Dedicated iPhoto external drive

I have recently started to use Time Machine. I purchsed a 2T WD for that. I backed up everything and it seems to be running fine.
Now, I want to take ALL of my photos and movies off of my mac and have them in another external drive 500G)(to save space on the comp). I moved the iphoto library to this second external drive(500g).
My question is: how do I "link" this second external drive(500g) (the one woith the iphoto) to the Time Machine (WD 2T)?
I already have the iphoto library backed up (WD2T) as I never deleted it ffrom the mac (which I will be doing once I am sure I hve a proper back up of my External).
Any suggestions would be greatly helpful.
PS my file is about 300gigs movies and photos.

Time Machine will back up both your Mac and the external hard drive to the 2 TB WD drive if you want.
The critical element here is that the 500 GB external drive....whether it is connected using USB or FireWire to your Mac....must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Assuming that this is the case, open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock) and open Time Machine. Then, click Options
Here you will see a list of items that are currently Excluded from Time Machine backups. The 500 GB hard drive will appear here by default.
Click on the name of the 500 GB hard drive to highlight, then click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the Exclusions list to remove the drive from the list of Excluded items.
Now Time Machine will back up both your Mac and 500 GB external hard drive to the WD disk on the next pass.
Strongly recommend that you keep the iPhoto Library on your Mac until you are sure that everything is working correctly. Then, you can delete the iPhoto Library from the Mac and use the iPhoto Library on the 500 GB external as your "working" or "live" library with iPhoto.
When you want to do this, you will need to hold down the option key on your Mac while you click to open iPhoto an then "point' iPhoto at the new location for the library on the external drive.

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Best way to set up iPhoto; external drive

HI!
I want to set up iphoto in a way that steals less of my ssd drive space. I will buy a usb 3 harddrive, where I store my pictures. In iphoto I just want a reference to the picture on my external harddrive. But when working, some times I want to delete pictures; can I do this from iphoto, or will I only delete the reference?
How do I make sure that I have no duplicates, when I store files this way?
Ok, how do I set this up; is iphoto the best way?

But when working, some times I want to delete pictures; can I do this from iphoto, or will I only delete the reference?
It will only delete the Reference. iPhoto is not the best way. If you want to use iPhoto the best way is to run a Managed Library from the external disk.
For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361
Aperture is much more powerful in this regard.

IMac 500Gb HD is nearing capacity. Can I move my photos from iPhoto to 1Tb external drive?

My new iMac's 500Gb HD is nearing capactiy. Due to my many photos. Can I remove all of the photos from iPhoto on iMac and export all my photos to a dedicated 1Tb external drive. And can I then manage the photos via iPhoto on my iMac? Thanks.
Art

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
LN

I have put my iPhoto library and iTunes library to an external drive to free up space on my Mac. How do I back up these libraries that are on my external drive?

I believe that Time Machine will only back up my Mac hard drive and will not know that my libraries are on an external drive.
I essentially have my Mac, 1 external for time machine back ups, and 1 external dedicated to my iPhoto and iTunes libraries.
I want to be able to have a back-up of my iPhoto and iTunes libraries that are on my external drive. I don't believe Time Machine will know to back up those files. Am I right? What is the solution?

It is that simple?
So you can have Time Machine backup several drives as long as it is not in the exclusions list?

Transferring iPhoto Library to External Drive/Time Machine

Hi LarryHN and Terrence Devlin (and any others who can answer my questions);
I have successfully transferred my iPhoto Library for the first time to an new external drive (thank you LarryHN and Terrence Devlin for your awesome threads). Would I be able to do this again when my iPhoto Library on my laptop requires another transer without changing the first transfer?
However, another part of LarryHN's thread is that the iPhoto Library transfer to an external drive is not a back up, why is it not considered a back up? I am trying to utilize Time Machine (also for the first time) but they are recommending I use an external drive with nothing on it (as they would be wiped out). Luckily I haven't wiped out my iPhoto Library on my laptop and am willing to re-do that after I set up Time Machine.
I appreciate your recommendations!

If you're running the library on the EHD as your working library then it's not a backup, it's your working copy.
To have a backup you must have two copies of the the working library on different hard drive. so to use Time Machine you need a dedicated HD just for it. When set up TM will backup your MB Air hard drive and any other EHD connected to it.
If you need to run your library from an EHD because your MBA doesn't have enought room and you want to use TM to backup your files including the iPhoto Library you'll need to have 2 EHDs.
So where do you want to run the library: on your MBA or on the EHD?
If you intend to run the library on your MBA make sure it's up to date and then reformat the EHD as OS X Extended (journaled) with Disk Utility. Connect it to the MBA and launch TM. It will ask if you want to use that drive for you backup and click yes. From there it's automatic. The first backup will take a while so have your MBA plugged in to a power outlet and let TM do it's thing.
This website has the best information on TM available: Apple OSX and Time Machine Tips
An alternate solution would be to use a backup application that can make incremental backups like Synk Pro. It will copy only those new or modified files from your working library to the backup copy on the EHD. I use it and have it configured to do the copy as soon as I quit out of iPhoto to keep the writing to disk at a minimum. Synk Pro will backup any selected file or folder you select so it doesn't have to be the entire hard drive if you don't want it. Personally I think TM would be a better solution for you as it will backup other files that may be important to you, i.e. music, documents, movies, etc.
OT

Does TM need a dedicated external drive?

Also, can I just restore my Home Directory (iPhoto, iTunes, address book, etc.) from Time Machine and nothing else?
Thanks.

{quote:}Does TM need a dedicated external drive?{quote}
Although it's probably the best way to use TM, no,
it can also use an external that already has some folders on it,
it can also use a dedicated partition on an external drive,
of course for those who use a MacPro it can be another internal drive,
and,
another very interesting way to use TM I saw yesterday on these boards (thanks Michael):
split your internal drive into two partitions,
assign the second partition to TM backups,
and use your external HD to backup the whole system, that is,
backing up also the whole history of intermediate states that make the beauty of Time Machine
(compared to just another backup utility).
{quote:}Also, can I just restore my Home Directory (iPhoto, iTunes, address book, etc.) from Time Machine and nothing else?{quote}
Yes.
Select the folder you want to restore and just hit "Restore".

How do i use an external drive for iphoto library

I am looking to use an external drive to store my photo library.
Tips

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
LN

I am migrating to a new iMac via TimeMachine back up. My iPhoto libraries are on external drive. I'd like to migrate only the internal hard drive data to the new internal Drive then just plug in iPhoto library drive. Is this going be a problem?

I am migrating to a new iMac via TimeMachine back up. My iPhoto libraries are on an external drive. Both drives are backed up on Time Machine. I'd like to migrate only the old internal hard drive data to the new internal Drive and then just plug in iPhoto library drive to the new iMac. This would save having to transfer several hundred GBs of data. Will this work using Set Up Assistant?

Your user account on the new Mac must have a different UID than on the old one. See the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant for an explanation.
You'll need to change the permissions on the iPhoto library on the external HD. Do a Get Info on it, click the padlock at the bottom of the Sharing & Permissions section of the Info window and enter your Admin password.
Then click the plus sign, select the user account you want on the next screen, and click Select. Then change Read only to Read & Write for that user via the little arrows. Finally, click the "gear" icon and select Apply to enclosed items. That may take a few mintutes on a large library.

Trying to move my iPhoto library to external drive

I'm trying to clear up room on my internal drive and so trying to move my library to an external drive. I've copied the photo library to the external drive. How do i point the iPhoto application to this new location so that I can delete the library on my mac's drive. Follow up question, do i need to make any changes with time machine so that the new location continues to get backed up?

1 - Option - launch iPhot
2 - Yes - in the TM preferences under options be sure that drive is not excluded
3 - what format is the EHD? It MUST be Mac OS extended (journaled) to work for the iPhoto library
The general answer including those points is
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
LN

My iphoto library disappeared. i am trying to restore my library from time machine -- from an external drive -- but everytime it tries to copy my library it tells me it can't do it because i don't have access to my iphoto library??!!! help!!

My iphoto library inexplicably disappeared! i am panicked but i do back up by time machine to an external drive and also to JustCloud. I am trying to restore my iphoto library from a back up on feb 28, 2014 and it says it's copying but then gives me a message that it can't do it because i "don't have authorization to access iphoto library"?! what does this mean? i really want to get my library back on my mac. Also if anyone knows why this happened or where my photos might be on my computer, i'd appreciate help with that, too.

Thank you Terence for your help. I was able to restore my backup from my time machine ext drive to a new 1tb seagate ext drive. so i felt sort of ok. but yesterday that older ext drive i used for time machine wouldn't open! i called applecare and they trouble shooted with me and said it's probably a goner and data is probably corrupted. it's only a few years old and i'm very careful with it. my husband accidentally dropped my new drive last night -- i know, unbelievable, i was SO upset, poor guy -- but I'm so stressed with all of this. i have 10 years of photos and videos. so now i only have the one newer drive with a backup. i have to buy another one today to backup again so i at least have two backups. i tried to delete a ton of files last night to free up the 30 gb of space i need to get my full library back on my mac. i have 90gb free and deleted 7 years worth of photos i had on picasa that were in my "pictures" folder and also a ton or random photos and videos i had in that same pictures folder and thought that would give me the 30 gb but it hardly freed up any space at all! do you know why that is? all of this stuff is really a pain and really stressful. thank god i did have a backup in the first place but now i am panicked the one i have left will somehow crash. especially after my husband dropped the drive lastnight! it didn't fall far and fell onto a wood floor and seems fine, but after my older ext drive crashed yesterday -- and i lost my entire iphoto library a fewweeks ago off my mac -- i feel cursed. any answers you have would be great. thank you.

How can I create an iPhoto Library from photos on an external drive?

Here's my issue:
I have a MacBook Pro running OS X Mavericks, and I am just about out of hard drive space.
I also have about 20 GB worth of photos on an external drive. The photos are not organized at all, just got dumped into a folder there during a hasty backup a couple years ago.
I'd like to use iPhoto to get these photos organized, but don't have the space to import them into the library on my laptop.
How can I create and manage an iPhoto library with these photos while keeping them on the external drive? They are on a terabyte drive, so I have a feeling I'd like to make that my main library moving forward.

Check that the drive's formatted as Mac OS Extended, drag the iPhoto library to it, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down, and choose that library.
(114618)

Trying to backup one of my iPhoto libraries I keep getting a error message that basically says that the file could not be backed up because there is another file on the external drive with the same name, etc. There is no other file.

While trying to copy one of my iPhoto libraries to an external hard drive I get the following error message "You can’t copy “iPhoto Library old” because it has the same name as another item on the destination volume, and that volume doesn’t distinguish between upper- and lowercase letters in filenames." There is no other file on the external drive with this name. I have asked this question before and was told that there are some duplicate photos (files) in my library and I needed to go to "show file contents" and look at certain files to find duplicates and delete the duplicates. I did all of this and the library will still not copy and always stops copying in the exact same place on each attempt. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You've been deleting your actual Photos.
Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things, deleting them or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Best way forward now is to recover the surviving Originals from this library and start over from scratch.
Regards
TD

I have my iphoto library on an external drive, but it filled up. Can I have another library in another external drive and use them both?

I have old pictures in my external drive that I filled up. I would like to make another iphoto library in a new external drive and have this one for new pictures. Can I do that? And how will I be able to see my old pictures on my older external drive? My iphoto is 9.5.1.

Yes. Another way to switch between libraries is with this menu in iPhoto:

How can I merge two iPhoto libraries stored on an external drive?

Today I was in a One-to-One at the Apple Store. I want to merge two i-Photo libraries into one. One library is on my Air, the other is on my iMac. Both libraries have been moved to an external drive. When I try to move one onto the other, they won't go. Yet I am certain that while at the store today, the person there started to merge them. He did not need the library manager software in order to do so. We stopped the merge in order to move on to another issue. Now that I am home, I can't get the libraries to merge. What am I failing to do? Thanks!

The only way to merge two libraryies is to use iPhoto Library Manager which will merge two libraries and keep keywords, titles, faces, places, and other metadata intact.
If one imports one library into another library every image file in the first library, originals, thumbnails, face files, etc, get imported as an original photo. You will end up with a total mess. DO NOT IMPORT ONE LIBRARY INTO ANOTHER LIBRARY!
If you have backup copies of your libraries get them back and use iPhoto Library Manager to merge them.
OT

How do I save 2 iphoto libraries onto one external drive?

Hi
I have an iphoto library on my MacBook Pro and I have an older library of different photos on my graphite iBook.
I'd like to store all my photos onto one external drive.
How can I do this without losing either library in the process?
I actually have the same question regarding music on iTunes.
Thanks
AS

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Do you want to merge these libraries into one? If so, then you'll need the paid version ($20) of iPhoto Library Manager
It's the only way to merge Libraries while preserving all metadata, versions and so on.
Otherwise, simply rename one of the Libraries (so they don't overwite each other) and Copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder to the External Disk. in each case.
To choose which library to open: holf down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location.
Regards
TD

Dedicated iPhoto external drive

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