard Drive to show up in the already existing iPhoto on my MacBook?

I have an early 2008 MacBook. I had been using iPhoto on this MacBook until I purchased an iMac in 2011, at which time I copied my iPhoto Library from my MacBook to my iMac. Then I realized that my pictures and music were consuming the memory on my iMac, so I moved iPhoto and my iTunes LIbrary to an external Hard Drive. Now I am in a situation where I do not have access to my iMac, but will need to use my MacBook as my main computer for the next year. So, I have my iPhoto on an external hard drive and I plug it into my MacBook and see the iPhoto Library folder, but when I click on it, it opens up the old iPhoto that is still existing on my MacBook and will not show any of the new pictures?! At first I thought it wasn't able to show up anything because my MacBook was running two operating systems behind what my iMac was when I was running my iPhoto Library from that computer. So, I upgraded to OS X 10.7.5 and upgraded the existing iPhoto on my MacBook to iPhoto '11 version 9.4.3. However whenever I plug in the external hard drive and click on the iPhoto Library folder to open it up, it is still just opening up the already existing iPhoto on the MacBook (with my older pictures) rather than the iPhoto on the hard drive (with my newer pictures). How can I access my pictures that are on my external hard drive?

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Regards
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I am trying to save photos from iphoto to an external hard drive

Help!
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Fix #1
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Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
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Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

IPhoto Transfer to External Hard Drive

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With the amount of information you've provided it's impossible to offer a potential solution. We can't see your computer so we need to know the details of your problem and setup, i.e.:
what version of iPhoto are you using?
what system version are you running?
what format is the external hard drive?
have you tried exporting in smaller batches to folders on the Desktop and moving those folders to the EHD? With iPhoto 9 and later you can automatically export the photos to folders representing the Events they are in via the menu option File ➙ Export ➙ File Export:
what fixes have you tried?
where is your library located on the boot drive?
did you apply any updates or upgrades just prior to the problem occurring?
are you running a "managed" or "referenced" library?
how much free space on your boot drive?
OT

How to back up a group of photos in iPhoto to an external hard drive

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Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

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Hi All,
Could someone help me as I'm going around in circles?
My hard drive is nearly full, so I need to transfer my photos from iphotos to my external hard drive and delete them on my powerbook. Everytime I either drag the 3200 pictures and drop into my hard drive or copy and paste it comes back saying one of my pictures is busy so it's unable to complete the process. And this stops the computer transfering any photos? I've tried moving the pictures in question, but then it quotes another picture?
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I would appreciate any advise.
Kind Regards
Danny

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I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am warned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects How do I point iMovie to events in my external hard drive so I can pl

I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am woarned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects
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MacBook, iMovie 9.0.4

Hi
You can do this - by not doing it the way You describe as it will not work.
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Yours Bengt W

Copying iPhoto to an external hard drive

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