IPhoto backup and external storage

I have run out of disc space on my macbook. It is full of photos. Everything is backed up with time machine, but I am going to buy another external HD to store all the old photos. I know I can just copy the whole iPhoto library to the HD, but is there a better way? Perhaps an app that will allow my to incrementally add any new photos, but not try to be an exact copy of the macbook (which will have the older photos deleted). Or should I just start to use iPhoto from an externally stored library (this makes me nervous, and obviously I will need to change Time Machine settings). What is the best system? Many thanks.

I recently moved a good bit of my photos to an external drive
How exactly did you "Move a good bit of you photos"? the iphoto library mot ever be modified - it is a single entity and must always be kept intact
the directions you were given for moving you library moved it all
You can archive the older images to the external. But there is no reason not to have the whole library on the external. I have all of mine of externals.
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
LN

Similar Messages

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup and external storage as well?

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?

If you are using "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option from OS X Recovery, you can only choose from the broad categories presented.
... Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?
To be clear, if you are asking if you can use the volume containing your Time Machine backup to store additional, non-Time Machine files, the short answer is yes.
It's not a good idea though, since the Time Machine backup will eventually fill all available space, after which it begins to remove old, "expired" backups to make room for newer ones. The presence of additional files doesn't change that fact, and Time Machine will not erase them, but you will encounter a dilemma should you want to store additional files on that volume when there is no remaining space. You will have to make room for them on your own, by deleting existing files. Furthermore, since Time Machine cannot back up its own volume, those additional files will not be backed up by Time Machine.
The easy solution for what you describe is to purchase additional external storage. External USB hard disk drives have become very inexpensive; about $55 will buy a perfectly suitable 1 TB drive.
You can also choose to replace your MacBook Air's internal storage with a larger capacity one. Look for a suitable replacement from OWC / MacSales:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina
That gets a little more expensive but it is the optimum solution.

MyBook Thunderbolt Duo for timemachine backup and external storage of photo library with Raid

Hi, I've recently updated my MacBook Pro to a new model and have therfore moved to a smaller SSD internal storage. I was thinking of buying the Thunderbolt Duo to use as a time machine backup and for working storage. What I was wondering was if I could patition the drive in such a way that I could keep a time machine backup of my mac (smaller partition) still protected by Raid (although not as important as will also have a copy on the internal drive) and use the remaining larger partition for my working photo, video and music partition (proteded by raid as this will not on my internal storage. Will this work? Sorry to ask a silly question but its a change to the way I'm used to working (large internal storage and exteral backup). Thanks for any help you can give. Chuck

Hello,
It should work.

Use external for backup and personal storage

Hey all,
I was wondering if I could use my external for time machine backups and personal storage. I have a seagate 250 and time machine is currently working great. The only thing is that my apple hd is filling up. Even if I lose all my current backups, is there a way to set maybe 50 gigs a side for movies and use the rest for backup?

Partitioning the drive as joshz suggests is the best route at the moment. Unfortunately Apple does not provide any way to limit the overall size of the database directory. You could also create a blank disk image on the backup drive in which to store other information, but this is almost the same as creating a separate partition. Remember that the two partitions will display as two individual volumes, so it will appear like you have three disks attached (your main one, your backup one, and your storage one).

Workflow on-board and external storage

Workflow on-board and external storage
My photography is expanding rapidly, such that I have quickly run out of space on my harddrive, although my MacBook Pro is under 1 year old and when I bought it, was over dimensioned.
I'm looking for an updated storage / availability / backup solution.
I have recently purchased Aperture but I still use iPhoto in parallel. I import all photos into iPhoto and mostly sort them there, because I find it easier, not yet having had the time to discover whether Aperture can do it better. I use Aperture primarily for editing.
I also use iPhoto Library Manager, to organize a dozen mostly unimportant libraries on an external drive, available when I'm in the office.
My dilema is that I am traveling extensively and have even been buying small 1TB drives on the road to keep up with my need to back-up my SDHC cards.
I like the convenience of having everything "with me", but with the exponential need for more space I might have to change my thinking. Bandwidth constraints on-the-road and also the "waste of time aspect" suggest that small portable drives are possibly the best solution.
When back in the office however, I would also like to have "everything with me", daisy-chained or however, but I'm primarily looking for a professional workflow solution, which will also accommodate my travel requirements. Exchangeable drives which can be use in an "ice-box" type solution are OK for project based assignments which often can be archived "for ever". However, the (occasional*) need for access in remote countries creates problems and I'm not a friend of Cloud solutions. *Often when I'm away I have more peace and quiet for archiving and sorting old photo shoots then when I'm in the office.
Aperture will possibly become my preferred editor, but I am open.
Sorry if this is long, but I tried to cover everything which occurred to me to avoid excess "ping-pong."
Many thanks in advance!

Another topic has recently been addressing this issue. See:
http://discussions.apple.com/message/23287496#23287496
Ernie

DB2 / Red Hat 5 : Backup to External Storage Failed

Dear gurus,
I've SAP ECC 6 running on DB2 9.7 FP2, RHEL 5.0
We can backup to internal disk, but when configuring backup to external storage (Maxtor Shared Storage II), there's this error.
I mount the external storage using cifs, with correct owner and permission (db2<sid> : db<sid>adm with 777 permission.)
The shared storage is: //192.168.1.8/mhp with mount point /mnt/mhp
When I backup using DB13 to /mnt/mhp, the file is created and the size continually grows constantly.
But when the backup is about to finish, the file then disappears, and DB13 returns "Database backup failed"
I see the db2diag.log, and here's the entry:
[db2diag.log|http://snipt.org/pYx/]
The message is not too clear for me.
Does anyone happen to come across the same problem as me?
Thanks for your help.
Best Regards,

Dear gurus,
If it is plain file like copy / move command to the storage, it can be done successfully.
I can also 'touch filename1' there. But for DB13 or DB2 backup command, it failed.
Markus, there's no particular technical things. We just choose cifs.
I've tried NFS but it said things like "Connection Refused" when I tried to mount -a.
I've tried also in different server, and it actually give the same result. So I think it's not SAMBA.
May I know what you mean by mapping the user?
I can make shared folder in the maxtore webgui management, and create user to own that folder.
Thanks for your help.
Best Regards,

Can the time capsule be used as both a time machine backup and NAS storage

Can the time capsule be used as both a time machine backup and NAS storage? I want to use the drive as external, wireless storage for all of my files so all my PCs, MACs and iOS devices can access the files. Plus, I want to use the drive for backing up my iMac via time machine. Can the time capsule device be used for both these purposes simultaneously? If not, are the other suggestions on how I can do this?

Can the time capsule device be used for both these purposes simultaneously?
It can, but is really not recommended. Sooner or later there will be a fight for space on the drive between Time Machine and the other files.
If you have plenty of free space on the drive, you can do this......but.....have you thought about how you will back up the "other" files that are stored on the Time Capsule?

Use external drive for Time Capsule backups AND file storage?

I have an external drive formatted by my MBP. I'm using it to store my iTunes music library and iPhoto pics. Can I use the drive for Time Capsule backups as well?

Yes, but that is not recommended. Storage and backup should be kept separate to reduce the chances of a disk failure. This is especially important because you cannot even partition a Time Capsule drive. Go get a separate drive for your storage needs. Get another drive for a second backup and use a different method of backup than Time Machine

Partition external HD to use it for time machine backup and nas storage

i have a macbook pro with retina display with 500gb of ssd storage runing yosemite and a airport extreme latest model.
what i want to do is to use an external drive (1TB) and use it to hold all my files of my macbook, and i want to make time machine backups for each drive over airport extreme.
so i have made in my mind a backup plan and im not sure if it will work.
im planning to buy a 4TB external HDD and make 3 partitions, one for my macbook of 500gb, another for my external drive of 1TB and a third to use it as a NAS.
im not an expert in storage but i have read a lot from internet.
Thanks.

so i have made in my mind a backup plan and im not sure if it will work.
It won't work with TM..
TM will either backup the internal disk plus external or internal only.. it cannot backup external only. So there is no point using 3 partitions.. just two will work fine.
You can buy Carbon Copy Cloner and it will work fine doing backups of internal and external as separate items.. but it is better over network to backup as sparsebundles.. much faster than direct copying.. but it does work.
As a NAS.. an Airport Extreme plus USB drive.. is slow.. might be ok over wireless.. because the wireless is even slower.. but it is not ok over ethernet. A Time Capsule or a cheap single disk nas will work a lot better.
So your plan can be made to work.. just need some adjustments.
BTW be very careful what USB drive you buy. Not all work on the USB of the Airport routers.
USB drive compatibility with Airport Routers. Help make database.

Setting up a 1tb (2-500gb) external drive to do backup and file storage

I bought a WD 1tb (uses 2 500 GB drives). I want to use one of the drives for backup and one for storing and working with large video and photo files. How do I set this up? RAID 0 HFS+ or RAID 1. Am confused about how to partition this so that one of the drives is a backup for reliability. Seems like RAID 0 would not allow me to do this and RAID 1 just mirrors everything on both drives.
Help?

alright ... here we go ...
every drive has to be formatted ... whether you do or you buy it that way ...
most likely one is formatted NTFS, and the other FAT32, especially since you can write to one and not the other ...
did you use both with windoze ???
Mac OS X uses HFS+ but can write to FAT32 ...
what you are going to have to do is copy all the data over to your local disk and reformat the externals ... both of them ... using disk utility (in Utilities folder in /Applications - the Erase tab) ...

IPhoto Backup To External Drive

I am currently in the process of backing up all my photos so that I can move the main libraries off of my main drive on my laptop. I have already moved the "iPhoto Library" file to an external drive (Drive_1), re-routed iphoto to locate the library there, and then run time machine onto another drive (drive_2) that includes Drive_1. To give a more visual Layout:
iPhoto is located on Drive_1
iPhoto is backed up through time machine on Drive_2
iPhoto is still on my laptop drive as well
While I have iPhoto backed up at this point in the "library" format through time machine, I would like to make a seperate backup onto a third drive (Photo_Backup_Drive). However I do not want to have it in the "library" format. I would like to export all the files as ".jpg"s and ".mv4" etc and stored on Photo_Backup_Drive as straight files. Is there any way to do this where I can update my iPhoto library and automatically have the files moved on the "Photo_Backup_Drive" as plain files? Thanks for your suggestions.

The only way to get the files from the Library is to export them.
Apps Like Iphoto2Disk Or Photoshare Will Help You Export To A Folder Tree Matching Your Events. I'm not sure about automating them, but you could try a feature request to one of the makers.
Why do you think it's necessary to do this? Can't you just 'Show Package Contents' on the Library and there the files are?
Regards
TD

IPhoto Backup from External HD- ?

I just backed up my entire system to an external HD. Because I am about to upgrade this particular system to Leopard, I want to make sure my 5,000 photos on that system are surely and properly backed up. I did the backup and when it was done I hooked up the external backup HD to another, newer, Mac to check that all of those photos were there. Well, the Mac I hooked it up to has an iPhoto library of it's own, many (probably all) which are duplicates of the huge iPhoto library from the other Mac. This library only has about 600 photos in comparison to the 5,000 that should have been backed up.
Here's my issue: In the newer Mac, on which I am testing the backup, when I open my Backup HD and click on Users>myusername>Pictures>iPhoto Library, it opens iPhoto but all that shows up in iPhoto are the photos and events that were already in there (the 600 photos). On the bottom of iPhoto, it says "600 photos in 27 events." So, that makes my think my photos are not where they should be. However, when I go back to the finder, and navigate through my Backup HD's folders back to my iPhoto Library, it shows that it contains 25GB on disk, which is the same as the backup should have been (same amount of space taken up as on the old Mac with 5,000 photos. So, they must be in there, but how do I access them on a MacBook that already has an iPhoto Library?
Please let me know if any of this needs to be clarified. I'll stick around for a bit in hopes of a quick response from anyone! Thanks!!

quit iPhoto and start it with the option (alt) key depressed - choose the select library option and navigate to the library on the external HD that you want to check
Afterwards do it again and navigate back to the internal drive so you don't get confused after you move the external
LN

MBA and iMac as display and external storage

Hi there,
I currently have only Macbook Air 2012 and I know that buying an iMac I can use it as an external monitor (price is almost the same as Thunderbolt Display). I'm thinking if connecting iMac to my Macbook I could access iMac's HDD (to use it as an external storage for films, photos since my Macbook is only 128GB ssd). Also if I can connect USB devices into iMac's ports and access them on my Macbook like it's possible with the Thunderbolt Display.
Thank you!

OK, i found that apart from Target Display Mode there is also Target Disk Mode. But can I combine them at the same time?
(I want to have iMac as external hdd and display, but browsing OS and apps from my Macbook).
Also, do I have enough ports in my Macbook Air (2012)? Thunderbolt goes for screen sharing, but I heard that for Target Disk Mode I need firewire cable? Do I have this port at all in my MBA?

IPhoto Backup to External HD not working. Any tips?

Hi there. My hard drive is getting full of photos so I would like to put an iPhoto library of old photos on my external HD and keep new photos on my laptop HD. I researched the message board and found the following instructions (thanks to TD):
=====
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.
=====
I followed these steps but am having a problem with steps 3 and 4. I copied the laptop HD iPhoto library to the external HD, and then as a quality check I added one extra photo to my laptop HD iPhoto library (the external HD copy does not have this extra photo). I then launched iPhoto holding control, and through the Finder window I clicked on the iPhoto library in the external HD. However, when iPhoto opens, the library that appears HAS the extra photo. In other words, it looks like iPhoto is launching the local laptop iPhoto library and not the external HD iPhoto library. So I'm having difficulty confirming that the "old" iPhoto library was, in fact, copied to the external HD and that I can access that external HD iPhoto library from iPhoto.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!

To clarify, I launched iPhoto holding COMMAND, not control. Thanks.
Yes, but the instructions say to hold the option (or alt) key
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.
Regards
TD

Want to use Time Capsule as a back up AND external storage device-help!

I know there's been a few variations on this question but I can't seem to find the answer that relates to me so probably being dumb but help would be greatly appreciated.
I bought a 500gb Time Capsule yesterday and finally got it set up through AirPort Utility. I think I've done it right-there's a green light and it's going through the motions of backing up although VERY slowly. It's taken 10 hours to back up 20GB. I've used Time Machine before with an external Seagate drive so I know how to access/check those back ups.
I have a dish on the side of my house (on side of a mountain!) that brings the internet signal into a wireless router and then my MacBook accesses through that WIFI network. I plugged the ethernet cable from one of the standard ports out the back of the router into the WAN port on the Time Capsule as part of the setup and that seems to be right in that I can see the TC and surf the net.
So, now I just want to see the Time capsule as a normal external drive on my desktop and move other files to it so they can come off my Macbook completely but the only way icon I can see if the white one that says 'Backup of...' I've copied stuff onto this but I suspect that was the wrong thing to do.
Finally, I only want to TM to use the TC up to a certain max storage so I always have space free on it but can't find settings to allow me to do that.
I'd be really grateful if someone could tell me how to set this up properly!

Paretola wrote:
So, now I just want to see the Time capsule as a normal external drive on my desktop and move other files to it so they can come off my Macbook completely but the only way icon I can see if the white one that says 'Backup of...' I've copied stuff onto this but I suspect that was the wrong thing to do.
No. Don't transfer anything into the Back of... sparsebundle. That is your Time Machine backup.
Under Finder -> Shared -> Time Capsule -> Time Capsule Disk. This is where you can create a new folder to store your files. If you want to see this on your Desktop, via Finder, click Preferences. Under General, make sure +Connected servers+ is ticked.
Finally, I only want to TM to use the TC up to a certain max storage so I always have space free on it but can't find settings to allow me to do that.
Since the TC HDD isn't partitionable, you can't really do that. Best thing is to get another HDD for storage as TM works best if you give it enough room to grow.
I'd be really grateful if someone could tell me how to set this up properly!

IPhoto backup and external storage

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