How do I save 2 iphoto libraries onto one external drive?

Hi
I have an iphoto library on my MacBook Pro and I have an older library of different photos on my graphite iBook.
I'd like to store all my photos onto one external drive.
How can I do this without losing either library in the process?
I actually have the same question regarding music on iTunes.
Thanks
AS

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Do you want to merge these libraries into one? If so, then you'll need the paid version ($20) of iPhoto Library Manager
It's the only way to merge Libraries while preserving all metadata, versions and so on.
Otherwise, simply rename one of the Libraries (so they don't overwite each other) and Copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder to the External Disk. in each case.
To choose which library to open: holf down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location.
Regards
TD

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How do I copy iphoto libraries from one external drive to another?

Two of three of my iPhoto's libraries could not be upgraded to Mavericks because there was not enough room on a partitioned external drive. How do I copy them to a larger external drive? ( Iphoto 11)

Drag them there. The volume they’re put onto needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended.
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What is the best way to consolidate Aperture and iPhoto libraries onto an external drive? I am just starting out and not used to Aperture filing system.

I would like to use the drive as storage/aperture backup rather than use it to back up my whole Macbook. Would like to keep the majority of the photo files on the ext. drive and be able to add files there directly. BUT, when workng in aperture would like to be able to select some from the ext. drive and work them on the laptop directly without having to have the ext drive attached.
So do i, have the aperture library path mapped to the ext drive, and then import the iphoto library? and then how do i add additional from the camera? Or, do i move everything together (imported iphotos and new from camera) in Aperture on the Macbook first, and then transfer that library to the ext drive?
For the life of me I can't figure out how to do this in a way that seems logical. Vaults? Masters on ext drive, versions on the macbook? Consolidating libraries? The endless possible answers are baffling me.
Thanks for any help!

Kirby Krieger wrote:
Hi Shane. Not much in the way of thoughts - - but fwiw:
How is the drive attached?
Can you open large files on the drive with other programs?
Are you running any drive compression or acceleration programs (some drives arrive with these installed)?
Can you reformat the drive and try again?
Hi Kirby,
I attached the UltraMax Plus with a USB cable. The UltraMax powers the cable so power is not an issue. I can open other files. Also, there is 500GB of files on the drive so I cannot re-format it. Although, I noted I could import the entire Aperture Library. However, I do not want to create a duplicate on my machine because that would be defeating the purpose of the external drive.
Thanks,
Shane

I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?

I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?

Exactly what did you do?
The correct steps are
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
My guess is that that you have not switched iphoto to use the external drive yet - opttion launch and select libary
LN

I moved my iPhoto libraries from one hard drive to another and have to manually locate the photos, every time!!!

I moved my iPhoto libraries from one hard drive to another and now every time I open a library I have to manually locate the photos. After locating the first file, it works well and remembers the location of the files of all the events, even when the folders containing the actual photos are in several different locations.
The problem is that when I close and open iPhoto, it does not remember where the files were and I have to locate at least a file, all over again.
Does anyone knows if there is a way of making iPhoto "remember" or saving the location of the files?

By default, iPhoto will store its library file under ~/Pictures. To select a library manually in iPhoto:
Ensure that iPhoto is closed.
Hold down the Option key and click on the iPhoto icon in your Dock or launch it from the Applications folder.
Click on Choose Library.
Locate and select the library you wish to use.
Close iPhoto and re-open it. Does it remember the library that you selected?
For more information on moving your iPhoto library, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229.
Hope that helps, have a great day.

How to save music tracks onto an external drive

Thank you for helping me with this question...
How do I save my music files onto an external hard disk drive? It seems that there is no way to avoid having to save my tracks onto the C: drive, yet I am quickly running out of room. I would like to transfer all of my music to the D: drive and set up iTunes to automatically save all future music onto the D: drive, but I lack the technical knowledge to do this myself.
Thank you,
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dell Windows XP external hard drive

If you want to make another drive (direct or portable) on your PC the main music location for iTunes, move all song files there, as well as any future imported music from CDs, here is one method (see the links below):
You will maintain your playlists, ratings, comments, etc. This will only move your music folders location, NOT your iTunes program files. It is my opinion that programs (i.e. – iTunes) work better when installed on your main hard drive. At the very least, it makes it easier to manage all your programs if they are centrally located on one hard drive (the Windows default standard).
See these links for some step-by-step info:
iLounge: Moving your iTunes Library to a New Hard Drive
MacMuse: iTfW: Move iTunes music/Library to new drive
iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder
If you are moving the music to an external hard drive or network drive, after the transfer (and to work correctly), the drive must be running prior to your opening iTunes. If not, iTunes will reset the location of your music folder location to the default location (usually: ‘C:\...My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music’). If this happens, you need to manually change the path back to your external location, or future CD ‘Imports’ will be deposited on your internal HD.
Also make sure that the new drive always loads as the same Drive Letter, otherwise you will lose the references within iTunes.

Can't switch iPhoto Libraries to use external drive

I'm using iPhoto 4.0.3 on an old iBook G3, and I keep my photos on an external drive, but right now I can't access it, because my computer seems to have created its own imaginary version of the external drive, which I can't access. (I'll explain it better below.)
In other words, if I open iPhoto, there are photos there (165 of them, all fairly recent), but if I try to find an iPhoto Library on my hard drive, or any record of the photos in it, I come up empty. I must have accidentally imported photos when my external drive wasn't connected, but now I can't figure out where my computer actually put those photos, so that I can delete that iPhoto Library and go back to using the iPhoto Library on my external drive.
Here's what I've found so far:
If I open Finder and search for iPhoto, there is no iPhoto Library.
If I search for the name of one of the photos that's displayed in iPhoto, I get 0 results.
If I search for all files with the .jpg extension, none of the photos that's showing in iPhoto shows up.
If I create an album and put some photos in it, and then search for that album name, I get 0 results.
BUT, if I try to EXPORT a photo from iPhoto, I get some clue to where these photos are hiding - the default location to export photos to is XXX's Computer/Macintosh HD/Volumes/FANTOM/Pictures/iPhoto Library. That's the location of the iPhoto Library on my external drive.
Also, based on an answer to another forum question, I opened Libraries/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoto.plist in Text Edit and searched for key>RootDirectory, and the directory it gives there is /Volumes/FANTOM/Pictures/iPhoto Library. The only problem is, I've disconnected my external drive and restarted my computer, and iPhoto is still displaying 165 pictures in my photo library.
So it seems like my computer THINKS it's looking on my external drive, but actually it's looking at some 'volume' that's on the hard drive - and even when the external drive is connected, the only photos it shows are the ones in this volume, not the ones in my actual iPhoto Library. I want to be able to switch to my normal photo library, but the only way I can do that is if I figure out where this mystery photo library is located, and rename it. Does anybody know how to do this?
Thanks for your help.
iBook G3 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You don't say whether you've restricted your search, or where you are searching. If you haven't renamed your iPhoto Library folder and it doesn't show up in a search, then it isn't there.
I'm not clear on what you mean by "imaginary version of external drive". Disconnect the drive, and there should be very little left to it's imagination. If iPhoto launches, then it's not looking for the iPhoto Library folder on the external drive -- nothing imaginary.
The destination to which a photo is exported has nothing to do with where iPhoto might have its library (real, or imagined). An "exported" photo is, by definition, not a part of your iPhoto library -- all you're doing is drawing conclusions from unrelated information.
Quit iPhoto if it's running, disconnect your external drive, and delete the "com.apple.iPhoto.plist" file from your user's Library >Preferences folder. If iPhoto starts without any unusual prompts, then it is (and likely, has been all along) using the iPhoto Library folder from your start-up drive's Pictures folder.

How do you export iPhoto albums to an external drive and have all the albums still labeled?

I am having an issue exporting the iphoto albums to an external drive. When I do it, it either just drops all the pictures in together or it separates them by events, but my iphotos are arranged in albums, not events so that doesn't help. Can anyone help with this?
Also, I'm new to mac and i'm noticing iphotos has a lot of limitations...I can't save photos automatically to folders/albums in iphoto bc it doesnt show in the finder, I can't upload to facebook without doing it from iphoto, and I obviously can't save to external drive easily just yet. Should I just be saving all of my photos in Pictures in the finder? Is there a way you can save them in pictures and then be able to open them in iphotos? I'm getting so frustrated and ready to go back to my PC. =(

A couple of general comments:
1. iPhoto is not compulsory. You don't have to use it.
2. But if you do, then you're going to need to make a small conceptual leap, and learn just a little.
The Conceptual Leap: Your Files and your Photos are not the same thing. The illustration I use is as follows: In my iTunes Library I have a file called 'Let_it_Be_The_Beatles.mp3'. So what is that, exactly? It's not the song. The Beatles never wrote an mp3. They wrote a tune and lyrics. They recorded it and a copy of that recording is stored in the mp3 file. So the file is just a container for the recording. That container is designed in a specific way attuned to the characteristics and requirements of the data. Hence, mp3.
Similarly, that Jpeg is not your photo, it's a container designed to hold that kind of data. iPhoto is all about the data and not about the container. So, regardless of where you choose to store the file, iPhoto will manage the photo, edit the photo, add metadata to the Photo but never touch the file. If you choose to export - unless you specifically choose to export the original - iPhoto will export the Photo into a new container - a new file containing the photo.
The Learning: iPhoto replaces the Finder (or file browser) for everything to do with your Photo. And I do mean everything. Organising, Editing, sharing with other apps, printing, uploading, whatever are all done either with or via iPhoto. It's you "go-to" for anything to do with your Photos.
The upshot of that is that how (or where) the files are stored doesn't matter - as long as they are safe and backed up - because after importing to iPhoto you never directly access those files again.
So, you want to organise your Photos: do it in the iPhoto Window. Events, Albums, Keywords, and so on. You do all your work via that window or the media browsers that make the Library available in every app in the OS.
So: want to edit a photo, but not with iPhoto? You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
How to access the Photos for whatever reason you may need them see this user tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
For details of the Export dialogue: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
You can more or less recreate your folder tree in the iPhoto Window - start at the bottom of your tree and drag folder of images to the Albums Heading. iPhoto will import the images and make an album of them. Then File -> New Folder and drag the Album to that. Folders can hold nested folders and Albums. And so work from there.
But if your folder tree is date based that's a bit pointless, as the Calendar search and Smart Albums make it pretty redundant. With these you can find any photos from a specific day, week, month, year or date-range in the Library.
If the folder tree is theme based, then keywords will a more effective way of working.
And Albums are more flexible that folders in the Finder, as an image can be in any number of Albums and use no extra disk space whatever.
So, it's a whole new way of working with photos for you.
To your specific questions:
I am having an issue exporting the iphoto albums to an external drive. When I do it, it either just drops all the pictures in together or it separates them by events, but my iphotos are arranged in albums, not events so that doesn't help
Export them one album at a time.
This User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
But given the above... why are you doing this? You're defeating the non-destructive workflow by doing it. Are you trying to back up?
.I can't save photos automatically to folders/albums in iphoto bc it doesnt show in the finder,
Not clear exactly what you're asking here, but does the above open some ideas?
I can't upload to facebook without doing it from iphoto
Yeah you can... For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
It's the first one...
and I obviously can't save to external drive easily just yet.
Yeah you can but what exactly are you trying to save, and, again, why? Different purposes have different workflows.
Should I just be saving all of my photos in Pictures in the finder?
That's a personal choics, but not if you plan on using iPhoto. And as I started with iPhoto is not compulsory... As to why you shouldn't with iPhoto:
For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361
Reasons for bothering to learn...
I use Events simply as big buckets of Photos: Spring 08, July - Nov 06 are typical Events in my Library. I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.
I keyword on a
Who
What
Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics on a 1 - 5 star basis.
Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 50k library in a couple of seconds.
So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.
File -> New Smart Album
set it to 'All"
title contains Seattle
keyword is mountain
keyword is snow
rating is 5 stars
Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?
New Smart Album
Keyword is John
Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending
Want only the best pics?
add Rating is greater than 4 stars
The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.
In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast. This system works for me.

How do i move a file from one external drive to another

This is my first Mac computer and I have no idea how to move/copy a file from one external hard drive to another? It won't let me drag and drop from one Finder window to another and there is no copy/paste option on the left mouse click.

mediamagnate03 wrote:
This is my first Mac computer and I have no idea how to move/copy a file from one external hard drive to another? It won't let me drag and drop from one Finder window to another and there is no copy/paste option on the left mouse click.
That is because it is on the Right Click, and the menu.

How to move Startup Disk clone from one external drive to another?

I thought this would be a question easily answered on the WWW and easily found via search engines, but so far no luck, hence this question.
Prior to upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion I followed some very good instructions from Tom Nelson on ask.com (http://macs.about.com/od/backupsarchives/ss/diskbackup.htm) related to using Disk Utility to clone my internal Macintosh HD drive to an external hard drive, making it a bootable drive. I cloned to a very nice LaCie external FW drive that had far more room than that needed for the clone. This drive booted just fine as a startup disk, so mission accomplished:   I have now a bootable clone of my Lion system prior to upgrading to Mountain Lion.
The upgrade to Mountain Lion went well, and now, before I put any additional apps or much additional data on the original internal Macintosh HD drive, I want to use Disk Utility again to clone the drive so I'll have a snapshot of the system right after the upgrade to Mountain Lion.
Questions:
Is there any way to use the same LaCie drive that now holds the Lion startup disk clone to hold the yet-to-be-done Mountain Lion startup disk clone?
If not, how can I move the Lion startup disk clone from the oversized LaCie external drive to a drive more the size of the Lion clone (approx 140G)?   The LaCie drive is far too roomy and nice to have sitting gathering dust for only 140G to be used in an emergency restore.
Thanks in advance for your advice.

Good info Csound1, and thanks.
So my final question (I think): How does one move/copy a startup disk clone from one external drive to another, and still have it bootable on the new external drive?   I'm still considering freeing this LaCie drive up for more dynamic storage and getting another drive for the bootable startup disk clones IF I can move this Lion startup disk clone to a new external drive.
I guess the summary question is:   how does one clone a startup disk clone? As I think about this, and recall the Disk Utility screens, couldn't I simply select the Lion clone on the LaCie FW external drive and do the same operation I did with the original internal Lion drive? Basically the same steps as before but this time the source is the LaCie FW external and the destination is a new external drive?
Thanks again; wonderful forum here with very smart people.

How do I move Iphoto from macbook to external drive

Can I move Iphoto from my Macbook to an external drive?

Greetings,
If by "move iPhoto" you mean move your library of images, yes you can.
Go to Your User (little house) > Pictures > iPhoto Library.
Drag the library to your external drive.
-- NOTE: Before you move your iPhoto Library to your external drive make sure:
Its not being used for TimeMachine
The drive is Mac formated.
Cheers.

How can I save iPhoto Libraries that are in Trash?

Hello. I have been having troubles with iPhoto which are basically cured at the moment. However during the process I had to drag two iPhoto Libraries to my Trash.
My iPhoto is working fine at the moment, but I do not want to delete those two in the Trash for awhile yet. How can I get them out of Trash into a Folder to save them until I am sure I want to trash them? Can I create a Folder in Documents or Movies and save them there or some other place I can create a Folder to save them. I do not want them on my Desktop as they are quite large (15 and 22GB).
Thanks for any ideas.

Create a new folder on the desktop. Drag the libraries from the trash into that folder. Then put the folder where ever you want, including your Photos folder.
The desktop and trash are just like any other folder on your Mac. Their contents are stored on your hard drive, so they are taking up the same space where ever you put them. (You have to empty trash to regain the space the contents of trash take up.)
Larry posted the same info while I was composing
Message was edited by: Peter Bannon

Merge iphoto libraries onto an external HDD

We have 3 macs at the house and they all have different Iphoto libraries. I would like to merge them all onto the one Library of the Imac with an External HDD. The problem is that a bunch of the pictures are on more than one of the computers. I was hoping that there was a way to import them but not import the duplicates like when I import from a camera.

You'll need to use iPhoto Library Manager to merge the Libraries. There is no other way to do it without losing versions or metadata.
Regards
TD

Merge Two Macbook iPhoto libraries Onto 1 External HD

Hi. I have backed up my iPhoto library from what I'll call MacBook "a" onto a 1tb external hard drive. I did this buy dragging the iPhoto icon over. It worked.
I also have a very small iPhoto library on Macbook "b." I would like to merge this Macbook "b" library onto the same external hard drive. When I have tried exporting the files from macbook b, however, they photos are copying to the hard drive, but not to the iPhoto library.
Is there a way to merge two distinct iPhoto libraries, from two distinct computers onto 1 external hard drive?
Thanks.
John.

If you have Aperture 3.3 or later and iPhoto 9.3 or later you can merge libraries with Aperture.
Otherwise the only way to merge Libraries is with the paid ($30) version of iPhoto Library Manager

How to move a large iphoto library from one external drive to another

Hi all (my first ever post to a forum!)
I have a large iphoto library (379 GB) on an external drive (Lacie 1TB w/usb 2.0) and want to move it to a another ethernet connected external drive (LaCie Network Space 2) so I will be able to access it from other computers.
Moving it with drag and drop or copying is calculated to take 66 day's!
Wander if that could be explaned with the fact that these are around 70.000 individual pictures/files, and if it could be speed up by first compressing the library.
Wander if anyone can shere their experience on that? (what software to use or?)
I have an 21.5 inch, mid 2010 iMac (3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 with 12 GB 1067 MHz DDR3).
I also have the new Macbook Air (1.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz - with 3MB shared L3 cache).

iPhoto needs to be connected to the computer you are using it from via a sired connectin both for speed and also for data reliability
THe copy estimate is often way off - let it run and see - it will probably drop a lot quickly
Compressing would not help (assuming you shoot JPEG) since the JPEGs in the library are alread highly compressed
LN

How do I save 2 iphoto libraries onto one external drive?

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