IPhoto 6 with 2 macs, an airport extreme and a extenal harddrive

Question

Hi
Can you help a new mac user?
I recently converted from PC because I heard so many great things about the mac but have struggled with a few things.
I have two macs - a mac book and a mini - and an airport extreme with a harddrive attached. I have IPhoto 6 and a shedload of photos. What I want to do is the following:
1. Back up my photo collection on the external harddrive. I presume the easiest way to do this is just to export from IPhoto. Is this the best way?
2. Modify the pictures on one or other of the macs and then update the other one with the changes. Not sure how to do this.
Also, I have been playing around with these things for the last couple of weeks and noticed if I import photos from the external drive they lose their original date settings and get the date settings from the date I put them on the external drive. This has driven me mad and if I ever had to import my backed up library from my harddrive would send me completely crazy. Any suggestions.
Thanks in advance...

Answer 1

Art H:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions and in from the darkside.
Are you wanting to share a library between the two Macs or have each Mac have it's own library and then keep them the same as time goes on.
If it's the first option, you're best bet would be to put your iPhoto Library folder on the external HD (with ownership turned off as shown here) and then have each Mac access the library on the external HD.
Then you can periodically copy the iPhoto library folder to one of the Macs as a backup, the one with the most free HD space. To do it frequently you can use a backup application what will only copy those new or changed files from the library folder on the external to the backup copy on the designated Mac. Much faster that way.
If it's the later, then it's going to be a little more difficult, at least the updating the second Mac. If both Macs will be adding new photos to the library it will take using iPhoto Library Manager to move the new photos (in rolls or albums) from one library to the other like this while keeping the keywords intact.
If you're only adding new photos to one library and you want to update the library on the second mac occasionally you can use the backup application to backup from Library A to Library B. Then keep a backup of the primary library (A) on the external HD and back it up with the backup application frequently also. I use Synk for that.
I think the first option would be the best as each Mac can add to the same library. One restriction to that would be that only one Mac can access the library at a time.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
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