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

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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

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
2. Copy the iPhoto Library 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.
And don't forget you'll need another disk for backing up.
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!
BM

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

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.

Ever since my iphoto library crashed (ran out of space without warning) my mcbook pro has been slow, unresponsive, freezes in sleep mode and won't restart... please help.

Hi everyone
Ever since my iphoto library crashed (ran out of space without warning) my mcbook pro has been slow, unresponsive, freezes in sleep mode and won't restart...
I've since backed everything up on an external hard drive, removed the corrupt library, even reinstalled the operating software and there is now hardly anything on the hard drive, it still runs painfully slow. If I close the lid which puts it in sleep mode, it either doesn't go into sleep mode but instead the battery just gets drained and I find it completely empty of power (it won't start again unless plugged in), or it goes into sleep mode but just freezes when I try to reopen.
In iphoto (reinstalled) but even other applications it is painfully slow, not like a mac at all!
I am trying to go to genius bar with it but thinking maybe someone in this forum can help...
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Andre

Have you tried SMC and PRAM resets?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Ciao.

I have a white iPhone 4S 8 gb it say that I have most if the room in my music and and I only have fourth songs and also It says that the second mist spacious item is my photo which I deleted all of and I running low on space any suggestions

I have a white iPhone 4S 8 gb it say that I have most if the room in my music and and I only have fourth songs and also It says that the second mist spacious item is my photo which I deleted all of and I running low on space any suggestions

Read this on how to do that https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

Disk containing iPhoto is running low on space, photos cannot be imported???

How is this possible? I have 659 GB space available? Please help! I want to import more pics.
Mac OS 10.6.7
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Volumes:
Capacity:    209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable:    Yes
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File System:    Journaled HFS+
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You have a damaged library. First, try this: launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Import some photos and check to see if the same problem persists. If you're able to create the new library confirms that it's your current library that's the culprit.
If that's the case make a temporary, duplicate copy of your library and apply the three fixes in order as necessary.
Fix #1
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your Home/Library/Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file,, Cache.dbt, that is located in your Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
3 - reboot, launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
If that doesn't help try the following: make a temporary, duplicate copy of the library and try the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #2
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #3
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

Convert all Raws in my iPhoto Library to jpg to save space ?

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I want to back up my all iPhoto library somewhere in the cloud, something like google Drive or Drop Box .
currently my iPhoto library folder is over 180Go , over 10 years of Photo and videos
a lot of those photo are in RAW but really I would be happy to only have them as jpg doing some test that would reduce them by almost 5-10x from 25Mo to 3-4Mo
I was hoping that I could just make a Smart Folder just pointing to all my RAW photo , select them say : convert to jpg ( in-place ) and for iPhoto to keep them all into they Events but I couldn't really see anyting like that ?
what is my best options ?
Ideally I would reduce my Library a little under 100Go this way I can go on slighty cheaper packes .
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Really don't mind keep the RAW for local storate HDD are cheap but even with a Time Capsule I really feal that I need Cloud backup . and RAW quickly add space just trying to keep my lib to a resonable size so I can have a cloud backup for it .
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D.

Trying to restore iPhoto library from TimeMachine - "not enough space" even though there is

Hi all, I'm trying to restore my iPhoto library from the timemachine backup which is roughly 200gb in size.
Timemachine is on an external hard drive, of course.
Main laptop hard drive has roughly 408gb left. Whenever I try to restore the 200gb iPhoto library backup from timemachine, it says I don't have enough disk space... I am so frustrated.. I don't want to lose all my photos from the past 5 years ..
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I am using the newest Lion, everything is updated.

moving stuff to trash doesn't remove it from a drive. It puts it in a hidden .Trash folder on that drive. you have to empty trash to reclaim space. even easier would be to reformat the drive if you have a lot of stuff to erase.

Disk containing iphoto library is low on space

When attempting to download pictures I get the message "The disk containing your iPhoto library is running low on space” and cannot download the pics. What to do? I don’t want to delete my pics from computer...

Buy a larger external hard drive and move the iPhoto library to that.

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I have plenty of space on my hard drive 1.5GB But still when I try importing some pictures in to Iphoto it tells me that the iphoto library is running out of space
How do i solve this problem so that I can import my pictures
thanks

I have plenty of space on my hard drive 1.5GB
You do not have "plenty of space". You are facing a major crisis with a severe risk of dataloss unless you act very fast indeed. This is your first priority.
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.

Exchange 2013 - Client Access Servers - Disk Space C:\ Running Low Space

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Hi,
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Mavis Huang
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Help/advice using iPhoto library manager

I got the pay version of iPhoto library manager, and it seems to work well. But I'm looking for some advice on how to best organize my photos between the two libraries. I'm using the following basic system:
I have my entire photo library containing all my photos on my external drive, and I named this library Lacie.
Then I have a subset of my photos, basically my favorites and recent photos, on my laptop. This library is called Macbook. I am running low on space on my laptop (and soon will be running out on my external too and will need to get another one, but I can probably put that off for a bit).
When I import photos, I usually import them onto my macbook, play around with the events, delete fuzzy photos, etc. Then periodically I move the new events over to my Lacie drive so that everything is on Lacie. I then delete photos that I don't like that much to make space on my Macbook.
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Iphoto library is running low on space

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