Keep local iPhoto Library in sync over NAS
Hi every one
Here's my usecase: I want use ONE iPhoto Library with 3 Mac's and 2 Useraccounts. Why ONE library? Because i want work on Albums etc. on my stationary iMac in Room1, and finish it on my MacBook pro while sitting on my sofa :-) It also can be, that my wife will work on the same Album too. Of course not at the same time, but i don't want to tell her if the Library is available at the moment, or if I've already opended iPhoto on another Mac. It has to be automatically "locked" if someone is using it. Easy, just put the whole thing on a NAS and you got this effect automatically. Correct, but the speed isn't really nice. Why buying an i7 iMac with Fusion drive and using a NAS as source while working on photos...? Got it? (sorry for my poor english, i'm swiss but doing my best :-) )
Here's my solution approach I would like to have: (sorry a little confuse...)
My i7 iMac has a local iPhoto library. A "sync software" keeps the iPhoto library in sync with a mirrored version on a NAS, (wich can be a Timecapsule as well as any other NAS). when I open iPhoto on my iMac, it has to lock the whole iPhoto library on my NAS as well, so my wife can't open the library on my NAS while I'm using it local on my iMac. After i close my iPhoto on my iMac, the mirrored Library is available on my NAS where i can use it with my MacBook Pro directly from my NAS. The "sync software" has to lock the file in the other direction, so i can't open my local Library on my iMac at this time. When i close iPhoto on my macBook Pro it will be unlocked and the sync software on my iMac will update my local copy automatically the next time that i start my iMac and (surprise surprise) my local version is up to date!
You see my point? The clou is to lock the library on another place while using it's mirrored version. That helps preventing any corrupt iPhoto Librarys becaus of two user at the same time and you don't have any performance inconvenience.
Advanced version would be to habe many Mac's with local iPhoto librarys. It would still be the same: If it's not possible to use a Library at the same time, you wan't have any problemes with de database... right? There would be one problem: If you work on a local iPhoto library while you're not connected with your nas, you wan't have informations about the "lock" status... but that's another story-
I tried "synk pro" which keeps folders and documents "realtime" in sync. But it works really bad with NAS and my problem with the "lock" is still there.
Folks: Any ideas to share with me? I just wan't to have a SAVE iPhoto library to work on it with my wife an our 3 Mac's ;-)
Many thanks
Roman
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos.
This is particularly the case now that iPhoto uses the same library as Aperture:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3252
Note:
it is strongly recommended that the Aperture library be stored on a locally mounted hard drive. Storing the Aperture library on a network share can also lead to poor performance, data corruption, or data loss.
What do you mean by "Sync".
The general term means when two Libraries (A and B) are compared and files in Library A are copied to Library B, while files in Library B are also copied to Library A so that both Libraries are identical.
This is bi-directional copying and you cannot do this automatically with iPhoto. No Syncing software is capable of parsing the iPhoto Library in this manner. One or both of your Libraries will be damaged if you try this.
You can have uni-directional copying - files in Library A are copied to Library B - this is essentially backing up. Obviously you can also copy from Library B to Library A.
The nearest you can get to syncing is to use iPhoto Library Manager to move files/Albums/Events plus associated metadata between Libraries. This process cannot be automated.
Similar Messages
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Hello. I keep my iPhoto library (about 90GB) on an external HD and am trying to back it up to another external drive. Both are formatted Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) and both check out when scanned with Disk Utility. Recently, backup has failed from the start due to error 36. Any ideas how to resolve? Also, what's the maximum recommended size for an iPhoto library file? Thx!
Since you can't drag the library to the other EHD for the backup see if you can duplicate it (if you have enough room on the drive) by selecting it and typing Command+d (duplicate).
If you do rebuild the library without a backup and it goes awry you won't lose your photos but you may lose your orgnaizational efforts. So try the following:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
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 in the location of your choosing 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.
NOTE: Fix 2 above might be the method you might want to try first with iPLM creating the new library on your second EHD. If it works that would get your backup copy on the second EHD at the same time as repairing it. If it does'nt work then go back to Fix 1.
OT -
My iPhoto Library is huge - over 800GB
Hello, I'm running Yosemite on a new Mac mini (late 2014) with iPhoto 9.6. My single iPhoto Library file is over 800GB at this point.
I would love some best practices on how to manage this file as it is getting big and I'm afraid the file will get corrupted - it's also hard to manage backups (I have redundant backups on Time Machine and external HDD. I already had to restore the file once from a backup.
Could you please provide some options on:
1) how to parse out the existing iPhoto Library to smaller sizes (i.e. one file per year?)
2) should I upgrade to Aperture or Lightroom? Would this help with anything?
3) I assume I should start a new iPhoto Library starting in 2015?
I'm sure this is an FAQ - please point me to some good posts, if available. Thanks in advance.it's also hard to manage backups (I have redundant backups on Time Machine and external HDD. I already had to restore the file once from a backup.
The Time Machine backups should be automatic, if you include the drive with your iPhoto in your regular Time Machine backup. The second backup to an external drive would best be done with a cloning application that can do incremental backups like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper, so only the first backup would take a long time.
Could you please provide some options on:
1) how to parse out the existing iPhoto Library to smaller sizes (i.e. one file per year?)
iPhoto Library Manager could do that - the full, paid version. But splitting your library would make your library less useful, since you can no longer search all photos at once. Having to switch between libraries is tedious.
2) should I upgrade to Aperture or Lightroom? Would this help with anything?
I don't have much experience with Lightroom. Upgrading to aAperture is useful, if you want advanced editing options and more ways to search a large library based on metadata tags. An Aperture library is easier to navigate, if you take the time to explore Aperture's advanced features. Aperture supports to manage huge libraries distributed across several drives. But upgrading to a professional application would only be necessary, if there are things that you would want to do in iPhoto, that iPhoto cannot do. Aperture can open your iPhoto library without any need to migrate, and iPhoto can open the Aperture library. Only problem, apple announced that neither Aperture nor iPhoto will be further developed. Apple to replace Aperture and iPhoto with Photos for OS X early next year | 9to5Mac
3) I assume I should start a new iPhoto Library starting in 2015?
See my answer to your first question. -
This does not make any sense to me at all. Apple creates a new and improved Photo's app that is supposed to replace iPhoto and Aperture. Yet after the conversion it still requires that we keep the iPhoto and Aperture Libraries on our hard drives. What if we need the space and don't want everything duplicated? What happens when the decide to come out with a newer and more improved Photo's app?
1. Your data isn't being duplicated; the media only counts once towards the amount of space used despite appearing in both libraries. Click here for more information.
2. The same as what's happening now. You don't need to keep the iPhoto library, but may want to until any glitches have been worked out.
(125943) -
Following error message 'The item “iPhoto Library” can’t be moved because “10.0.1.3” can’t be modified' pops up, when I'm trying to copy my iPhoto library to my Synology NAS. Any thoughts what I need to do in order to succeed?
Would you rather recomment me to change to another programme like to iphoto to store and work with my photos?
I would use the NAS for documents and other data that do not need a library with database files inside. For iPhoto a small portable drive that you can plug in directly would be perfect; you can get one for 79$ http://mac-portable-hard-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/western-digital-review.h tml
Before you try to copy your iPhoto library anywhere, make sure it does not have any inconsistencies, that could prevent copying. Run a rebuild, using the First Aid tools. See this post by Old Toad on how to do it: Re: iPhoto version 8.1.2
The item “iPhoto Library” can’t be moved because “10.0.1.3”
That error message is very typical for copying between incompatible file systems. I get this error message usually when I try to move iPhoto libraries or Aperture libraries to drives with MS Dos (FAT) or unix formatting, or when some of the image files inside the library contain ethnic characters (Umlaute), have very long file names, or the filenames contain other special characters.
Do you have any other large data sets that you could try to move to your NAS instead of your iPhoto library? Movies, Music? Then move these first to have enough working space, when you try to move the iPhoto library. If you are running out of space, it will be difficult for the OS to move large amounts of data at once. That will need working space. -
Can I keep my iPhoto library synced on 2 or more macs?
I have 3 macs that I want to keep my iPhoto libraries synced on. Two are the latest Mac minis running Maverick and one is a MBP C2D that is about 5 years old running OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. I carry the MBP when I travel. At home they are all on the same home network. My primary iPhoto library is currently around 60GB. So HDD space is not a problem. I am uncertain about the risk of doing this without causing myself problems.
Any help or recommendations would be appreciated.Posting 2006 and 2008 threads that are very outdated is not a good idea
There is no way to "sync" iPhoto libraries
There is software that Old Toad has tested that will sync the photos which may or may not help you
You can easily manually move photos between libraries using iPhoto Library Manager with is probably the best solution
LN -
Can I keep two iPhoto libraries in sync?
I have an iPhoto library on my MacBook Pro, and I have an iPhoto library on my iMac. Both are recent models, and both are running up-to-date Lion upgrades. The libraries used to be the same, but they've diverged over the past several months as I've changed the way my iPhone, my iPad, my wife's iPhone, and my wife's iPad sync (mine now sync to the MBPro, her's to the iMac). Is there a way to make sure that the libraries contain the same photos? How do I make sure I'm subrscibed to her Photo Stream and she to mine?
Is there a way to figure out what photos are in hers that aren't in mine, and what photos are in mine that aren't in hers?
Thanks.What do you mean by "Sync".
The general term means when two Libraries (A and B) are compared and files in Library A are copied to Library B, while files in Library B are also copied to Library A so that both Libraries are identical.
This is bi-directional copying and you cannot do this automatically with iPhoto. No Syncing software is capable of parsing the iPhoto Library in this manner. One or both of your Libraries will be damaged if you try this.
You can have uni-directional copying - files in Library A are copied to Library B - this is essentially backing up. Obviously you can also copy from Library B to Library A.
The nearest you can get to syncing is to use iPhoto Library Manager to move files/Albums/Events plus associated metadata between Libraries. This process cannot be automated.
AFAIK you can only log into a single Photostream at a time. -
How to choose an iPhoto Library to sync in iTunes?
I have 3 iPhoto Library in my Mac. I want to sync my iPhone with one of them, but I don't know how to choose in iTunes the right Library.
In this moment I have one selected, but it's not the one I want.
Can anyone help me?
thanksLaunch iPhoto with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and specify the one you want to sync. iTunes will only sync the iPhone with the iPhoto library set as the default in iPhoto.
(46020) -
Dear All;
I currently have a issue with my iPhoto & iPhone, i apologize if this is the incorrect area for assistance.
My iPhoto library has been synced with my iphone all my images/photos are saved onto the phone, but i want to put them back onto my Mac, unfortunately my iphoto library has been deleted (actual file). is there any way to achieve this?
i have tried syncing the photos but i believe it will delete them, and update with my current library (no images).
i have also tried to take the images off via iphoto & image capture but they only take newly taken images not the photos in the old library stored on my iphone.
i am using an iPhone 4S, Macbook Pro 2010 & current version of iPhoto.
Please advise if there is any way to move an iphoto library from iphone to mac.
Thanks & Kind Regards
Jordan.Correct, you don't want to sync.
There are various apps that will recover images from an iOS device.
http://macupdate.com/app/mac/24832/ipod-access-photo
is one, but there are others.
Regards
TD -
Trying to update iPhoto library and sync
I have two MacBooks: 1 is running OSX 10.6.8 with iPhoto 8.1.2, and the other is running OSX 10.5.8 with iPhoto 7.1.5. I had about 22 gigs of pictures on each computer, so I recently combined them on an external hard drive using iPhoto Library Manager.
I am simply trying to find a way to store the pictures on a hard drive and access it on either computer, but I am unable to do so. If I open the library on iPhoto 8.1.2, it tells me "The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of iPhoto" but I don't want to do that because then I will be unable to open the pictures on my other computer. If I try to open the library on iPhoto 7.1.5, it tells me "you can't open your current photo library using this version of iPhoto. You have made changes to your photo library using a newer version of iPhoto. Please quit and use the latest version of iPhoto."
I have tried updating, but Software Update does not tell me I need any new software, and when I tried to download iPhoto 8.1.2, it told me my computer didn't need the upgrade. What should I do?You need to have the same version of iPhoto on both machines. That means updating the v7 to a v8 (or, in marketing terms, you'll need to buy and iLife 09 disk somewhere and install from that. Try Amazon or Ebay.)
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I have an iMac and plan to buy a MBP. I have my pics in the iMac but would like to keep them in sync (or it's called mirrored?) with the MBP. Is there any easy way to do this?
I know photo sharing in front row could do the job, but I'm looking for something that can actually 'have' the pics in both computers.
BTW, I'm also looking for same thing for the iTunes libray....
Thanks folks!If you don't modify the library on the leisure machine use a backup application like Synk Standard that can do incremental backups of the library from your MBP to the leisure Mac. Only new or changed files will be copies to the leisure machine.
If you modify the leisure library in any way, i.e. add new photos or edit photos, you won't be able to backup from MBP to leisure. -
Rebuilt iphoto Library not syncing
I had the problems of thumbnails 'disappearing' when I tried to edit my photos on my imac. Thanks to the great advice here from Terence Devlin, Old Toad and others, I rebuilt my Library and now have all my photos restored and working.
However, a new problem arose when I tried to sync my iphone4S and ipad3. I have over 18000 photos so I only keep a few on my mobile devices. After syncing, there was a report that itunes could not sync the majority of the photos that I had previously kept on the devices.
I'd appreciate any guidance on what to do now, and easy-to-follow (I'm a newbie to things Apple) instructions on how to resolve the problem.Thanks for your very prompt responses. I did that first repair, and it has improved the syncing to some extent. I still get the error message ("3320 items could not be synced. See iTunes for more information") as some photos I would like to sync appear on my iphone as blanks.
Do you know where I might find on iTunes the "more information" mentioned? I have looked but I can't seem to find any more details. -
Restore iPhoto library from NTFS NAS
Hi all - need some help here please!
I recently copied my iPhoto library to an NTFS NAS - not the smartest move I have come to realize!
After the backup I flattened my MacBook Pro and installed Mavericks from scratch.
I then downloaded the latest version of iPhoto and copied the iPhoto Library back to my MacBook.
The problem is the library only shows as 180MB on my Mac. The databse is 20+ GB in reality.
I've tried rebuilding the database but nothing seems to be working.
Any suggestions please?! I need to get my photos back. Thanks!I'd give this a try:
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
Check the size of the new library and see if it contains all of your photos. If the size is more in line with what you expect and the photos are all there delete the old library and go with the new one.
OT -
Locating the iPhoto Library exclusively on an external or NAS HDD
I have been successful doing this with iTunes. Is it possible with iPhoto?
The ideal scenario would be locating the iPhoto library on an external NAS on my network which would be accessible via Mac (and yes, PC - sorry - not living in a perfect world, yet).
Thanks in advance and sorry to all if this is the 100th time this question has been asked.scott
Welcome to the Apple user to user assistance forums
No it is not the 100th time - more like 250th time
1- the iPhoto library must be on a Mac OS extended (journaled) format disk which can not be accessed by a PC
2 - iPhoto has no cross platform capability
3 - iPhoto does not support a multiuser environment so even with multiple Macs sharing a single library you have to be very careful not to cause problems
4 - You can (although there are significant drawbacks) have iPhoto reference the original photos on a NAS but the PC users will not see edits made by iPhoto and iPhoto will not reflect any changes made in the originals by another computer - this is possible but not recommended
5 - iPhoto is a relational database program using an SQL database and it must have total control of the content and structure of its database (as any relational data base must have)
6 - You need a profession DIgital Asset Management program (DAM) to do what you want effectively
LN
Message was edited by: LarryHN -
Wil migration assistant keep my iPhoto library intact and organized exactly as it is on my old MacBook? I've read
that I may have to reorganize the entire library including the events, etc. thanks in advance for your help!Migration Assistant will keep your iPhoto library organized exactly as it is - all it is doing is moving your iPhoto Library package file from one Mac to the other. Where did you read otherwise?
Matt
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