Is it better to store iMovies, iPhoto or iTunes on an external drive? I'm running out of space.

Is it better to store iMovies, iPhoto or iTunes on an external drive? I'm running out of space.

Movies for obvious reasons.  Photo libraries can get extra large too.  When that happens, you have to decide if all your metadata is worth losing, or if you want to keep the entire Pictures folder on a couple external hard drives on their own.  Remember, you should never have less than two copies of your data at all times (meaning just before erasing anything, you'll have at least three temporarily).  You can always switch the active library with an iPhoto rebuild.  command-option keys held down when you startup iPhoto.  That lets you pick the Library XML file in the Pictures folder in question out of the Users folder.

Similar Messages

  • HOW Do I Store All My MP3 files on an external drive, and point iTunes?

    I see on this forum that folks are storing byte-hogs like MP3 and MP4 files on an external hard drive, leaving the internal drive with more room for processing.
    My internal drive is full, so I got a 2 Tb external drive where I want to store my MP3 and MP4 files.
    After I move the files to the external drive, HOW do I point iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie to the external drive?

    Type "move itunes library to external drive" into the search bar at the top of this screen next to "Support".

  • I have my iMovies in QuickTime format on an external drive. Is there anyway to show them from the external drive without putting them into iTunes?

    I havei my personal iMovies in QuickTime format on an external drive. I prefer not to have to import them into my iTunes library which is nearly 1GB already. Is there any way to play them from my MacBook Pro through Apple TV 2 without importing them into iTunes?

    Just wanted to add a little to the excellent comments from those above... I have debated on adding the content to iTunes or just accessing the content through some folder structure.
    What has worked best for me and my family:
    use VideoDrive - http://www.aroona.net/VideoDrive/Home.html to import the videos/tvshows into iTunes and make them in the correct format for my iPad/iPhone/AppleTV devices in the house. This software is cheap and excellent and make the adding of content to iTunes (i everything) easy!
    I store my videos on a usb 2tb drive and my tvshows on a different usb 2tb drive. And I swap a drive out every year or so and give old drive away to family/friends. That way my media drives are new(ish) and 1 drive is never older than 2 years.
    for media that I don't want to add to iTunes I still use AirVideo as it is an excellent piece of software. I also use AirVideo to allow me to access content on my home network over the internet.
    my "media server" is a simple 4 year old intel mac mini with 1 gig of ram best $700 I spent when I first flipped to all things mac. Family now have 2 mbp's, 2 iPads, 4 iphones and 1atv (2nd gen)
    I'm working on a document that shows how I did my setup - if you want to read more please feel free to download my preview - https://files.me.com/lee.gaupp/aq0gst
    Would enjoy feedback

  • Can I copy and store Aperture 3.5 library on an external drive ExFAT?

    Hi
    Can I copy and store Aperture 3.5 library on an external drive ExFAT?

    No, as Allan Eckert said. Storing your library on and external drive is no problem, but it requires MacOS Extended (Journaled):
    You may want to have a look a these support documents: 
    Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library
    and
      Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture   http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509?
    The same goes for iPhoto Libraries:
    iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives

  • How do i transfer my IPhoto library from one troublesome external drive to a new one?

    My iPhoto library is on older external drive that I no longer trust.  How do I transfer it to a new drive?  If both are hooked up to iMac can I simply copy from one to the other?

    Be sure the new drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) and drag the library intact from the old to the new drive - depress the oprion key and launch iPHoto and use the select library window to select the new location as the default - be sure to fully test the new location before trashing the old one if you plan to
    LN

  • To save hard drive space, can I put my iMovie projects and clips on an external drive?

    to save hard drive space, can I put my iMovie projects and clips on an external drive?

    Yes.
    To preserve your projects, all moves should be done from within iMovie, (not the Finder).
    First, the external drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). FAT32 will not work. You can reformat using Disk Utility if you need to.
    When importing video from your camera, you can specify your external drive as the target on the import screen.
    For existing projects, you should move using these instructions.
    http://help.apple.com/imovie/#move7d66613
    There is an error in the instructions where it says to drag the project icon to the icon in the Event Library. You should instead look for your hard drive icon in the Project Library.
    You can move events using these instructions.
    http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3ac6d42c
    If you want to move Events, and copy photos, copy music, etc for editing on another Mac, you should use the FILE/CONSOLIDATE MEDIA feature after moving the Project as above.
    http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3ac6c7c9

  • Iphoto can't see my external drive

    Hi,
    I want all my photo's from Iphoto to go on an external drive I have. But if I click on Export and have to chose a place then I can't click on my external drive because it's not there on the list on the left side...
    Is there an other why to move all my photo's to my external drive?

    The question should be 'what's wrong with the external drive'
    Can you see it in other programs? can you see it in Disk Utility?

  • I have plenty of space on my harddrive but stil if i try to  imprort few pics i get an error message stating that my iphoto library disk is running out of space. I have only 137 MB worth of pictures; How to incease the size of my iphoto library?

    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.

  • How do I export my images from iPhoto 9.4, to an external drive?

    How do I export my images from iPhoto 9.4, to an external drive?
    mainly to back them up without using time machine.
    Thanks

    Just the Images?
    File -> Export
    This User Tip
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
    has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
    To back up the Library: that is images, organisation, edit history etc etc
    Most Simple Back Up:
    Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
    Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
    Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

  • HT1198 I shared disk space and my iPhoto library as described in this article. When creating the disk image, I thought I had set aside enough space to allow for growth (50G). I'm running out of space. What's the best way to increase the disk image size?

    I shared disk space and my iPhoto library as described in this article. When creating the disk image, I thought I had set aside enough space to allow for growth (50G). I'm running out of space. What's the best way to increase the disk image size?

    Done. Thank you, Allan.
    The sparse image article you sent a link to needs a little updating (or there's some variability in prompts (no password was required) with my OS and/or Disk Utility version), but it worked.
    Phew! It would have been much more time consuming to use Time Machine to recover all my photos after repartitioning the drive. 

  • My startup disk is full?!?!  This has been happening for a while and I have dumped 4500 jepegs from iPhoto onto an external drive to try and free up space.  I am still recieving the "Startup disk full" message.  What more can I do?!?!

    My startup disk is full?!?!  This has been happening for a while and I have dumped 4500 jepegs from iPhoto onto an external drive to try and free up space.  I am still recieving the "Startup disk full" message.  What more can I do?!?!

    Did you empty the Trash?
    What size hard drive & how much free space. You should always have a minimum of 10-15% or more free space?
     Cheers, Tom

  • How can I merge two iPhoto libraries stored on an external drive?

    Today I was in a One-to-One at the Apple Store.  I want to merge two i-Photo libraries into one.  One library is on my Air, the other is on my iMac.  Both libraries have been moved to an external drive.  When I try to move one onto the other, they won't go.  Yet I am certain that while at the store today, the person there started to merge them.  He did not need the library manager software in order to do so.  We stopped the merge in order to move on to another issue.  Now that I am home, I can't get the libraries to merge.  What am I failing to do?  Thanks!

    The only way to merge two libraryies is to use  iPhoto Library Manager which will merge two libraries and keep keywords, titles, faces, places, and other metadata intact.
    If one imports one library into another library every image file in the first library, originals, thumbnails, face files, etc,  get imported as an original photo. You will end up with a total mess.  DO NOT IMPORT ONE LIBRARY INTO ANOTHER LIBRARY!
    If you have backup copies of your libraries get them back and use iPhoto Library Manager to merge them.
    OT

  • Thinking about storing my iPhoto and iTunes on a NAS Drive

    Hi,
    I am thinking about buying a LaCie Network Space MAX NAS Drive and I just wanted to know if anyone else is using one and can provide some insights or advice. I have a the following set up:
    - Macbook pro
    - Macbook air
    - Apple TV
    - Airtport Extreme
    - 2 x iPhones
    - iPhoto album over 150Gb
    - iTunes library over 800Gb
    I have been running the iPhoto and iTunes off a 1.5tb USB WD external hard drive attached to the Airport USB. It has been working but has been slow but a few days ago the drive became corrupt. I have been able to recover the data but I am now looking at other options for storing iPhoto and iTunes externally.
    I can't help but think I am not the only person in this situation. I find managing these large data libraries really annoying and I think apple should be offering a better solution to this problem. I think most peoples' iTunes and iPhoto libraries are too big or getting too big to run on a portable computer's internal hard drive. Anyway that is my moan for this post.
    Does anyone have any ideas on a good set up for this situation? And if you are using a LaCie Network Space MAX drive is it working for you?

    Same exact problem in my case... thinking same Lacie Network Space could help...
    Any idea ?

  • Fix for iPhoto lost thumbnails on an external drive

    I've had a few times when iPhoto seems to have lost all my thumbnails and pictures. I finally figured out what caused it and how to solve it. I thought others might be interested.
    The problem occurs because of 2 things:
    1. I store my iPhoto Library on an external drive.
    2. While running iPhoto, the external drive becomes disconnected by mistake (usually because I kick the power cord)
    I found that the problem is that iPhoto still tries to write the library files to the same location as it used to be. In order to fix the problem, you just need to remove the files that were created accidently. Here are the steps I used for iPhoto '06 and Max OS X 10.3.9 on an eMac. I'm guessing they'll work with other versions, but have not tested them.
    0. Quit iPhoto. Make sure you have a current back-up of all your files (don't you always
    1. Write down the name of the drive where you store your iPhoto library on the external drive:
    I'll use <drive> in the remainder of this description. Replace that text with the name you just wrote down.
    2. Open the "Terminal" inside "Applications/Utilities/"
    3. Type "cd /Volumes". This is where Mac connects external drives to your UNIX filesystem. "cd" means "change directory" to the "/Volumes" drive.
    4. Type "ls". You should see the name of your drive there. "ls" means "list" the contents.
    5. Eject the <drive> from you Mac via the Trash Can and turn it off as normal.
    6. Type "ls". Normally your drive should disappear from this listing. However, you'll notice that the drive still appears there. The problem is that there are really 2 directories there, one gets over-written when you attach an external drive. But having 2 causes lots of problems.
    7. With the drive off, you want to move the 2nd directory out of the way. To do this, you will need to become a root user for a moment. This is done with the "sudo" which means "switch user and do something then switch back". The first time you use it in a terminal you will be required to type the administrator password. It's a very powerful command, but keeps you from getting into the wrong mode forever.
    8. Type "sudo mv '<drive>' '<drive>.wrong'". This switches users, "moves" the bad directory to another directory name (ie. rename for UNIX). Make sure to use the single quote (') in case the name of your drive has spaces in it.
    This doesn't remove the bad files, just moves them out of the way. That way if this doesn't work, you can just move it back with the reverse command "sudo mv '<drive>.wrong' '<drive>'".
    9. Now turn your drive back on.
    10. Type "ls". Your <drive> should now re-appear in this listing.
    11. Restart iPhoto. It may ask you to locate the Library again.
    Please note that these instructions are only provided to help other users running into the same problem. Also, I am not responsible for any lost data by following these instructions.
    Also, if anyone finds this doesn't work, or has way to improve these steps, please feel free to post a reply.
    eMac   Mac OS X (10.3.9)   iLife 06

    It would be much easier if you make frequent backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and when you have a disconnect like you did, just replace the damaged file with the backup version. It is important to have a "recent" backup so you can get back where you were. So I've created an Automator application that will copy the file to the Pictures folder, label it orange, any time you click on it. So you can backup after any import, or work on a book, slideshow,etc. You don't need to close iPhoto to do it. Just don't be writing the the database file. You can download the application at Toad's Cellar.
    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.
    G5 Dual Core 2GHz, 2G RAM, 250G HD; G4 Dual 1Ghz, 1.5G RAM, 80G HD, QT 7.1.3,   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   22 LCD, 250G/200G/160G FW HDs, Canon: SD700IS/i850/LIDE 50, Epson R200, 30G iPod

  • How to use iMovie with Aperture Library from an external drive?

    Hey,
    Some problems:
    1. My first video, I stored the project on my own laptop and used the library from the HD. This seems to give some problems, but I now figured out I have to consolidate the media etc. so now my files don't get missing after unplugging the harddrive. I figured it would be a better idea to make all new projects on the HD, so I have everything in place all the time. BUT. look at the picture: there seems to be something wrong with the way iMovie recognizes the aperture library: i'ts not listed in the events library under the HardDisk (named Passport) but under my own drive... ??? (+ I don't understand the idea of events when I have my aperture library: Do I need to make events for all projects I make? how is this possible when the library is not in the correct position?)
    2. I made a movie, but I'm unable to export a large/high quality version of this project. That's why I want to move my project to the HD and then open it on my partners Mac Book Pro to make a good export. Unfortunately, his macbook doesn't recognize the files and the files can't be opened in iMovie... (files stay gray and unclickable)
    To sum it all up:
    I want the best way to work with this set-up: mac book air, external drive with all my files and iMovie.  And I want to be able to open the project on a different computer to make high quality exports.

    First thing that comes up with videos in your 'picture' library is the videos are always under the full control of the picture library program. Which means Aperture is the keeper and master, and it decides what will be displayed in iMovie's Event Library. If Aperture is having difficulties sometimes it cannot or will not display the videos you are storing there.
    Right now, I think the problem is your Aperture Library is on the internal Mac HD, not the external. You would have to move Aperture's Library to the external HD (along with all the pictures and videos). Then try to add the videos back into a project.
    In extreme cases I have recommended moving the videos out of the picture library and re-importing them into iMovie Event folders to let iMovie manage it.

Maybe you are looking for