How do I backup photos to an external drive (like a passport drive)

I have photos in  iphoto that I want to backup on an external drive.  What process do I use?

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
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

Similar Messages

  • HOw to backup photos on an external drive

    I have an Imac and i store my photos on an external drive.
    I just purchased a second external drive to use as a backup for the photo external drive. I plan to use Time Machine to backup the Imac.
    How do I backup the photos on the external drive to the second external drive
    thanks

    Yes, dragging them over should do nicely. As for formatting, this is the procedure I use and an explanation as to why. It's slanted toward preparing a drive for Time Machine backups, but it doesn't hurt to do the same for any drive you will be using with the Mac OS. "Glasses", Kappy, and V.K. might have some other suggestions as well.
    *_How Should a Time Machine Hard Disk be Prepared?_*
    For Time Machine to work properly, the hard disk must be formatted “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and its’ Partition Scheme should be either GUID or Apple Partition Map.
    Time Machine is incompatible with disks partitioned as Master Boot Record (MBR). Unfortunately, this describes nearly every hard drive you can buy because MBR is a Windows partition scheme. (Naturally, this DOES NOT apply to Apples’ Time Capsule.)
    For some, Time Machine begins to perform as expected with a new external hard disk. But then the initial full backup or subsequent incremental backups fail. The user only later discovers the hard disk was still partitioned as Master Boot Record (MBR).
    One article on Time Machine made this observation: “Virtually everybody will have to open Disk Utility and repartition the disk as APM or GUID. It doesn't really matter which one because the Time Machine disk will not be bootable anyway. APM allows a disk to boot a PowerPC, GUID allows the disk to boot an Intel processor but both are easily digestible by Time Machine on either kind of processor.” [http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html]
    It’s been recommended by many here that your reserve +at least+ double the size of your primary hard disk, that way Time Machine backups have room to grow as the size of your data grows. Additionally, the more space you give Time Machine the more history it can preserve. The less space you reserve for Time Machine the sooner older backups & deleted items will disappear.
    One poster recommended this regarding multiple partitions: “If you do create multiple partitions (half and half would be a good place to start), make sure you use the first partition for Time Machine, and the second for your own stuff (the first one will be on top in the graphical representation shown in Disk Utility; you'll understand when you see the partition tab). This way, you can expand the Time Machine volume at any later time by deleting the second partition. Disk Utility allows this dynamic re-sizing of volumes, but volumes can only be expanded toward the end of the drive, when a volume that comes after is deleted to create the room.” [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1712437&tstart=0]
    Procedure
    Connect the hard disk you wish to use for Time Machine backups.
    Launch Disk Utility.
    It will appear twice in the pane on the left. (Make sure you recognize that it is different from the 2 icons that represent your Macs' internal drive.) The upper entry represent the device as a whole, including the controller inside. The lower entry represents the hard disk contained within the device.
    Click on the upper icon of the external hard disk.
    Select the "Partition" tab.
    For "Volume Scheme" choose "1 partition". (Choose 2 partitions if you intend on storing other data on the disk besides your Time Machine backups. Ensure that the two partitions have different names.)
    Name the disk.
    Format should be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
    Click "Options".
    Select either GUID or Apple Partition Map. (See above for significance)
    Click "OK".
    Click "Apply". Then click “Partition”.
    Once the external hard disk is repartitioned, select it again in Time Machine preferences and use it for your backups. If you chose to create 2 partitions, then select the first partition for Time Machine backups, and the second for additional files/folders.
    Let us know if this was helpful.
    Cheers!

  • I've loaded my iphoto with 10k pics-How do I backup photos to an external?

    I'm still on iphoto4 because I have no space to install iphoto6 ! I have an ibook 60 gb, and I am up to 52 gb because I have 10,000 pictures on my iphoto. (I've even erased my itunes for the time being!).
    I want to backup my library to an external drive so that I free enough space to install iphoto6, then restore some of the more recent photos I have. What is the best way to do this? I'm a dot mac member so I have Backup, but haven't used it yet, and have a portable 80gb Firelite. Should I back up using this program, or do I drag my whole album into the Firelite icon ont he desktop? Approximately how long will it take? I tried it yesterday and it took more than an hour so I just quit the backup.
    Meanwhile, my iphoto is acting up--it takes so long to start a slideshow after I've clicked on it (2-3 minutes), and when it does, it sometimes hangs in mid-slideshow. Some albums will play only the first slide and then quit. Why is this happening? is it because of the amount of photos I have on it? Or is my mac going to crash soon? ohno..please don't!
    Thank you for any info you can share with me on these concerns.

    Thanks for those leads and tips. Have read all those...now that I seem to know how to do it--
    my next question would be: what is the best and efficient way to archive photos, to be used again later in iphoto when I need certain rolls only, and not the whole library displayed. What have been some of your "best practices".
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  • Backup photos from 1 external drive to another

    New to Lightroom. Currently backing up total Mac system with Time Machine onto 500GB external drive, but my internal 250GB HDD space is shrinking due to large Lightroom files. Response time getting pretty bad too. I read on forum that I should not use TimeMachine to backup Lightroom photos, so I'll stop doing that.
    I only have 2000 photos on Lightroom so far (mostly DNG), but plan to import 17,000 from iPhoto ASAP, and another 10,000 from other files, with another 2000 annually.
    I bought two 1TB external drives (firewire 800), planning to move all photos onto one and backup the photos on the other. (still plan to use 500GB external drive as TimeMachine backup for the rest of the iMac data and system). I plan to daisy chain all 3 HDD drives, but what steps in LIghtroom should I take to move and setup the new Lightroom backup scheme? And then, what cyclical procedures should I follow?
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    iMac24                                                                                            Mac OS X (10.5.7)                                                                                            2.16 GHz, INtel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 250GB internal HDD, Canon 9950 scanner, Canon IP3400 printer   

    Thanks to both you guys. For performance reasons, I decided to keep catalog and previews on internal drive, and move photos to the external HDD.  I installed new external drives, and using LR "new folder" technique John suggested, I created a "2009" folder and subfolder, but when I chose photos to move to new subfolder folder, I get this warning:
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    I have previously modified (using Develop tab functions) many of the photos that I am moving. When I move, will the non-destructive capability be lost? In other words, will I lose the ability to change back to original state of the photos? If so, how can I maintain this ability? I've made changes on hundreds of these 2,000 photos, but worst case, I can go back and recreate the original status of the photos if I have to, but it would be more work, so is there is a way around this?

  • How to copy referenced photos from dodgy external drive to new drive when whole file will not copy due to error 36.

    My external WD portable passport drive must be dodgy because I can't back it up or clone it or copy 3 of my 22 photo files to a new portable drive. I get error 36 as I attempt all 3 processes. I have copied my iPhoto library, iMovie events and most of my aperture referenced photos to the new drive. But cannot copy 3 files that contain the corrupted files showing just a grey triangle. I cannot delete or move to trash the corrupted raw photos.
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    Bw

    I've worked out how to copy and reconnect individual photos.
    But can see that what's happening is that heavily edited raw photos are taking ages to load. Or not loading at all. And if opened go to the spinning wheel for 5-10 minutes. I am wondering whether to compress these or take them back to the originals or any other ideas would be very welcome.
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  • How do I transfer photos from an external drive, taken from a defunct computer with Snow Leopard, to one operating with Mountain Lion?

    My late 2007 MacBook Pro, with a replacement 500 GB drive and updated to Snow Leopard, died.  The extracted drive works in an external drive case, so all the files are there.  Most of the files were transferred from a time machine backup to a new MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion.  However, about a week's worth of files were missing from the Time Machine backup, due to traveling.  I would like to copy just those files, mostly pictures, from the original drive to the new system.  However, when I try to use iPhoto to get to the image files on the external drive, the system says the iPhoto information must be updated to the new system and, once done, they cannot be accessed with an old one.    One concern is that updating the iPhoto information on the external drive might go wrong and make the files inaccessible.  If there were some way to just have the underlying image files identified and copied, that would be most comfortable for me. .Any advice?

    1 - updating your iPhoto library does not make photos inaccessible - it does update the iPhoto database so that you have to have the current version of iPhoto to open the library - however the photos are in the database and can be accessed via the finder anytime
    2 - you do not memtion what version of iPhoto you had - the original photos are in the masters (or original) folder which can be accessed by right clicking on the iPhoto library and showing package contents - Be sure NOT to make any changes to the library)
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  • How do I view photos in an external drive using iphoto

    I want to view my photos stored on an external drive using iphoto. How do I do that?

    iPhoto is not a photo viewer, it's a photo manager with non-destructive processing. If you want a photo viewer, check put Preview.

  • 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)

  • The memory on my MAC is full. It holds 4GB of RAM of which 79GB are photos. I would like to back up my photos to an external drive but just don not know how. I do not wish to use time machine. How do I back up my photo library, then delete the them t

    The memory on my MAC is full. It holds 4GB of RAM of which 79GB are photos. I would like to back up my photos to an external drive but just do not know how. I do not wish to use time machine. How do I back up my photo library, then delete them from my MAC to free up that 79GB? Thank you.

    Hi
    Just to clarify a couple of points in your post.
    RAM (memory) is different from hard drive space. You have 4GB of RAM, but that has no bearing on the amount of drive space you have, of which we know that 79GB are photos.
    If those photos are in iPhoto, you should be able to move the entire iPhoto Library, from the Pictures folder, to your external hard drive. You can just drag and drop. Do not have iPhoto open while you're doing this. Once it's done, you can double-click on the moved iPhoto Library file to associate it with iPhoto, so that the app remembers where the library is for next time.
    One more thing. When you move a file to a different location, and then delete the original, you don't have a backup. You still only have one copy. So if that external drive dies, you will lose all your photos. Time Machine is a very good way to prevent this from happening. You should dedicate a different drive for Time Machine backups.
    Matt

  • How can I transfer files from one external HD (WD My Passport) to another external HD (Seagate Backup Plus)?  WD drive was improperly ejected and Finder no longer recognizes it.  Tried fixing with Disk Utility but failed.

    How can I transfer files from one external HD (WD My Passport 2T) to another external HD (Seagate Backup Plus 2T)?  WD drive was improperly ejected (although we did tell it to eject) and now Finder no longer recognizes it.   Using MacBook Pro and I just upgraded to Yosemite before this happened. Was told at Apple Store to use Disk Utility to repartition, but it failed.  It says to backup files and restore.  But how do I backup files?  Or would appreciate any other suggestions to repair drive.

    You may drag & drop between external hds. 
    Should you run into trouble.
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  • I have been storing my music and photos in an external drive how to I transfer them to Time Capsule now that I acquired one?

    I have been storing my music and photos in an external drive to save disk space in my computer. Now that I purchased the Time Capsule what do I have to do to transfer such files to my time capsule?

    I have been storing my music and photos in an external drive to save disk space in my computer
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  • TS4036 how do i backup photos and music from my computer to icloud

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  • How Do I Keep My Photos on an external drive?

    I was using an external drive to store my iPhoto Library.  When I clicked it to convert it to the Photo app, I started seeing my laptop's hard drive space slowly ticking down.  I had no option to keep my photos on my external drive, it seemed they where transferring over to my computer.  I don't see where they are saved on my laptops hard drive either?  Any recommendations how I can convert my library without bogging down my laptop?
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    My iPhoto library was on an external drive.  I just dragged and dropped that library onto Photos and Photos then made its own library on the same external drive.  Photos does not convert your iPhoto library but makes a whole new library with all your photos.  You end up with both libraries and, if drive space is an issue, you may need to trash and empty trash the old iPhoto library.

  • How do I import photos to a external hard drive vs. mac hd?

    I want to import photos into a external drive. The only information I can find talks about importing into iphoto library( on Mac hd). My drive will fill up too quickly. I need to import to a external drive, then import to iphoto without a copy. I basically only want a pointer to the external drive.

    Hello, 4check,
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    If you already have your iPhoto Library on your computer's drive, you can just drag it onto the the external drive, open iPhoto and when it asks you to locate the library, again just select the one on the external drive.
    By the way, be sure the drive is Mac-formatted before you put anything onto it.
    If you put iPhotoLibrary on an external drive, you will still need a backup method.

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