Externally backing up photos

Hi
What are peoples suggestions for externally backing up the photos on my MacBook.
I guess it's a choice between an external hard drive and something on the web?
Web wise has anyone got any suggestions? I get the impression I can do this using .Mac but it's all very vague so I'm not sure what I get, how much it is? Plus i haven't herad great things about it? Are there any
alternatives out there?
Many thanks!
Jim

I do it on external HD. Also on DVD. .Mac will cost you money,because you'll have 1 Gb and for extra,up till 4 Gb,you'll need to pay extra for each Gig,every year...
Doesn't look like a good idea for bucking up photos...
.Mac additional service payment

Similar Messages

Backing up photos on iMac using external hard drive and time machine

How do i back up photos from my imac using an external hard drive and time machine
Thanks in advance

Apple explains how to use Time Machine in http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427.
Setting up and using TM is very simple to do, connect any external HD (format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utility ) and your computer shoudl ask if you want to use that EHD for a Time Machine backup. If you have any questions visit your local Apple Store or reseller and they can answer how to setup and use TM and also should be able to offer suggestions on EHDs. My personal preference is OWC (www.macsales.com) Mercury Elite Pro due to the build quality and OWC's level of support.

Backing up photos on external drive, to clear up space on macbook

I'm a new mac user, and have the macbook with 80 gb drive, so photos will quickly fill it up - I've already gotten to only having 30 gb space left. On my windows machines, I'd drag and drop my various photo folders to ext drive, and then could delete them on the computer's int drive and from then on just copy new folders. From searching this forum, I understand that ideally I'd back up all my photos, events, albums, etc by dragging the iPhoto library from finder into the ext drive. But if I want to periodically back up my photos that way, I'll have a problem if I delete photos from my internal drive to free up space. Obviously, then if I back up my iPhoto library file to my ext drive, it will overwrite the old file with the new one that has photos deleted from it. I want to have a copy of all my photos on my ext drive (since I have a 500 gb ext drive) and have a way of not filling up my macbook's drive. Ideally, I'm looking for a solution that is easy to implement, and that doesn't entail having to purchase more software. Am I better off using time machine -could I configure time machine with one specific ext drive to just back up photos to it? (but then wouldn't it have to backup the entire iphoto library each time there was a change to it?)

Yes.
Copy the iPhoto Library to the external. Now you have two full copies.
On the internal, delete the pics that you don't want to travel with you. (Put them in the iPhoto trash and go iPhoto Menu -> Empty trash).
Now you have the full library on the external and a smaller one on the internal.
To switch between them: Hold down the option (or alt) key when launching iPhoto and select 'Choose Library'.
Working with multiple libraries is enhanced using iPhoto Library Manager and it's the best way to move pics, albums or events between libraries.
Regards
TD

Backing up photos to external hard drive,and exporting back to CF card on camera

iPhoto 5 on Mac Power PC G4, OS 10.4.11
backing up photos to external hard drive (LaCie) My iPhoto Library contains a number of files (such as 'Library.iPhoto' 'iPhoto.db' 'ThumbJPG.data' etc) and a number of folders with dates such as 2005 etc, containing folders within folders, none of which with any contents.
Is there a way I can organise just the photos on their own so that I can select just those to be backed up on my LaCie hard drive, without all those distracting and (apparently) unnecessary extra files and folders ?
exporting edited photos back to CF card on camera I have tried everything I can think of to export photos from iPhoto back to the CF card on the camera, without success. It must be possible to do ?

Edit: Note: It's been a while but the Export command may be in the Share menu on older versions...
1. To back up an iPhoto Library
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. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate
2. To Back up Just the Photos
Use the File -> Export command to export the images to where you want them.
BTW: there are no user-serviceable parts in the iPhoto Library Folder. Rooting around in there can cause damage.
3. Edited Photos to CF Card is a two part process:
Exporting is just File -> Export. Choosing any setting except 'Original' and you'll get the Edited version.
The CF Card? Just drag and drop there.
But a couple of possible problems: Canon Cameras don't show up in the Finder. So you'll need to stick the card into a USB Card Reader for get them on there
Camera Cards are all formatted FAT. That means there's a limit to the number of items on the top level of the card: Workaround: Export the shots to a folder and drag that over
And, of course, if you want to see the shots in the camera, you'll need to put them in whatever specific folder it uses for the photos.
Regards
TD

Organizer will not open after I tried backing up photos on external hard drive on Mac. Editor opens, but not Organizer. This is a repost of a problem first reported 10 days ago.

Organizer will not open after I tried backing up photos on an external hard drive on Mac. Editor opens, but will not launch Organizer. Have tried clearing the catalogs, but nothing works. This was first reported 10 days ago. Had to be out of the country for a week - without photoshop working-- and now I'm back with the same problem. Can someone please help, or do I dump this and try to get some help just reloading the program?

jnrmendonca
It had 4 years of photos and videos on it.
To what did your camera record those photos and videos - camera's internal memory, inserted memory card, other?
Any remote chance that the latter may still exist for you to use to download the camera files to your new external hard drive?
ATR

Transfer/back-up photos from iPhoto to External Hard Drive

I have an External Hard Drive to which I wish to transfer/back-up my photos (from iPhoto). My External Hard Drive though has documents and photos that are in Microsoft Word. Please help me with the step by step process of transferring/backing-up photos to my ExHD. Can I still keep my MSWord files, or do I need to clear up the whole ExHD? My main concern, is really to free the memory of my MBPro because I have so many photos already. Thanks

Copy your entire iPhoto Library as a unit from the Pictures folder in your Home folder onto the external drive — just drag the iPhoto Library onto the external drive's icon or into its open main window. Do NOT try to copy your photos any other way than this.
After the copy is finished (it may take a while if your library is large), open iPhoto while holding down the Option key, and select the library on the external drive for iphoto to open. If it opens normally and everything seems to be in order, you can delete the iPhoto Library file from your internal drive. Don't forget to empty the trash afterward.
REMEMBER THIS: Now that your iphoto Library exists only on the external drive, it is not backed up! Back it up on a second external hard drive, or sooner or later you will lose it to a hard drive failure. The one sure thing about hard drives, like all other mechanical devices, is that eventually every hard drive will fail. Don't wait for it to happen and then think about the backups you should have been making all along!

I recently used an external hard drive to back up photos etc from my mac, I didn't do a full system back up. Since then a finder window titled 'client node' keeps popping up every time i hit the spacebar. Can anyone help me please stop this happening?

I recently used an external hard drive to back up photos etc from my mac, I didn't do a full system back up. Since then a finder window titled 'client node' keeps popping up every time i hit the spacebar. Can anyone help me please stop this happening?

Click on it, choose Get Info from the File menu, and check the format.
If it's formatted as NTFS, reformat it as MS-DOS, exFAT, or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as desired, or install software such as Paragon NTFS on the computer.
If it's formatted as FAT32 or exFAT, use the Disk Utility's Repair Disk command on it; this may also happen for a flash drive which is about to fail.
If it's formatted as Mac OS Extended, click Authenticate and provide your administrator password, or change the permissions on that specific folder in its Get Info window.
(109318)

How do I get iTunes songs which were downloaded from external back-up drive to play on new computer and is there a way to get my play lists back?

When I try to play a song from my re-installed iTunes library, I get the error message: "Song xxx could not be played because original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" > "Locate" or "Cancel." When I click on "Locate" I can't figure out how to get the song to play from any of the places that were "located." The path is C:\users\Janet\libraries\music\iTunes
However, iTunes songs chosen from my library will play in iTunes (current version) when I have the external back-up drive plugged in! I recently copied my backed-up iTunes library from my external back-up drive to a new computer.
Most of the songs, but not all, magically appear in Windows Media Player and I can play those just fine.
I can see my iTunes library in the newest version of iTunes, recently downloaded to new computer, but can't play songs without connecting to the external back-up drive - so maybe there is something else on that external drive that needs to be on my C: drive?
I am using an HP Pavillion Notebook, Windows 7, 64-bit. My previous computer was Windows Vista. Before Vista, I had XP.
Back when I had XP, I wanted to purchase some songs to download to my computer. Because iTunes had the ability, I used it to create a massive library of songs, most of which were ripped from my CDs. I don't have an iPod and iTunes worked fine for creating playlists and then burning them to CDs.
Also, I'd like to know if there is a way to get back my playlists.
And another thing - in the older version of iTunes, there was a folder in the lists on the left-hand side of the screen where I could click to see all the songs I had purchased. I'd like to get that ability back if possible.
In hindsight, iTunes was probably not the best choice for me to build my music library in a Windows operating system, but it seemed to be the best choice at the time. I really wish I could convert all the songs to mp3 format.
I have been working with computers since the days of DOS, black and white screens, and no mice. The first computer I bought for my own use at home was a Mac and it had "Flying Toasters" as a screensaver. (I miss that screensaver.) It did not have a tower and I believe they called it a laptop, even though the thing was as big as a suitcase and probably weighed around 30 pounds. However, I am by no means a computer expert. In other words, pretend you're trying to tell your mother how to do what I am asking. =)
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

I copied the iTunes file from the external drive and it's in both places. I thought all I would need is the iTunes program (which I downloaded to new computer) and my iTunes library file. There must be something else that's missing. My iTunes library looks the same on the new computer as it does when I open it on the external drive. If I click on an iTunes library song from my new computer, it will only play if I have the external drive plugged in.
My back-up drive is a mess. I have multiple copies of music, video, photo, and document files and I don't know how that happened. ={ Obviously, I don't know how to back up stuff properly and there are back-up files extending over a 6- to 8-year period. I think all I did was just drag and drop the main folders from the back-up drive to the same main folders on the C: drive. Also (and I'm kind of fuzzy on this) Windows used to automatically save music files in a folder within my document files (which makes no sense to me). As my Jewish friends would say, "Oy Vey!"

Time machine did not back up photos

When I was preparing to upgrade from Mountain Lion to Mavericks, I heeded advice and purchased an external drive and backed up my iMac with Time Machine. I was very glad I did, because I encountered the 'There is a problem with your hard disc' message, so, I had to erase the hard drive and restore from Time Machine.
I felt very proud that I had been, for once, wise before the event, so I did not lose any of my important data.
That was a month ago.
Today, I decided to change my desktop picture and found no photographs available. When I opened iPhoto, it indicated that there were no libraries and prompted me to create a new one. No worries, I thought; the photos will all be on my external hard disc because of my prudence. But they were not there, as you, Dear Reader, will already have guessed.
I have looked at various Q & A discussions (here and elsewhere) and it seems at best that Time Machine is idisyncratic - and there are indications that it will not back up photos. This is despite the statement on the Apple website that says: 'Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, email messages, music, photos, movies, and documents.'
So, is there a solution to this? Am I missing something important? Or am I justified to feel outraged that I was fooled into thinking that a back-up would save my data for me to retrieve in the event of a crash, or the need to erase the hard disc? Is it simply a way of making people buy into iLife?
Please rescue me from my new-found cynicism

If it's true that the iPhoto library wasn't backed up, then it must have been excluded from your backups for some reason. Check the exclusion settings in the Time Machine preference pane. Even if you find nothing there, it's still possible for files to be excluded for other reasons, but that won't help you recover the lost data.
You can use Spotlight to search your backups:
Recover items using Time Machine and Spotlight

HT201250 How can you just back up photos. 2000 of them

How can you just back up photos with Time Machine. 2000 of them

peterz911 wrote:
I am a photographer and trying to backup my photos. I would be using Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 , 1TB.
I am very computer illeriate so please dumb it down so I understand.
Hook up the Seagate drive (don't use their software) to the Mac and a TimeMachine window should appear, click yes and let it work for hours until completed. Hook up occassionally and it will backup your entire boot drive.
If you need to format the drive, open Disk Utiltiy in your Applications > Utilities folder, click on your new drive on the left and Partition, 1, Option GUID and OS X Extended Journaled as the format and click apply.
You should get another external drive, this will be your storage drive for a duplicate of all your photo's.
Connect it to the Mac, format it the same way as above, then you need to drag and drop your photo's to it.
If your photo's are in iPhoto, then inside your Pictures folder is a iPhoto Library, drag and drop it onto the icon of the external storage drive every time you want to make a backup.
The first time you drag and drop, it will copy it.
The next time you do it, it will ask if you want to replace the iPhoto Library with the new one.
If your sure you want to do this, then say YES.
If you want to make multiple dated backups of the iPhoto Library, double click on the external hard drive icon and it will open into a window.
Use the Finder > New Folder and you can click on the name and change the type to date, then drag the more recent copy of iPhoto Library to that folder.
This way you can have more than one copy of the iPhoto Library on the external storage drive at the same time as they are in folders. This way you can create a archive of dated photo's.
Good Luck, and take a class or have someone teach you about basic OS X user interface.

Imovie: Can't make external back-ups. Keep getting error code -36

Hope someone can help. I'm trying to make back-up copies of my movies by saving them to an external harddrive. However each movie gets to a certain stage and the stops with the message 'error code -36'. I've tried two different drives and both ubs and firewire connections but still no luck. What's really odd is that I had no problems until recently with the same drive. I suspect there is something wrong with the drivers for the ports - but how do you reinstall them? I only have the system back-up disc.
Any suggestions gratefully received!!

Its the Iomega Ultramax drive that Apple sells and comes pre-formatted. Also I dont think that's the problem as it used to work, but not any more. It's still possible to back-up photos - its just movies it doesnt like. it gets to the same clip each time and up pops the error code. Have checked the clip and its just video footage nothing more. Have reinstalled the operating system but has made no difference.

Backing up photos to a flash drive

How do I back up photos in i photo to a flash drive and still keep them in their various folders?
Can this indeed be done ? Or do I need an external hard drive for such a back up?
Thanks.
Indigo7

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. If your library is small enough just drag the iPhoto Library package to the flash drive. That will backup your entire library and it's organizational structure.
If you just want the original files then open the iPhoto Library package and copy the Originals folder to the flash drive. That will give you your original files in folders representing each event in the library. However, you will not keep keywords, titles or descriptions.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) 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 created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), 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 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.≤br>
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Backing up photos, themes etc

What is the best method for backing up photos to an external HD. Preferably in a manner that maintain all information on themes etc. Also after the initial backup is complete, what is the best way to update the backup with new photos & other changes in information etc?
Many thanks

Saundg
Use a back up utility like Chronosync (http://www.econtechnologies.com) or DejaVu (http://propagandaprod.com/). Either of these apps will make a copy of the Library and afterwards update the copy incrementally - that is, with your changes rather than copying the entire library each time. There are other apps that will do this too: search on Macupdate - but whatever utility to use, make sure it can parse the Library Package file... not all back up utilities are equal to the task.
Regards
TD

Time Machine stopped backing up photos in iPhoto

My Time Machine picked a time late this summer and ended its function of backing up photos for restoration. After this date photos viewed in Time Machine's "backup" pages are a white sheet with title and a folded top right corner while okay in "Now". Corrupted or empty file? I tried, and those after the date do no backups, however those before the date can backup once after which they also turn blank, white & droopy in the "backup" dated pages.
Checked Mail and documents and they displayed properly and backed up regardless of the offending date.
Tried:
1. reboot
2. Disk Utility/ check & repair permissions, and check disk on my OWC Time Machine external drive.
3. Rebuild Photo Library: Everything but rebuild the iPhoto library database from automatic backup and reclaim unused disk space from databases (I dont know the unintended surprises these actions might have)
iMac osx 10.8.5
OWC On-The-Go (SATA)
I'm very slow checking things out on my own… what direction should I look to speed things up?
David

Thanks Brendon,
Due to my error the thread goes here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5501845
Solved my problem with software updates: Mountain Lion to Mavericks and iPhoto '09 to '11 and then learning how to use Time Machine.
See the link for info on how to restore single photos, contrary to a bulletin claiming only whole libraries can be restored.
David

Backing up photos without backing up the whole library

Is it possible to back up a few albums from the iphoto library to an external drive and maintain the original photo dates? I am trying to back up photos without copying the whole iphoto library each time but whenever I try to export a few photos or albums, the original date the photo was taken is lost and just today's date appears for the file.

File -> Export is the way to do what you want.
I am trying to back up photos without copying the whole iphoto library each time
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. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate
but whenever I try to export a few photos or albums, the original date the photo was taken is lost and just today's date appears for the file.
They're not.
There are two kinds of metadata involved when you consider jpeg or other image file.
One is the file data. This is what the Finder shows. This tells you nothing about the contents of the file, just the File itself.
The problem with File metadata is that it can easily change as the file is moved from place to place or exported, e-mailed, uploaded etc.
Photographs have also got both Exif and IPTC metadata. The date and time that your camera snapped the Photograph is recorded in the Exif metadata. Regardless if what the file date says, this is the actual time recorded by the camera.
Photo applications like iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, Picasa, Photoshop etc get their date and time from the Exif metadata.
When you export from iPhoto to the Finder new file is created containing your Photo (and its Exif). The File date is - quite accurately - reported as the date of Export. However, the Photo Date doesn't change.
The problem is that the Finder doesn't work with Exif.
So, your photo has the correct date, and so does the file, but they are different things. To sort on the Photo date you'll need to use a photo app.
Regards
TD

Externally backing up photos

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