Help! Can't copy iPhoto pics to external hard drive anymore

All of a sudden, I can no longer drag pics from iPhoto to my external hard drive. I've done this with no problem for at least six months, and now, can't do it. The hard drive is a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5 TB. It has a 3.0 USB cord. No issues up until now. I can still drag music to the external with no issues, but fro some reason, not photos. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The interesting thing is that for the first year I have had the external hard drive, this was my routine:
1. Have iPhoto and External Hard Drive both open
2. Create and name folder on EHD
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.
This isn't much more, but I guess I'm wondering what happenend on my EHD or iPhoto to make the "drag and drop" inaccessible all of a sudden?

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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.”

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

Can't copy files to an external hard-drive - help??

Hi all,
My problem originally stems from the never-ending issue of using external hard-drives with a Mac (this is a huge downside to owning a Mac by the way, so if TPTB are reading this they need to fix it!). My Toshiba hard-drive was being used as my Time Machine, until a few months ago when it stopped being recognised by my Mac. Because it doesn't show up in Finder or Disc Utility when I plug it in (even though the lights are on and I can hear the power running in it), I haven't been able to re-format it to make it useable again (assuming that would work). So I basically have a £80+ tea cup holder.....
Because of this, I decided this week to use my WD hard-drive to manually back up some files on my computer, since Time Machine hasn't been able to run since March. However, when I copy the files I want to move over, "Paste" is not showing up as an option on my WD drive (it's greyed out). I can't drag and drop the files as I get the circle with a line through it when I try, and I don't want to anyway as I don't want the files removed from my computer.
Can someone advise me on what to do? The WD drive is showing up, and it has space to accept these files, so if I can get the paste option to work we'd be ready to rock and roll! One of the folders I want to copy is my Music folder, and given it's size I know this will take hours to do, but it should be showing the paste option, shouldn't it? I'm running a Macbook Pro that's less than a year old, and all the software bits are up to date.
(Of course, if Apple would fix the stupid hard-drive issue then I wouldn't be having any of the problems..... GRRRRRR!)
Thanks in advance,
Millie

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)

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.

Can't Open iPhoto Library on External Hard Drive

Hi, please help!
I currently have 2 iPhoto libraries. 1 is on my external hard drive- and isn't recognized by iPhoto anymore. And the other is a newer one, on my internal hard drive.
Here's what I did:
I copied my entire iPhoto library to my external hard drive (it is a Seagate, Mac OS extended drive) a few months ago, and I went ahead and deleted my iPhoto library on my internal hard drive. Then I started importing new photos from my camera, and a new iphoto library was created automatically on my internal hard drive.
I tried to access photos from my old library yesterday by plugging my external hard drive in, and by hitting the "option" key when opening iphoto. Unfortunately, when I search for the library on my external HD, the only items that appear are music. None of my loose photos or my iphoto library are recognized by iPhoto.
Anyone have a fix for this? iPhoto doesn't recognize that any jpgs/photos are on my hard drive, but when I go through finder- I can see my library, as well as many other jpgs stored on my hard drive.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Sounds like iPhoto is not seeing a valid database there.
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

How can I copy files from one external hard drive to another, without erasing anything?

Hi,
I have video and photo files on one hard drive. I'd like to keep that one intact but also copy all the files to a second external hard drive. When I try to do so, I can't figure out how to open both hard drives at once. (If I open one, it closes the other window.)
Thanks for your help!
CB

Open a finder window and open up one harddrive. Then go to file>new finder window. This way you can have two finders up and select a different harddrive in each one. Then just copy and paste the files.
Hope it helps!
Ryan

Can't transfer iPhoto Library FROM external hard drive to iMac

I just bought a new iMac. Before I said goodbye to my old computer (a MacBook), I dutifully backed up my iPhoto library onto an external hard drive. Upon setting up my iMac, I easily accessed the iPhoto library on my HD, but I didn't import it. I was able to see all photos, albums, etc.
But when I went to import the entire iPhoto library into my iMac's hard drive (into the Pictures folder), it wouldn't import. A mesage comes up that says "Preparing to copy" and the blue-and-white bar just spins and spins, without actually copying anything. So, it's weird -- there's clearly communication between iMac and external HD, but I can't take the iPhoto library off the hard drive to make it my new computer's iPhoto library.
Any hints? Thanks.

Have you tried restarting your machine?

Can't open iphoto library from external hard drive

I'm backing up my enormous iPhoto library to two external hard drives in order to free up space on my computer. Before deleting the photos permanently from the laptop, I wanted to double-check that the copies of the library I made on the two externals would actually work on another computer, should something happen to my laptop. When I plug my external hard drive into my laptop and use option+click on iPhoto to choose which library I want to use, it opens up the library from the external just fine, no problems. However, when I plug the same external into a different Mac computer and do the same process, I get the immensely frustrating message of "You can't open photo library blah blah blah changes have been made using newer version of iPhoto". However, both my laptop and the second computer are running the exact same version of iPhoto (the most recent), so that can't (or at least shouldn't) be the problem. I found suggestions to rebuild the library, which I did, but the same result occurs. I double-checked to be sure that neither computer needed updates (they didn't).
When I plug one of the externals into the second computer, though, I can open up the package contents of iPhoto library and all the photos are visible, so I know the information is all there. But I don't want to lose my albums, etc.
So do I just delete the copies of my library from the externals and try it all over again? I'd prefer not to, since I have 40,000+ photos, and that takes a while.

To reinforce what Larry pointed out both Macs must be running the same version of iPhoto. And the external HD must be formatted as shown in this screenshot:
and don't forget the ignore ownership.
OT

Can I install iPhoto on an external hard drive

My iMac is fully consumed with photos. I have no memory available. I was wondering if I purchased an external hard drive if I could completely remove iPhoto and all the pictures from my iMac and put the whole program with all the pictures on the drive? So I would have to open the EHD to even get to iPhoto, it wouldn't be in my regular applications folder. Pretty much I would use this EHD for the sole purpose of iPhoto editing and storage.

Click on the item named Pictures in the Finder's sidebar, drag the iPhoto Library to the external drive, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, point it there, and after verifying that it works properly, throw away the copy on the internal drive. The iPhoto application itself shouldn't be moved.
(43578)

Can't access iPhoto library on external hard drive (from Mavericks days) now that I'm running Yosemite on my Macbook.

I have an iPhoto library on an external hard drive (from when I had Mavericks), but now that I've upgraded to Yosemite, "Photos" won't open my iPhoto library. Ideas for how to import that iPhoto Library into Photos?

"Photos" won't open my iPhoto library. Ideas for how to import that iPhoto Library into Photos?
What is the file system of the external drive, and how is the drive connected? DO you get an error message? If yes, which message?
You can only open a library on a directly connected drive, formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). If the drive is correctly formatted, hold down the alt/options key while you are launching photos, and then select your library from the Library Chooser Panel.
If the library is not listed in the panel, use the "Other Library" button.

How to copy iPhoto library to external hard drive?

I have been trying to copy my iPhoto library to a Seagate external hard drive. I cannot seem to drag and drop the iPhoto library from a Finder box across to the external hard drive. The hard drive has enough space/capacity to hold the library contents but will not allow me to drag and drop. Any tips?

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
LN

How can i copy files on an external hard drive to time capsule drive

I just got a new time capsule 2TB 4th gen and want to copy all files from an already existing external hard drive. How do I do that?

See this Discussion from the More Like This Section on the Right...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15132660#15132660

How can I copy files from an external hard drive without creating copies on the disk?

I recently purchased a MacBook Air as part of a requirement for schoolwork. I decided to use it to sync music to my iPod and iPhone, and it worked perfectly well, however, i keep most of my music files on an external hard drive. Recently, it started sending me messages about the hard drive being almost full. I checked on the about this Mac screen, and it said that up to 95 gigabytes on the disk drive had been taken up by music. This was not my intention, as i had previously assumed the music was kept on my external hard drive as it had been on windows. I attempted to delete the folder, but it now said that my disk drive was taken up by "other" files. I want to still use my iTunes without these files copying. How?

Hi flyingroastchicken,
If the songs are being stored on your Mac, then make sure that the location of where the iTunes media is being store. Take a look at the article below to verify that you have it set up the way you want.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201562
Take it easy,
-Norm G.

Can't drag or drop into external hard drive anymore. Worked perfectly before.

I bought a Seagate external hard drive about a year ago. I reformatted it the moment I took it out of the box, plugged it into my laptop, and everything worked perfectly. I dragged and dropped as I liked, and nothing went wrong with it at all. Then I decided to restore my laptop to do a bit of spring cleaning, and suddenly, I can't drag anything INTO the hard drive or open any programs either. It shows up on my desktop and Finder. And I can take things OUT of it, thankfully, but I can't put anything into it, which is extremely frustrating because I use my hard drive as storage and backup.
I did a bit of looking around online, and people are saying that I'll need to reformat it (which I already did), but it'll erase everything in it. Because my hard drive holds almost 300 GB, I'm not too keen on doing that, because it will take AGES, and there's no confirmation that that will actually work. If you have any solutions, please help! And please go step by step as well--I'm absolutely no good with the tech language.

1. verify same on another Mac if possible.
2. Go to disk utility and check verify and repair on the drive and see if it checks out
3. You never should again even consider having a single external copy of you data, at any time for any reason, HD are too cheap to endanger your data like that.
4. Likely dead SATA bridge card, however I cant recall an instance in which communication was one way on an external with a dead SATA bridge card.
verify 1 and 2, and SMC reset your Mac and verify again
SMC reset
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.
Then I decided to restore my laptop to do a bit of spring cleaning,
Define what you did in your "restore" and spring cleaning.

Help! Can't copy iPhoto pics to external hard drive anymore

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