HT201250 "the disk containing your iPhoto library is running low on space?"

Hi,
I need assistance. I do not know how to use the Time Machine to backup my iPhoto when it won't allow me to import new pictures from my camera. I have an iMac.
<Edited by Host>

I do not know how to use the Time Machine to backup my iPhoto when it won't allow me to import new pictures from my camera.
DO NOT use Time Machine as an Archive!  That is to say, you DO NOT store things in Time Machine and then remove them from the original location.  As Time Machine will eventually delete its copy if you delete the original.
If you need extra external storage, then get a separate external disk for that, AND THEN include that new external drive in your Time Machine backups, as you want to make sure the external disk is ALSO backed up.
As to finding out where all your storage has gone, try using a utility such as OmniDiskSweeper.
OmniDiskSweeper (free download)
<http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7402/omnidisksweeper>
Just focus on files under your home directory Users -> yourUserName.  Anything outside your home folder tree should be left alone no matter how much you think it is wasted storage.  If you really REALLY want to delete something outside of your home folder, please ask if it is safe to delete via these forums first.

Similar Messages

  • I get this when i try to add photo to iphoto:The disk containing your iPhoto library is running low on space.

    i get this message when i try to add photo to iphoto: The disk containing your iphoto is running low on space

    1 - NEVER assume - it makes an "*** out of u & me"
    2 - for the third time - how much space do you have on the drive where your iPhoto library is located?
    If you continue to refuse to answer that simple question then no one can halp
    LN
    PS - your iPhoto library is NEVER automatically moved anywhere - to move it
    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

  • The disk containing your iPhoto library is running low on space.How is this possible? I have no photos and have never used iphoto and the program is up to date.

    How is this possible? I have no photos and have never used iphoto and the program is up to date. I try to import and drop my pictues into iphoto but nothing happens or I get above statement. Help please!

    Then it's a bogus message and indicates that the default library is damaged.
    Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library' and use that one.
    Regards
    TD

  • "The disk containing your iPhoto Library is running low on space."

    This window just popped up when I was downloading some pictures.  I've never seen that message before.  Not exactly sure what it means.  Is my storage at capacity?  Do I need to delete some photos?
    Thanks for any help you can offer!

    Hi Terence, I posted a question about a week ago but have yet to see a response. Having been helped out by your opinion in the past, I decided to write to you.
    I have aproximately 4,000 photos in my IPhoto trash. I would like to empty it but am concerned that I may lose photos that are duplicates of photos also found in my library. I live in in a city where the two Apple " stores " are in fact only official Apple retailers and I don't feel comfortable with their direction. I unfortunately only get back home to North America once or twice year and I need to resolve my problem........now.
    Thanks in advance for your help!
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  • When importing photos, iPhoto now says that the disk containing my iPhoto library is running low on space. what is the best thing to do?

    is it best to purchase external hardrive to store my photos?
    will this let them be viewed in iphoto?
    please advise. i do not want to remove my images.

    You don't have a choice and you're in a very dangerous situation.
    OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on.
    Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially.
    Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do.
    Purchase an external HD and move your Photos and Music to it. Both iPhoto and iTunes can run perfectly well with the Library on an external disk.
    To move an iPhoto Library:
    Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
    1. Quit iPhoto
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    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.
    And don't forget you'll need another disk for backing up.
    Regards
    TD

  • Iphoto library is running low on space

    I am not sure how to make space on my iMac.  When I start up the computer it says the startup disk is almost full.  When I try to download pictures it says the the disk containing you iPhoto library is running low on space.  I realize I have to get iPhoto, iTunes and iMovie on to our external hard drive.  I am not sure how to do this without losing pictures, music and movies.  Can anyone walk me through the steps?

    This is our resident iPhoto guru, Terence Devlin's, advice:
    You can move your iPhoto Library to an external disk:
    1. Quit iPhoto
    2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity 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.
    iTunes:
    1. Quit iTunes
    2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
    3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
    4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
    5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
    6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
    That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
    More info:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
    As for iMovie:
    Keep the application on your startup drive, but save the projects to the externa; drive.
    Message was edited by: Klaus1

  • Lost all photos on my iPhoto and get the ERROR WRITING TO DISK when trying to reload from Time Machine. iPhoto cannot import your photos because there was a problem writing to the volume containing your iPHOTO LIBRARY  . Looking for solution.

    Lost all photos on my iPhoto and get the ERROR WRITING TO DISK when trying to reload from Time Machine. iPhoto cannot import your photos because there was a problem writing to the volume containing your iPHOTO LIBRARY  . Looking for solution.

    Problems such as yours are sometimes caused by files that should belong to you but are locked or have wrong permissions. This procedure will check for such files. It makes no changes and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.
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    Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
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    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear.
    The output of the command will be a number. It's automatically copied to the Clipboard. Please paste it into a reply.
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  • IPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library.

    iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library. I have .999.35 T left. 3.18 gigs used in photo storage. How do I fix this?

    iphoto insufficient disk space
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  • When I am importing photos from DVD rom, iPhoto shows " not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library", but i have over 200G free in hard drive? how do i fix it?

    Mac Pro Book
    Mac OS X 10.7.5
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    How much free space do you have on your hard drive?  Try the following:
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    2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your
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  • Ut 4000 photos in my iphotos; iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library.

    I keep getting the following error message despite only having about 4000 pics in my iphotos; iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library. I have tried moving my iphotos library to an external Hard Drive and starting a new library but still it will not allow any more to be loaded.

    What version of iPhoto?
    try Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - rebuild your iPhoto library database
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  • Why am i getting this warning? iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library.

    I can no longer import photos from my PC because I get this message:  iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library.  How can I fix this problem?

    Option 1
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    If that fails:
    Option 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. .
    Regards
    TD

  • HT3680 I get the message 'your startup disc us full' at random time point I'm trying to import photos to iPhoto and get'iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library'.

    I get the message 'your startup disc us full' at random time points. I'm trying to import photos to iPhoto and get'iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library'. This is a new Macbook Pro and all my files were transferred from my old Macbook.

    What size internal drive do you have and how much of it is used?

  • I have IPhoto version 9.5.1. I cannot export pictures, the following message appears: "iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library." What am I suppose to do? I have a Mac mini.

    I have IPhoto version 9.5.1. I cannot export pictures since the following message appears: "iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library." What am I suppose to do? I have a Mac mini which properly used can perform any reasonable task, the problem is I do not know what to do.
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    Hmm... that was labelled:
    As a Test:
    In bold and all
    Try repair the main Library:
    Option 1
    Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
    If that fails:
    Option 2
    Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
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    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.  
    Regards
    TD

  • I wish to import photos from CD,however although process starts Ok,I receive error message"Insufficient disk space,iPhoto cannot import your photo because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library.Does this mean I cannot

    Does this mean I cannot import from CD,or am I doing something wrong,.
    Only bought Mac last April?

    As a Test:
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    Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?

  • IPhoto cannot import your photos because there was a problem writing to the volume containing your iPhoto library.

    Ive read a few threads, but nothing that showed what I'm experiencing. I had this issue prior to updating to OS X Yosemite. My iPhoto was working fine until recently. So I thought by updating to Yosemite it would fix this error, but it still continues. Any suggestions?

    It was previously used on a PC so it's formatted for Win NT Filesystem.
    That is your exact problem - by default the Mac can not write to a Windows NT disk so you must have had third party software that allowed you to writ to it and that software is not compatible with Yosemite
    and in any case it is always going to be a problem since
    it must be Mac OS Extended (journaled)
    When the if library is on any other format you will have spotty performance ad often it will not work at al - you must put it on a properly formatted drive - either a new drive or use Disk Utility to totally erase and reformat that drive - this may be a problem since you have no place to put the data on that drive while you reformat it
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