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
Similar Messages
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Iphoto does not recognize video files when the iphoto library is on an external drive
I have copied my iphoto library to an external hard drive. I pointed iPhoto to the new location. I can import photos with no problem, but when I try to import video files (from my iPhone or from another drive) I get a message that the file is not recognized. When I moved the iphoto library back to the MAC hard drive, the import works OK both for photos and videos.
I am using iphoto 11 and all the videos were taken with my iphone.
Any ideas?Video could be imported from an iPhone before the library was copied to an external drive.
The video that was imported before the library was moved could be read before and after the library was moved to an external drive.
Video from the same iPhone cannot be imported into the library once the library had moved ton an external drive.
The problem is that video can no longer be imported into the library that was moved to an external drive. Photos from the same iPhone can be imported and read. -
i have read with interest the discussions here regarding the iPhoto Library. I have picked up some good pointers, but none seem to answer my basic dilemma.
I share the MacBook with my wife and we have separate user accounts to keep our stuff separate. But we want to share the iPhoto library. I moved the library in to the Shared folder in the Users folder and I navigated to it with iPhoto in my user account and it works fine. But when we try to access the library from my wife's user account, I can navigate to it, but I cannot open it because it is "greyed out" in the Select Library window. We have set the share photos preference in the iPhoto preferences to allow sharing but it does not seem to work.
Can anyone help?Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
The Users folder version of Sharing is deprecated in 10.5.
There are two ways to share, depending on what you mean by 'share'.
If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc. then:
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.
Finally: If you’re comfortable in the Terminal, and understand File Permissions, ACL’s etc., some folks have reported success using the process outlined here . (Note this page refers to 10.4, but it should also work on 10.5). If you’re not comfortable with the terminal, and don’t know an ACL from the ACLU, then you’re best doing something else... Oh, and the warning about simultaneous users still applies.
Regards
TD -
Can time capsule be used to store the iPhoto library?
Hi.
Can somebody please advise if the time capsule can be used to store iPhoto library files (90GB) and iMovie files (600GB).
Kind Regards
TonyDon't know about iMovie, but if you check with the experts in the iPhoto support area, they will strongly advise against locating the iPhoto library on the Time Capsule....especially if you are using wireless.
Might be a good idea to post over there for first hand info, but even if you decide to do this....risking corruption to your image library....have you thought about how you will back up the iPhoto library once it is on the Time Capsule?
You will need another hard drive for this, of course...and an application that can backup a network drive....since Time Machine cannot do this.
A better idea might be to connect a hard drive directly to your Mac using USB or FireWire and store the iPhoto library there....as the iPhoto experts will also recommend.
Then....Time Machine will back up both your Mac and the hard drive.....so you have backups of everything. -
Can I move the default location of the iPhoto library to an external source, leaving a preview image on my main HDD?
Do I need to move to something like Apature to do this?
I currenlty have a NAS which holds all my images.Yes you can, but you really, really don't want to.
You can store your photos on the External and have iPhoto link to them in that location. It's called having a Referenced Library.
In this scenario iPhoto creates an alias to the files in the Library and that's why you don't want to do this. Aliases work fin when everything is on the same volume or disk. However, if the alias points to something on another disk or volume and something in the path to the file changes, then the alias is broken. That means you could find yourself fixing each alias for every single photo in your Library, one at a time if something goes wrong.
And heaven forbid you would ever want to move the files to another disk.
See why I say you really, really don't want to?
Also note, that your edited photos would still be on the internal HD as they are always stored in the Library.
Aperture, on the other hand, can deal with this scenario quite easily, and has tools to reconnect to the original should the link be broken
Regards
TD -
I tried to move my images (over 25,000) to an External Hard drive to open up some memory, hoping to make my computer run faster. It took three hours to move the images and I see them all in the mac's menus. However when I try to open them with iPhoto now, none appeared. and when I tried to import them back to the main HD they come in to iPhoto just fine, but not with the albums nor any of the massive organization i'd created in the original. this represents years of images, and I can't imagine that I'd have to recopy them into folders/albums again.
Terrance Devlin answered a similar question back in April of last year. He said to make sure the ExHD is formatted to MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and to move the library to the ExHD and then open iPhoto with the option button and select "Choose Library" from the resulting menu.
Command "I" tells me that the new drive is formatted correctly. I can't locate the "Choose Library" when I open iPhoto with the opt button.
First, I wondered if the application needs to be on the same drive as the Library. I sure would like to know if I can find out how to restore all the folders I had them in. Terrance's advice helped the user that had asked the question.
Here's the url for that archived discussion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3849933?start=0&tstart=0
Can anyone help? I'm using iPhoto 5. My MAC is an OS X version 10.4.11.
thanks, brokenlomHere are Apple's instructions:
If you are using iPhoto ’06 or earlier, you will need to follow these steps to tell iPhoto where the Library is now located:
Hold down the Option key on the keyboard and open iPhoto. Keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto Library.
Click Choose Library.
Locate and select the iPhoto Library in its new location.
(from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229 )
Below (in the link below) is what you should see when holding down the option key and opening iPhoto. Keep holding down the option key until this dialogue comes up. You want to select the Choose Library button.
http://appleclinic.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/change-default-dir-iphoto/ -
How do I import ( copy) iPhotos from External Drive that contains the iPhoto library photos.
My old hard drive was failing and with the help of an Apple Consultant, I made a new library ( on external hard drive) and copied all the photo files off the iMac's internal drive to the external drive. Then the iphoto library was deleted from the hard drive and the internal hard drive was replaced.
Photo Storage is the name of the external drive as it is designated for photos only. Lightroom recognises the drive but does not see any of the photos. It says no photos available? Is there something I am missing.Import is just a word for copying photos from the phone to a computer and not that different than what I do in Windows -- although I haven't compared the speed on a large number of photos. If you are importing and using iPhoto, you might try doing it with Image Capture which will allow you to copy them directly to an external drive. It may be faster than doing it to iPhoto but I haven't compared the speed. Instructions from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083 are shown below.
Connect the iOS device to the computer.
If Image Capture does not open automatically, you can navigate to your Applications folder and open Image Capture from there.
Choose the location to which you'd like to import pictures.
Click Options.
Click the Options tab if it isn't already selected.
Enable the option "Delete items from camera after downloading".
Note: Deleting photos after importing helps to reduce Camera Roll size, and it improves backup and restore times. You may choose Keep Photos if you wish to import the photos to additional computers.
Click OK.
Click Download All. -
How to change the location of all fotos in the iPhoto library?
my iPhoto 11 library is stored locally on my macbook.
however, my fotos (the actualy bits) are stored externally on a NAS box.
(or in other words: option "Importing: [ ] Copy items to the iPhoto Library" is not checked)
recently i purchased a timecapsule and i now want to move all fotos from the NAS box to the timecapsule.
i am looking for a way to batch-change the location of all fotos from let's say "/Volumes/MyNas/..." to "/Volumes/MyTimecapsule/...".
can this be done? any ideas?
thank you.
ps: i know how to deal with xml and .db/.apdb files. so don't be gentle on me ;-)Not really unless you search the forums and find the older post describing how to hack the SQLite database to accomplish this
Or use Aperture which can do this easily
However if you are using your Time Capsule as a Time Machine bakcup volume it is not a good place to put your photos - if you do you have no backup of them which means that sooner of later you will lsoe them - and sooner or later TM will fill the volume and make it impossible to add photos
LN -
Changing the file location of iPhoto library...????
I have a 13' Macbook since early 2008 with an 80gb hard disk.
I also have a 500gb Time Capsule..
Due to the size of my hard disk and my music collection amassing already 80gb+ I changed the file location of the iTunes music library to the Time Capsule.. this wasn't too difficult to work out how to do, but, i now have over 50gb of photos and videos in iPhoto and do not want to delete any. This has resulted in my hard disk/start up disk being full to capacity.
I now of course need to change the location of my iPhoto library from being on the MacintoshHD to being on my Time Capsule, but unlike with iTunes i can find no way of doing this... can anybody help??
thanks in advanceWelcome to the Apple Discussions.
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder 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.
but
1. Have you a wired or wireless connection to the Time Capsule? A strong warning: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.
2. Are you also using the TC for back ups? because the device is not intended for both back ups and general storage uses.
Regards
TD -
And how do I turn off FACES?
I copied the iPhoto library to an external hard drive, then imported it to the new iPhoto. It turned my 2000 photos into 12,000!!
According to you youo did not do what I instructed - you said you imported the old library into th enew library which can easily take a 2000 photo library and turn it into 12,000 including two ro three versions of each photo pus all the face thumbnails
The correct procedure has NO importing involved
drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity from the old Mac to the pictures folder of the new Mac - launch iPhoto on the new mac
That is it
LN -
How do I rename the iphoto library on one computer before importing it to another location with other iphoto libraries?
How do I rename the iphoto library on one computer before importing it to another location with other iphoto libraries?
Quit iPhoto.
Select the Library in the Finder, click the name, and edit the name like for any file. -
I want to delete the photos on the iMac's hard drive but I want all the copies on the EHD; to free up space on the iMac. I experimented by deleting one photo in the iPhoto library on iMac but when I checked the EHD, it was deleted there, too. How can I delete photos from iMac w/out deleting from EHD?
Photo Library icon that sits on my desktop
Do a Get Info in the Finder on that, is it an Alias pointing to the external drive?
Open the iPhoto Library folder on your actual internal drive in the Finder, is that deleed pic stil there? -
How do I back up my entire iphoto library on to an external hard drive that will be my second back up plan. I already have one back up that is also synched with time machine. But now I want to back up my iphoto library to a new hard drive to have a second copy. Can I simply drag the whole library onto the icon on my desk top? THX
WHile you can do it that way, the next time you back up you'll end up copying the entire library again, and,as you'l see, once a library gets bigger that can take a considerable amount of time.
Try using 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 -
Hi Guys, I copied my iPhoto library to a second external disk. Now my version of iPhoto (5.0.4) does not display the original library on the orignal external drive. I have reinstalled the iPhoto and it seems to make 2 attempts to find the library but fails. The iPhoto menu bar is available but does not function. The screen is blank. Any help appreciated,
GethinAre you indicating that you don't get this window when you hold down the Option key while launching iPhoto?
What do you mean by "nothing happens". What library opens when you launch iPhoto normally?
OT -
I'm trying to transfer my pictures from my iPhoto library to my external hard drive. I dragged the iPhoto Library folder into the drive and after waiting a while it says "Error Code -36 The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'iPhoto Library' could not be read or written". I need to free up space asap, what should i do??
Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?
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