IPhoto Usage Tips, Tricks, suggestions??

Question

I was hoping someone could help me by answering a couple basic iPhoto usage questions I have...
First, is there a way in which I can automatically create an iPhoto "Album" from each of my iPhoto "Events, without having at manually drag each one over? Perhaps a script or Automator Workflow that someone could refer me to??
Second, what is the best way to find duplicate (and/or similar) images in iPhoto (duplicate no meaning references to the same file as it exists in the Finder, rather two copies of exactly the same image)? The tricky part is the I know many of the identical duplicate will often have completely different names from each other, so the tool I need would have to be able to identify duplicates by more than just the file name.
Also, I wanted to know what some of you think about the advantages/disadvantages of enabling iPhoto's preference setting to "copy items to the iPhoto Library" (which when unchecked, I assume would reference the images in its existing locations as opposed to copying them)...I like the idea of referencing the images in their existing location for a variety of reasons (such as not having to copy the 200GB of images that I want in iPhoto; also keeping the images in their current 'non-packaged' folder structure format so that I can access them images using other image organization tools such as Adobe Lightroom; etc...). Are there any drawbacks to references as opposed to copying? Will I still be able to use iTunes pointed at my iPhoto Library (containing referenced images only) to sync albums/galleries to my iPhone/Apple TV? What about Tivo Desktop...will this still work via this method?
Finally, what about storing the iPhoto Library on in a different folder/drive than the default ~/Pictures folder? Can I store the iPhoto Library on one of the three available (non-OS) internal hard drives in my MacPro and still expect iPhoto to find this library and iTunes/Apple TV/TiVo to sync from this library as well?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...These are the key issues that I have right now with iPhoto, and if someone could help me find the answers to these questions, I would be sincerely grateful!
Thanks!

Answer 1

Well there's some meaty questions there.
First, is there a way in which I can automatically create an iPhoto "Album" from each of my iPhoto "Events, without having at manually drag each one over? Perhaps a script or Automator Workflow that someone could refer me to?
Why duplicate an Event as an Album? How about a Smart Album based on Date? File -> new Smart Album
Second, what is the best way to find duplicate (and/or similar) images in iPhoto (duplicate no meaning references to the same file as it exists in the Finder, rather two copies of exactly the same image)? The tricky part is the I know many of the identical duplicate will often have completely different names from each other, so the tool I need would have to be able to identify duplicates by more than just the file name.
Check out Duplicate Annihilator
As to using Referenced versus a Managed Library:
The pitfalls of a Referenced Library:
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
Always allowing for personal preference, I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers.
Why would you use two photo organisers, such as iPhoto and Lightroom? iPhoto is a consumer application, Lightroom (and Aperture) are Pro apps. If you do use both, remember they both have to reference the files.
Other than that, yes, a referenced library will work the same way as a Managed one. The issues will all occur when you migrate to another machine or hard disk.
Finally, what about storing the iPhoto Library on in a different folder/drive than the default ~/Pictures folder? Can I store the iPhoto Library on one of the three available (non-OS) internal hard drives in my MacPro and still expect iPhoto to find this library and iTunes/Apple TV/TiVo to sync from this library as well?
Yes, and it will work the same way:
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.
My final 2 cents: Make a choice of Photo Organiser. Do you shoot RAW? Then consider Aperture or Lightroom. If you're shooting jpeg, then you'll likely be happy with iPhoto. One advantage with Aperture is that it, at least, knows iPhoto exists.
Regards
TD