External hard drive save photos

we recently switched from windows to mac..i use a external hard drive (passport) to save all of my digital photos. I'm having trouble moving my pictures to the passport. In the past..I just drag and drop, but the mac won't let me. I am able to see all of my previously stored pics, but cant move my new ones. any suggestions?

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
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.
You can do similar with iTunes but best to ask on that forum for details.
Regards
TD

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Import to iPhoto from external hard drive 'importing photos' remains on

Hi,
When I import to library (from the file list) from my external hard drive the photos are added to my library. However the 'importing photos' from the source pane remains on with the dial rotating! This stays on unless I 'force quit' iPhoto.
After using force quit the images are successfully shown in the library.
When I attach a camera and import this problem doesn't happen.
Thanks.

Lockboard
Before we define this as an unacceptable bug, how come everyone else doesn't have the issue?
One key difference between png and jpeg is metadata - jpeg's have it and png's don't. What's the source of these jpegs? What colour profile have they? What Exif data is travelling with them? Have they been processed in Adobe's Lightroom, for instance? Finally, have you tried opening one of them in Preview, saving it and then trying to import it?
Regards
TD

I want to create a new folder on my external hard drive for photos. Even though I added the new folder button to the tool bar it is not highlighted so I cannot click on it to create a new folder on this drive.

I have an external hard drive that I would like to pre-make a new folder before I import photos into it. Even though I added the new folder app to by toolbar, it is not highlighted and I cannot use it. It will only let me create new folders if I upload to iPhoto. That is not where I want to store everything. So I need to figure out how to turn on or activate New Folder on my toolbar for all possible downloading options.

If it's a drive that you've previously used with a PC, just double-check the format - click the drive once on the desktop to highlight it, and click cmd-i (the command key and the i key together) to see the Info window. That will tell you, under Format, how it's formatted.
If it's "NTFS", that's the current Windows format. You can read but not write to it with a Mac. If you want full read/write access, you should look into Paragon NTFS, which allows you to do both. Note that some features of te Mac (Time Machine, for example) will only work with Mac-formatted drives.
Matt

External hard drive disconnect--photos disappeared!

My external hard drive (with my iphoto library stored on it) was disconnected when iphoto was open, and when i reconnected the drive and reopened iphoto, the display claimed there were no photos and didn't give me the window to find the library. All the files are still on the external hard drive, so I just need to re-link it. How do I do that?? Thanks

In Finder, navigate to your user's Library >Preferences folder. Find the file named "com.apple.iPhoto.plist" and drag it to the trash. When you next start iPhoto, you should be offered a dialog to either create a new library, or find an existing one (I'm assuming you have no iPhoto Library folder in your user account Pictures folder).

External hard drives and photos

i have read some of the other support answers to this, but don't fully understand.
i have hooked up my external hard drive in order to back up my iphoto libraries. (side note-if i do this, will the libraries move as one entity into a newly created folder, or will i have to create a folder in the hard drive... i cannot do this by control click, but maybe once is is reformatted?; and will they keep the same order). i have learned by reading different forums that i will need to reformat my hard drive to Mac OS extended (journaled)... and i read somewhere else about some sort of partitioning with mac os extended with no journaling for media storage. i will be using my external hard drive for, mainly, storing pictures and video. can i get someone's opinion on if i should partition or not?
also, in order to reformat, i understand i need to erase in the format the external hard drive has already, but once that is complete, will it give me the option to reformat? and once my hard drive is reformatted to mac, will i be able to hook it up to a pc in order to share my pictures with someone else?
new to mac, sorry that i may come off a bit computer illiterate, it is because i am. if you have enough patience to answer my question, pleeease tell me what to do in a speaking-to-a-three-year-old way.
sorry for the twenty questions, my head is full of 'em.
xoxo....

-if i do this, will the libraries move as one entity into a newly created folder,
Drag one Library icon from the Pictures Folder to the external and that gets everything.
i have learned by reading different forums that i will need to reformat my hard drive to Mac OS extended (journaled)... and i read somewhere else about some sort of partitioning with mac os extended with no journaling for media storage. i will be using my external hard drive for, mainly, storing pictures and video. can i get someone's opinion on if i should partition or not?
I see no advantage to partitioning the drive.
i understand i need to erase in the format the external hard drive has already, but once that is complete, will it give me the option to reformat?
This is all in the Help to Disk Utility. In essence you don't wipe the drive to "no format" you reformat the drive the the new one. It's an all in one process.
nd once my hard drive is reformatted to mac, will i be able to hook it up to a pc in order to share my pictures with someone else?
No. Not unless they install additional software on their PC.
Regards
TD

External hard drive for photos

Looking to move all of my photos from imac hard drive to external. What is the best way to do this? I dont want to keep copies on computer- just copy all to the external and then will make cds as back up.

What happens when you import new photos to the library after doing this? It sounds like a risky proposition to me, akin to tampering with the iPhoto library from inside the Finder.
You can use iPhoto in its alias mode. There are pros and cons to it. Old Toad explains them and has written tutorials on how to properly use an alias-based library. See this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3800456&#3800456
or search for "alias library tutorial" with user name Old Toad.

Importing photos from an external hard drive to Photos app as albums

it is driving me nut. I have spent hours searching for an answer, but they are all about iphoto or aperture, which I dont have on my newly bought (April 2015) macbook pro.
I have 5GB photos on an external drive; they are in different folders named after events (2005.4.13bday, 2006.3.3hiking..etc).
How do I import them to Photos as albums that have the same names as folders?
I tried dragging them directly into the app, but they are not imported as albums; I won't have any clue what these photos are, only dates.
I tried File/import, but it doesn't allow me to as it can never finishing loading the photos (stops at 5000 photos).
Please help. much appreciated.

Re-start the Import. When it comes to the first duplicate it will ask you if you want to import or ignore the duplicate. In the same dialogue you'll have the opportunity to apply that decision to all duplicates.
Regards
TD

Partition external hard drive for photo storage

My iMac from 2006 is down to 16 gb of free space (out of 500). I have two 1 TB drives from Seagate and made full backups via Time Machine. The first drive is now unplugged and am considering locating outside of my home in case of fire, theft, etc. The second drive is connected via USB constantly synching with TM. Curious about partitioning as I would like to divide the 1 TB external drive in half. The first 500 GB would be dedicated to TM backup and the other 500 GB would be for picture galleries I want quick access to then delete the rest on my internal drive.
My goals are two fold: 1.) Backup data, 2.) Free up space on my internal HD so the iMac and Lion will run faster.
Question: Do I need to format the drive and start over outside TM then go to Disk Utility and partion in half? If I'm right so far would I then open TM to backup to the first partition? Ultimately I want to manage storage balances between my internal drive and external device. Since the internal is filled up I want to spill data into the external drive.

I'm not really sure I understand what you mean, but it's OK as long as you understand that you can't back up a drive to itself. You should also know that one backup is not enough to be safe.
As for your original question, you can usually add a partition to a drive without erasing it. Follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under the heading "Create new partitions on a disk":
Disk Utility 12.x: Partition a disk
Obviously the backup volume must be at least large enough to hold one copy of all the data you want to back up to it, plus about 10% of padding required by Time Machine. How much larger it needs to be depends on the rate of data turnover, and on how far back you want the snapshot history to go. There are no valid "rules of thumb" that apply to all cases.

Can I move cache to external hard drive to save disk space for photoshop and bridge?

Can I move cache to external hard drive to save disk space for photoshop and bridge?

So could I take everything off my external hard drive, save it to my Mac, then re-format it for my Mac and move everything back to the external hard drive?
Yes. Keep in mind that you need to back up all data, including the data on an external drive. So if you're going to use the external drive to store original data, as opposed to backups, then you really need another one to back up the first one. You also need to back up the data on your internal drive, of course. This isn't optional. You must do it, or you'll lose everything sooner or later. All disk drives fail eventually, often with no warning.
If I do that how do I format the external hard drive for my Mac?
Launch the Disk Utility application and search the built-in help for "erase."
Would it be easier to just buy a external hard drive that is for a Mac?
All external hard drives work with Macs. Some might come pre-formatted for use with Macs, but it only takes a few minutes to do that yourself.

How do I use external hard drive

how do I use external hard drive and Photos? I keep getting a msg that there is not enough free space on your photo library volume - i even bought 500Gb of space on iCloud.... that didn't even work please help

1. Drag the library to a volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, launch Photos with the Option key held down, select Other Library, and choose it. Alternatively, drag it to the Photos icon in the Dock.
2. iCloud storage space is separate from that on the computer.
(126243)

Backing up an iPod to an external hard drive?

Hi, i need to update my iPod Touch's software to 4.0, but i need to back up all of my stuff on it. Thing is i can't do that on my actual computer, so i was wondering if there was any way i could back it up onto an external hard drive, save me losing everything. I have had a look to see if there was a way to do it and i couldn't find any. If there is a way, i'd be so relieved! Cheers.

[This article|http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-t o-backing-up-your-itunes-library> may be helpful in doing it yourself. Also, I have used [Copytrans|http://www.copytrans.net/iphone-ipod-touch-backup.php] and been happy with it. There are probably other third party solutions as well.
Hope this helps.

Can I add just one folder from an external hard drive to the Time Machine Backup?

I have TM set up to backup my main iMac hard drive. I have an external hard drive with photos on it that I would like to add to the TM backup as well. Not the whole hard drive - just one folder with current photos I am working on.

it wouldn't let me "open up" the hard drive to see the contents
Select the volume icon in the Finder and open the Info window. Click the padlock icon in the lower right corner of the window and enter your administrator password when prompted. Check the box at the bottom marked
Ignore ownership on this volume
Close the Info window.

How do i transfer itunesto a 2tb external hard drive and still have daily access for sync and apple tv?

my I tunes i taking up ver half my space on my older macbook. I have started using an external hard drive for photos and stuff but woudl love to free up more space. I cant perform sertian updates as they are available. Cant add more movies and tv shows so would love to know if and how this is possible to do, while still being able to access it for sync with 2 iphones, ipod and ipad and use with apple tv.
Any assitance would be great.
thanks

Thanks I will try this and let ya know how it turns out. Once it is moved via steps you listed do I need to delete it all off my Mac or does this move it completely?
Thanks again

Transfer iPhoto & videos on external hard drive

I Have tried transferring my iPhoto library to ext hard drive.
2 Issues
1. iPhoto is quitting unexpectedly & repeatedly during the transfer. Have only 3 gb space left in internal hard drive.
2. There is not set event order in external hard drive, all photos are just jumbled up (the ones that have been transferred)
ANy help would be much appreciated

iPhoto is not involved in moving the library - and 3GB is far below the minimum required 10GB
To move the iphoto library
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 trying to save photos from iphoto to an external hard drive

Help!
I bought a "WD Elements" external hard drive to save photos and make more room on my Macbook Pro. I can't move pics from iphoto to my "WD Elements" hard drive . I've recently gone on a few vacations and have a few thousand pictures to download. I'd like to save them onto my computer and then my external hard drive, but would first like to place old pics from iphoto onto the external hard drive and I am unable to figure out how to do this. I've tried selecting pics and then dragging them into the "Elements" external device, but this is not working (a white circle with a line through it pops up, as if I am unable to do this). When I select pics and click export, a message says that it's unable to export these pics to the hard drive device.
Please help! ~Thanks!

1. What format is the external drive? It sounds like it's ina format that Macs can't write to. Is it a NAS or NTFS?
2. Easiest thing: just move your iPhoto Library to the external
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
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.
Regards
TD

External hard drive save photos

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