I use Time Machine to back up my iMac. How can I copy some iPhoto events from my external hard drive to my MacBook?

I back up my iMac on my external hard drive. When trying to copy the iPhoto Library onto my MacBook, I get the message "Cannot use TM backup as main library". I don't even see an option to choose certain Events to copy. Is there any way I can choose particular Events in iPhoto to copy to my MacBook? How can I get the photos on my MacBook?

If you're on Leopard or Snow Leopard, or Lion with iPhoto '08 or earlier, see the gray box at the end of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #15.
If not, you cannot restore individual photos; just the entire iPhoto library. A workaround is to restore it to an alternate location, such as your desktop, then export the selected photos from there. See the pink box in the same article.

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HT201250 Once I use time machine to back up my Mac Air, can I delete all my files from HD and still have access to them on TM (external hard disk)?

New to Time Machine. The HD on my Mac Air is full so I got an external HD and using TM to back up everything.
Can I erase all files (pictures, docs, etc) from my Mac and still have access to those files through Time Machine?

That is a bad idea. Time Machine is strictly a backup utility. What you describe will require archiving files, which Time Machine is not designed to accomplish.
Once you erase files from your MacBook Air, they will eventually be erased from your Time Machine backup. This is by design, as Time Machine will eventually fill your backup volume and will delete old files as required. Depending on when they were first backed up and how long they existed on your MBA before you erase them, they could disappear in as little as one hour.
Use Carbon Copy Cloner or equivalent "clone" utility and configure it to archive files that do not exist on the source, or simply copy them over manually using the Finder. You can then delete them from your MBA. Bear in mind that once you do that, you no longer have a backup copy. The only copies will exist on the external HD.

On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..

On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..

Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos. I wanted to see if I could view them from the hard drive. Thanks

Hello, eco1.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like you are wanting to move your iTunes media folder to an external drive and have iTunes this folder from this location. If this is the case then I would recommend taking a look at the article below.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Cheers,
Jason H.

HT3275 Time machine at home and it will not allow me to remove the listing of my external hard drive from the excluded files list.

Please help guys, I have a Time machine at home and it will not allow me to remove the listing of my external hard drive from the excluded files list.
I am trying to use time machine to back up the hard drive. For backing up from Macbooik pro and Imac, there is no problem. It seems to not want to allow the external drive to be removed from the Excluded list and as such will not back up from it.
Is there a way to be able to transfer files (music, movies etc) to time machine, format the external drive then put the files back to hard drive?
Sorry it is a long winded question but it is driving me nuts that I cant sort this out.
The <Macbook and Imac are both running mountain lion.
Thanks Guys

As for the hard drive to which you have never been able to write, is it by any chance in NTFS format? OS X can read NTFS for importing files, but it does not contain code for writing on an NTFS volume. That's a choice, not a bug.
There is third-party software available to install NTFS-writing capability into OS X. An example is Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X. Another alternative would be to use a disk format that both Macs and Windows systems can use for both reading and writing; this would require either a new drive or erase the existing data.
If by "the new system software" you mean OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you may want to repost that portion of your query in the Mavericks forum at https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mavericks . I haven't made the leap yet.
I don't know what other problems you have been having, so I cannot comment on them. You don't seem to have any other recent postings on these forums.

Time Machine shows a backup this morning at 11:58 but I didn't have the external hard drive plugged in. How is this possible?

Time Machine shows a backup this morning at 11:58 but I didn't have the external hard drive plugged in. How is this possible?

Because the drive was disconnected Time Machine made a local snapshot on your Mac.

I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am warned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects How do I point iMovie to events in my external hard drive so I can pl

I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am woarned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects
How do I point iMovie to events in my external hard drive so I can play projects which use them?
MacBook, iMovie 9.0.4

Hi
You can do this - by not doing it the way You describe as it will not work.
a. the external hard disk - MUST BE - Mac OS extended (hfs) formatted -
UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange - will work for most things - BUT NOT FOR VIDEO (iMovie, iDVD or FinalCut doesn't matter)
b. Do not alter or move any folder named
• iMovie Event's - or -
• iMovie Project's
on DeskTop/Finder - at all
All moving's of Events and Projects must be done within the iMovie Application - then connections will not break.
(move them back and see if iMovie remembers them - then do move as described above)
Yours Bengt W

HT201250 My Time Machine Icon in the Toolbar is dimmed, and I'm unable to connect to my external Hard Drive, please help!

Time Machine seems to be dead, since I'm unable to reset it. As soon as I try anything, it goes to back to the "OFF" Position. Would appreciate any Help, to get my external Hard Drive to work. Adolffrom Peachland!
Product, 2012 IMac 21.5"

There's an apple store in my city but it is about a 20 minute drive and I do not have apple care. Do you think they would still help me?

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.

How do I move my iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer?

Just wondering how do I move my entire iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer? It was moved to an external hard drive a few years ago, and now I'm wondering how to move it back to my iMac to increase performance.
Where does it belong in the computer?
Any suggestions?

The library itself is the /Home/Music/iTunes/ folder in its entirety. Did you also change where preference files were stored? Normally, they would be in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder.

How can I open up more space on my external hard drive for Time Machine?

I have a 500GB external hard drive that I use with Time Machine. I believe I have half designated for Time Machine and the other half to use as an external drive to put whatever I want on it. My issue is that now my Time Machine back up needs more than 250GB of space.
How can I make more space available on Time Machine and less for the external half (maybe split it 400/100 for example) or just designate the whole 500GB for Time Machine?
Am I going to have to reformat the hard drive? I'm trying to do this in a way that I'm not going to risk losing what might already be on Time Machine...
I'm not sure how well I'm explaining this. Hopefully someone can help.
Amanda

I would also suggest you get a 2nd, much larger hard drive, partition it if desired, move your data to it, and start a 2nd Time Machine backup on it. You can set Time Machine to alternate between the 2 drives by adding the new drive to System Preferences/Time Machine. If you want to make a copy of your current backup on the new drive, you can do that using the Disk Utility Restore tab. If you chose to do that, make the copy first since using the Restore tab erases all data on the drive or the partition.

So i just got an 3T external hard drive and i have moved my itunes over to it successfully and have started using Time Capsule but is there a way to make things i download go directly to my external hard drive and not to my internal one?

i just got a 3T external hard drive and i have moved my iTunes over to it and i have started using time capsule but when i download things can i make the downloads go directly to my external hard drive? Or make my mac ask me where it should download it to?

just change the preferecnes for whatever app you're using to download the files to the external drive

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

How do I back up my MacBook Pro from an external hard drive if my macbook won't boot up from the white start up screen? HELP!

I went to the Genius Bar a week ago, and the guy helping me there was nice enough to help me save some money by telling me I could replace the bad hard drive my MacBook Pro had by myself. I bought everything I needed (hard drive, screws, external hard drive) and my computer won't boot past the white start up screen. It doesn't even show the Apple sign at the start up screen. How do I back up my computer so I can save all my music, school files, etc.? Could really use someone's advice on what to do! Thanks!

Ok, to be sure I understand what's going on. You were able to boot the Macbook from the existing "damaged" internal drive, and it has been backed up to the internal.
If that is correct, your internal drive is working. Just to be sure, try booting with the R key down. Then run Disk Utility to repair the internal drive. That drive may in fact be useable.
You should be aware that you cannot boot the MBP from a Time Machine back up.
Please post back so I am sure I am understanding the situation.

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.

I use Time Machine to back up my iMac. How can I copy some iPhoto events from my external hard drive to my MacBook?

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