External Hardrive questions (particularly with iPhoto)

I want to keep my external hd organized and I also want to delete some photos from my iPhoto to free up some space on the internal hd. I started to organize but then realized I wasn't sure how it all works. I guess my question is when I back up my computer on an external hd, does it save iPhoto exactly as it is, organized as it is in the iPhoto program? If that is true and I delete photos from my iPhoto library and then back up on the external, all of the photos will still be on my external drive, correct? (unless I delete them manually myself from the external hardrive).
Also, is this all different than backing up via Time Machine?
If someone has answers to these questions, I would love to hear. I'm just trying to figure out the best way of going about this. I would appreciate any knowledge on the subject.
I have a Macbook Pro OS Extended. My external hard rive is a Seagate 1 TB.

It depends on how you're backing up.
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
In the first of these cases, then yes, nothing is deleted from the back up.
In the second of these cases, then everything can be kept - if you set the app doing the back up to do so. So, it depends on the app you use and the settings of that app.
Time Machine
Time Machine keeps a rolling back up with the ability to revert, but this is space limited. So, once you fill the back up drive things will be deleted. SO if you delete something from your Library it will eventually be deleted from the Time Machie back up. How soon? Depends on the size of your back up drive.

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External hardrive to use with Imac - how to format and to what?

i have my external hardrive i use with my pc
how and to what should i format it so i can use ut with leopard and timemachine, also is it possible to make 2 partiton on it so one partition
would still be windows format so i can backup windows on it too?

If you have an Intel Mac do this:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two and resize as desired using the sizing gadget. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the PC volume you just created (this is a sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to MSDOS (FAT32) from the Format drop down menu. Click on the Erase button.
5. Select the OS X volume you just created (this is the other sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
You should now be able to use the drive on both platforms. One partition for OS X and the other for Windows.

Using my external hardrive question!

Ok, so I'm a little computer challenged and probably not nearly as knowledgeable as most of the people here. Anyway, I'm sorry if my question sounds stupid! I bought a 250GB external hardrive today to back up all my music and pictures. When I plugged it in, it automaticaly opened Time Machine and asked if I wanted to backup my computer on it, so I hit yes. Now, my question is, if I unplug it from my computer, will it rebackup everything again when I plug it back in? I also looked around in it and was unable to find all my music and pictures so I copied all that onto the external hardrive again. This is probably a really stupid question, but I'm paranoid! Thanks!

{quote}
I also looked around in it and was unable to find all my music and pictures so I copied all that onto the external hardrive again. This is probably a really stupid question, but I'm paranoid! Thanks!
Were you using Finder to look around the drive or did you use the Time Machine program?
If you gave Time Machine enough time to actually do the backup, and left it on for a couple of hours, you should be able to see several restore times that you can go back to. To see music files - launch iTunes first, then Time Machine. To see iPhoto picture library files - launch iPhoto first, then Time Machine. To see emails - launch Mail first, then Time Machine.
For other files in folders or on your desktop you just go to the folder where the file used to be, and then launch Time Machine. You can also get back different versions of the same file, based on when it was re-added to the Time Machine backup. Everytime a file changes, Time Machine makes another copy of it.
Time Machine Demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWdkfCwd4qU&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n055CqFnjyo
And for a little fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofWnyUHwoYI&NR=1

My Seagate external hardrive comes up with error 5016

I am not sure if my IMac OSX has a virus, but my external hardrive, which is a Seagate is not working and comes up with "error code 5016"

Hmmmm, is this a Network drive?
afpNoServer = -5016, /* Server not responding */
Not likely a virus btw.

External Hardrive question

So I need to back up my time machine and I have 1T external but I partioned it a long time ago into 2 section. 1 for time machine the other
for my art work. I need more space for time machine so how can I make my external just 1 hardrive again aka just 1T. Instead
right now it is 1- 500GB MS-DOS FAT and 1 - 500 GB MAc OS Extended (journaled). Thanks agian.
Time machine is saying it need 800GBS to back up? I tried to erase the partion in Ultity but it is still there?

Enlarging a partition

Help, important, external hardrive question

so im putting all my stuff on this external harddrive to transfer it from my dell to my macbook that comes in on fri i think. and im selling the dell tonight so i wont be able to go back and redo anything
the harddrive is in ntfs, will i be able to drag and drop my files to the mac from the drive?

KJK's idea of burning to CD also has its own pitfall, though not a bad idea. Many CD burning software aren't specific as to which format and may use UDF instead of the more standard ISO 9660. Make sure yours uses ISO 9660 before doing the CD burning route. Otherwise you'll probably need Software Architect's ReadDVD which supports most if not all UDF formats. But that's an extra cost for an uncertain ability to read.
On the other hand, if you installed one of the new solutions for running Windows, and added MacDrive (a commercial software), you'd get the files over that way. My FAQ here links to several of the popular ways to run Windows on Intel Macs including Boot Camp and Parallel Workstation:
http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html#WINTEL

Buying external hardrive for Mac OS X 10.5.8

I am looking to buy an external hardrive but I can't find any that are compatible with my version of the mac. What external hardrives are compatible with Mac OS X 10.5.8?

Most any drive will work, some are far better than others, & the System Requirements are for some software provided on the drive that not only you likely do not need, but even more likely don't want to install.
Allan's suggested link is good.
I'd really avoid Bus powered drives unless you simply must have portability.

File management questions with iPhoto 8

I am new to iPhoto, not just version 8. I need to understand a few basics about the Apple way of handling photos. First off let me say that I have a MacBook Pro and a Windows XP desktop pc. I just set up an external harddrive as my storage space for my photos. They were on my pc, but I want to take advantage of iPhoto and manage them via my mac laptop. So I formatted the external drive as a mac drive, purchased a copy of MacDrive so that my pc can read/write to this drive as well and transferred all of my photos to the external harddrive. 14 gigs. I suppose I should now delete them off my pc...
Before I moved my photos, I organized them all into appropriate folders, consolidating them and removing any duplicates that occured sometimes when I accidentally re-imported the same photos from my camera.
I imported the photos on my external harddrive into iPhoto's photo library, using the alias approach instead of having iPhoto make copies of the photos. (I don't need to waste yet another 14 gigs!) So now I have numerous Events, most of which relate directly to the folders I created for my photos. I noticed however that in some instances, iPhoto created multiple events for photos within the same folder.
Here are my questions...
If I merge events in iPhoto, I noticed my folders do not change. Am I just messing around with the aliases, sorta like creating playlists in iTunes? Is there any way to keep things in sync between my folders and my events, so that the contents of my folders match the contents of my events, or is this unwise or unnecessary?
If after I have imported my photos into iPhoto, what happens when I merge my folders of photos on my harddrive, outside of iPhoto? Does iPhoto keep up or do I have to somehow update my iPhoto library? Refresh it? What happens when I add more photos, say with my pc? Do I have to import the new folders of photos into iPhoto each time?
I also have a question about keywords. From the demo movie I watched on apple.com, I saw that one can search for photos using keywords. In the demo, the presenter typed the name of a person and all the pictures of that person appeared. If I want to do this, does this mean I have to add for example the keyword "David" to every picture David is in? Can the name simply appear in the title for the photo and still get picked up within the search results? Is there an easy way to assign keywords to multiple photos at the same time?
Thanks for helping me start out on the right foot!
Paul

Dani:
You don't have to duplicate photos when using iPhoto in it normal, copy to library, mode. Once you import the files you can delete the ones used to import. However, if you're a professional then you've probably read the DAM book, Digital Asset Management, and it implies multiple backup copies.
Files imported in the alias mode retain the color profile that was added by the camera. If you edit in iPhoto then the resulting modified will will have a default profile. In my case the profile went from sRGB IEC1966-2.1 to Camera RGB Profile. But if you use Photoshop as your editor of choice in iPhoto you can manage the profile with it.
I like iPhoto 7 much more than 6. It's editing capabilities are much improved but still no match for PS. It also writes the metadata, comments, keywords and title to the file when exporting. It also allows you to modify the EXIF Capture Date and write it to the original file.
As with any application you must have backups and backups. Also always keep a minimum of 10 GB free space, 15 or more if you'll be doing some heavy editing with PS or work with video. That's important. So that means an external FW hard drive or two for redundancy backups. That is if you're serious about it.
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 written 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. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

How do I save albums, events in tact from iPhoto to external drive to comply with iCloud limits? Thx

How do I save albums, events in tact from iPhoto to external drive to comply with iClouds limits? (iMac Lion, need to remove 280gb of photos>

Not sure if I understand correctly?
Do you want to move 280 GB of photos from iPhoto on your Mac to an external hard drive?
If that is the case, iCloud has nothing to do with it. You can move your iPhoto library to an external drive to free up space on your internal drive.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iPhoto/8.0/en/6331.html
If that is not what you're trying to do, please rephrase your question. Thanks.

Network Mac & PC with External Hardrive??

I'm getting confused, so thought I would just go ahead and ask.
This is what I want to do. Can I?
Create a wireless network (maybe the new extreme)- connect a printer and External Hardrive. I would have a Mac & a PC running off it.
My question is about the Ex hardrive. I realize it would need to be Fat32 to run both, but I want a large drive. I want to 1. backup my mac 2. Save large files like movies 3. have an area to share with the PC.
I think Kappy mentioned that if I format it Fat32, the whole thing needs to be??? Is that the case? Any suggestions on what would be best for what I'm thinking? Am I thinking wrong?
I appreciate your comments!
Bill

Aim to meet the minimum system requirments CS4 needs in order to function properly. Older machines are less likely to be capable.

Running iTunes and iPhoto through external hardrive.

Howzit.
I need help, my memory capacity is FULL, i would like to run my itunes and iphoto options (completely) through an external hardrive to free up space on my mac.
Please explain clearly and sytematically I'm a beginner and learner yet.
Thank you so much

iTunes is simpler than iPhoto at doing this, as it has the ability in its preferences to use a different folder for organizing music. However, I would warn against doing this, as external hard drives have been known in the past to disconnect, and have problems with Spotlight indexing a lot more frequently than with internal drives. Also to add to that, it makes backing up such files harder as a simple clone of your internal drive won't backup the files you move to the external. You'll have to manually backup those files elsewhere whether DVD, or a second external hard drive. Here's my FAQ on backing up:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
If you are willing to take the risks involved and are prepared to work with them, I believe you can do this by Quitting from iPhoto and making a Unix shortcut to the external drive replacing your existing Pictures folder on the internal drive once the Pictures folder is on the external drive. I'm not sure which command line ln command makes the right type of link, but I'm sure with some research you can find it.
Edit: your Powerbook will take up to 160 GB internal ATA/IDE 2.5" hard drives. You might want to seriously consider getting that.

Backup External Hardrive with Timemachine

Hi,
I have a iMac and an external Hardrive.
I store all my data in the external hardrive - music, movies, documents. No data is stored in iMac harddrive.
Is there a way to backup only that external hardrive with TimeMachine?
If so how?
I am using macFuse in my external harddrive since i read the data from bootcamp xp also
Thanks for your help

I hope you are not getting my Question
Nice comment.
I know you do not want to backup your internal drive, that is why you need to select it as I said. Time Machine will backup the internal HD and external HD's by default. When you go to Time Machine preferences and click the options and choose specific drives look at the dialog it will say *"Exclude these items from backups:"* so if you choose your internal HD it will NOT _I repeat_ NOT be backed up.
If for some reason you cannot do this then make an appointment at your local Apple Store and they will help explain it to you.

Problems with iPhoto after exporting library to external hard disk

Hello all,
I am using iPhoto 8 on an iBook G4. I recently attempted to back up my iPhoto library to an external hard disk. I did this by dragging the iPhoto library to the external hard disk. I did not delete the library on my own computer. Since I've done this, iPhoto has not been problematic. For instance, when I attempt to open an event on my computer, I can not see the thumbnails of all the photo's in the event - iPhoto will display each individual photo in sequence. If I want to print a picture, I have to export the entire event - I can't just drag the thumbnail to my desktop. Also, when I attempt to upload new pictures from my camera it produces an error.
Does anyone know what might be going on? I need to be able to access my photo's, so can anyone give me some advice on how to fix whatever I've done?
Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

Gina2008
iPhoto will display each individual photo in sequence.
There's a slider lower right of the iPhoto Window - drag it left.
Why are you exporting to Print?
when I attempt to upload new pictures from my camera it produces an error.
What does the error say?
As for accessing your pics:
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use THIS
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto. With 10.5 you can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
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.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: 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.
Regards
TD

HT4736 Taking too long (2 minutes) to locate and download photos into Photo '11 9.5 (902.7 build running on an older Intel based MacBook Pro with iPhoto libraries on a USB2 External HD). I checked and repaired HD permissions. Any ideas?

Regarding iPhoto '11 9.5 (902.7 build running on an older Intel based MacBook Pro with iPhoto libraries on a USB2 External HD). I am dealing with iPhoto taking too long to download photos. Specifically, I rechecked and repaired HD permissions. I am running the most current software my five year old Intel MacBook Pro can run. What happens is that when I connect an external SD card, or my iPhone, the new version of iPhoto takes up to two full minutes to fully acknowledge the device. Then locate new photos and be ready to download them to my external HD. I am kind of concerned about this. This has never happened before.
I take 20,000 photos a year. I really don't want to lose any. Or is there something I am doing wrong? Or need to be aware of? Any experienced suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Have a great day.
PS.... The cameras I use are Canon SX-30, Nikon D3100, and my iPhone 4S. Thanks again for your assistance.

Hello Old Toad.... Those sound like great ideas.
I thought I checked and repaired disk permissions on my main boot HD. That boot disk is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Capacity 749.3 GB. Available 562.53 GB. BUT.... now that I think of it.... the Seagate external HD with USB2 interface is: Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Capacity 639.79 GB, Available 36.2 GB with my latest iPhoto Library 517.37 GB that was already scanned & updated to be read by the latest iPhoto version.
I'll try your suggestions tonight as far as double checking 'permissions' and setting up a tiny test library.
Or maybe it's time to fill up another External HD?
I appreciate your and anyone else's suggestions to try.
Have a great day. ~~ David in Rochester NY

Hey everyone! i have a external hardrive i keep my itunes library of songs on and it wont sync with my ipod touch inless i copy and paste it into my ipod device when thats conected. i dont want all the songs on there only checked ones. help plz!!

im having trouble with syncing my ipod touch with my itunes library that i keep on a external hardrive. when i plug up my external hardrive that has all my songs on it, it doesn't sync to my ipod correctly. i have to copy and paste the songs to my ipod device when its connected. i dont want all the songs on there and i want to be able to manually control whats on my ipod. and id like to take some songs off of the ipod also but i want them still in my itunes library though. i usually check the songs i want on the ipod but it isnt working that way maybe because its a external hardrive?? i never had a problem with past ipods with my library on itunes but i ran out of space on my computer and had to transfer all of the songs to my external hardrive. please someone help me!! i thought it would be simple! but it isnt the case! i plug up my hardrive then my ipod, i press sync and nothing gets transfered unless i copy and paste them to the ipod. even though it says ipod syncing in progress! this is really confusing! please help me!! sorry if this is jumbled up and confusing..

Correct. When you update via iTunes all synced media that is not in your iTunes library will be lost.
As IO said before:
You can redownload most iTunes pruchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
I do not think it included audio books.

External Hardrive questions (particularly with iPhoto)

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