How do I export all my Iphoto photos to my external hard drive, maintaining their current state?

So I did the classic click and drag method, putting all my photos into my external hard drive, fast and easy. But what I noticed was that no information about the pictures was kept, no dates, locations etc. If you drag one picture the information comes with it, but not if you take a bunch at the same time. Then the original date is replaced by today's. I've got over 20.000 photos and I really want them on my hard drive, can someone please help me out here?

Export them using the appropriate options to include the desired metadata - see the user tip on exporting for details on eachoption
As to date - you probably are confusing the file date with the photo date - two totally different things - the photos date is internal to the photo in the EXIF data and is view using photo viewing software like preview or iPhoto - the file date it only concerned with th efile information and is views with file viewer software like nder
LN

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How do I transfer all my iPhoto contents from my external hard drive back to my MacBookPro iPhoto?

My MacBook Pro recently had to have it's software cleared completely by a genius at the apple store. I purchased an external hard drive to save all of my documents and photos safely on so I would not lose them. I now am having difficulty reloading all of my iPhoto contents back onto my laptop from my external hard drive. Has anyone else experienced this? Will my iPhoto library go back to it's original appearance with all of the special albums I had made and the way in which I organized my photos and videos? How do I find what folders my photos were saved on my external hard drive to drag back onto my laptops iPhoto library?

iPhoto stores it's pictures in the Pictures/iPhoto Library, so if you have this backed up on a external drive, then it's a simple matter of replacing the new iPhoto Library (free of anything) with the copy of the older one on the external drive and running iPhoto.
If you have some items in the new iPhoto Library you can export them to the Desktop until the old one is replaced and then reimport them. Also another mehtod is to right click on the iPhoto Library and "Show Package Contents" inside is a folder called "Originals" which contain your files.
If you replaced the files and iPhoto doesn't open up, then reset it.
iPhoto rebuild database: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2638
You might want to consider not having your movies in iPhoto, it's not designed to handle too much, in fact 10,000 pictures of mine seem to overload it.
You can keep seperate iPhoto Libraries, use the option key held at launching of iPhoto to select another iPhoto Library.

HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

How do I move my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to my new Mac?

Hi guys!
I recently bought a new MacBook Air as my MacBook Pro was on its last legs... I have my backup for my old MacBook Pro on an external hard drive and I'm trying to put a selection of albums from my old iPhoto onto my new MacBook Air iPhoto. I can't simply click and drag it over as I get an error message "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library...". I've tried to reopen iPhoto while holding option and selecting my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to open... AND I get the same message.
If anyone could help me out that would be amazing!
FYI: The hard drive I am using is a G|Drive mobile with Thunderbolt 1 TB.
Thank you very much in advance!
Cheers,
Kendall

I may sound like a real rookie here, but on my new MacBook Air there isn't a "Pictures" folder under "Users/kendallwilson" like there used to be on my old MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I'm still working out the new software on my MB Air, so where exactly should I open this new window to start following the steps you just provided me.
Thanks again!

Hard Drive crashed. How do I retrieve my old iPhoto files from the external hard drive I had used to backup?

My computer was logged in using my Apple ID. I was out of town when my hard drive crashed, so my wife took it in to get replaced. When doing so the person at the Apple store helping her had her create a new Apple ID to use with the computer. Now, when I open time machine I don't see anything from before this hard drive crashed. How do I get access to my old photos from iPhoto that should have been backed up on the external hard drive?

Sorry I am unclear where the backup is located.. On a time capsule??
Recovery of iphoto library you need to use pondini.
Q15 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
He has a separate page for iphoto.

How do I access the music on photos on my external hard drive, on my MBA?

I bought a 64Gb MBA slightly used, and knew the space wasn't going to be enough for my music and photos, so I bought an external hard drive, (the iomega helium), thinking that I could just load it with my pics and music, and access it from there, when I wanted to view the pics and music on my MBA when I wanted to. Well, I loaded the libraries onto the EHD, and upon opening both iTunes and iPhoto up, can't figure out how I access them off the EHD. Any help?
Also, on the first version of the MBA trackpad, how do I right click? Thanks in advance!

Well, I loaded the libraries onto the EHD, and upon opening both iTunes and iPhoto up, can't figure out how I access them off the EHD.
Launch the applications with the Option key held down, and click on Choose Library if you've created a full library on that drive. If not, create one and import the content.
Also, on the first version of the MBA trackpad, how do I right click?
Click here and perform a secondary click, or control-click an item.
(47982)

How can I back up an IPhoto library from one external hard drive to another?

Hey Folks, WIth your help I have consolidated my IPhoto libraries using IPhoto Library Manager. I'm storing it on an external hard drive because I have run out of space on my Macbook Pro. Now I'd like to back it up. I have another large external hard drive that is set to perform Time Machine backups on my Macbook. Is there a way to ALSO use it to perform occasional backups of my IPhoto library which, as I mentioned, is not kept on the Macbook itself? Thanks in advance, David

I do not understand your question
The basic answer is that TM backes up everything that is not excluded - it backsup to the TM backup - it can not backup any files that are on the TM backup volume - only those on other volumes
To remove an item form the excluded list select the item and click the "-" button
See te FAQs for many more details - http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Se the Apple article for basic set up and details - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
LN

Backing up iPhoto photos to an external hard drive

I don't have enough space on my macbook to back my pictures up onto it. I am wanting to back up my pictures from my iphoto onto an external hard drive. Is this possible?
thank you for your help

You've made an error and posted this in the iPhone forum.

What is the easiest way to move all my iPhone photos to an external hard drive?

How can I manually backup the enormous collection of photos clogging my iPhone 4?
Syncing with iTunes sounds like I'd be doing just the opposite -- and actualy adding to my iPhone's image girth.
On my laptop, I work primarily with PS Elements, iPhoto, and Aperture.
Thanks
PHT

These are two possible approaches that will normally work to move an existing library to a new computer.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entire iTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
Both methods should give the new computer a working clone of the library that was on the old one. As far as iTunes is concerned this is still the "home" library for your devices so you shouldn't have any issues with iTunes wanting to erase and reload.
I'd recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library.
Note if you have failed to move contacts and calendar items across you should create one dummy entry of each in your new profile and iTunes should merge the existing data from the device.
If your media folder has been split out from the main iTunes folder you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See make a split library portable.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library or a backup then then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for advice on how to set up your devices with a new library with the maximum preservation of data.
tt2

Lost all the orginal photos on an external hard drive. Can I do anything with the images in the library?

I recently had an external; drive die which had the only copy of the orginal files for a referenced library in iPhoto. I can still see the images in iPhoto but can't do anything with them becuase the program says it can't find the orginal. Clearly there are images stored somewhere in the system does anyone know of a way to extract them to recover the lost images?

It gives you a new library from yorr previews - do it by depressing the option key and launching iphoto - create a new library - open it and drag each folder form the priviews folder of you old library to the iPhoto window
And I strongly suggest that you make this a default managed library - and that you start backing up before you lose these too
LN

Viewing photos in iPhoto 5 from an external hard drive

I have copied all of my photos onto my external hard drive. I can see all the contents perfectly well. The trouble seems to be with iPhoto.
The only option I can find is Add to Library which then asks me which photos I want to import into iPhoto. The point is, I don't want to import them, I just want to look at them. Is there any way to do this?
If not, any recommendations on another program I can use to view them/slideshows/etc.
Thank you!
Molly

Hi there,
Try this: Hold OPTION key down and open iPhoto > you will get a dialog box > quit - create - choose > choose locate and navigate to your external...
Things to remember, make sure your external is connected & mounted and is showing up in finder...
Rick
iMac G5 iSight 20" - 30G iPOD & Hot Pink Nano 4G - WD 500G FW - Mac OS X (10.4.8) - HP Pav 15" WS and Toshiba Sat 17" WS LP's - Canon 20D & A620 Kodak P880

How do I download all my photos onto an external hard drive intact without loosing iPhoto's features, important info and details? I need to delete pictures and files to make room in My mac's memory which is currently full.

Hi
How do I download all my photos onto an external hard drive intact without loosing iPhoto's features, important info and details? I need to delete pictures and files to make room in My mac's memory which is currently full.
Maro

So you want to move the iPhoto Library?
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

I copied my iPhoto library to an external hard drive and all the event windows are black. Once you click on a square the photos are still there. How do I fix that?

I copied my iPhoto library to an external hard drive and the event windows show up black.
The photos are still there once I click on an event but they don't show in the window.
My next step is to delete the iPhoto library from the internal memory to free some memmory space but I don't want to do this until I see that the library works fine on the external hard drive.
How do I fix that?

Hold down the "option" + "command" keys and launch iPhoto.
Select the "Rebuild Thumbnails" choice.

I have iPhoto 11 on my macbook. I want to export photos to another iPhoto library on an external hard drive. How can I do this.

I have run out of space on my internal hard drive on my macbook and I want to create another iPhoto library on an external hard drive using most of the photographs already on the hard drive.
I did this easily on an old G4 mac and an old version of iphoto. I simply imported the photographs from the library already on the hard drive to the new library I created on the external hard drive.
It does not seem to be possible to do the same thing using iPhoto 11.
I have no idea where to find the files on the mac to do it the more direct way by just importing the files.
Any ideas?

Here's one way to do what you want:
1. Quit iPhoto.
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the external drive.
Now you have two full copies of the Library. To choose between them: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
3. On the Internal Library, remove the pics you don't want with you all the time.
Now you have one full library on the external and another smaller sub-set on the Internal.
A couple of comments:
a. The external disk needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
b: When you're removing the unwanted pics from the Internal Library you need to delete them in batches of about 100 or so. Trashing more at one time can cause problems with the database.
c: Managing Multiple Libraries - including moving pics/albums/rolls and metadata between them - is greatly facilitated by using iPhoto Library Manager

Iphoto: How to safely delete or move photos. I have over 7000 photos. When I deleted some, I found that the event still shows up with a blank frame. Can I move some photos to an external hard drive but leave the pointer in iphoto?

iphoto: How to safely delete or move photos. I have over 7000 photos. I would really like to move tsome of the older photos to an external hard drive. (They are backed up in Time Machine, but I like the immediacy of having them available.) So question 1 - is it possible to split the iphoto library so that the directory tree points to an external drive in some cases? And if that doesn't work--I am willing to export and delete some of these photos. However, an earlier delete left me with events that have a name in the event folder, but no photos. Question 2 -- How do I properly delete photos so that all references disappear?
example:

Warning: Time Machine is not an Archiving application. It keeps rolling back ups. That means if you delete something from the source Mac it will eventually be also deleted from Time Machine. How long that takes depends on the amount of disk space TM has. So, remember, backing up in Time Machine is not the same as Archiving.
For the blank thumbnails: This can happen if you try delete too many photos at one go. Experienced users suggest you should delete in batches of 100 or so.
Yes you can split the Library, where some of the Masters are stored locally and some on an external disk, but really, you don't want to do that. iPhoto's file management tools are limited at best, and if the path to the files changes then you could find yourself repairing the links to the files - all of them, one by one.
Better: Have your entire Library on an External Drive.
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.
If you want to have a smaller library on your internal disk:
Here's one way to do what you want:
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.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager
Regards
TD

How do I export all my Iphoto photos to my external hard drive, maintaining their current state?

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