Moving iPhoto Library to Back Up drive
Hello,
Because my hard drive is filling I want to move the iPhoto library to my LaCie back up drive and leave the iPhoto application on the current eMac. I've done that with my movie files and documents with no problems.
Can anyone tell me how do I do it?
Thanks.
eMac, 12 Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.3) LaCie D2 Extreme Back up drive
Hi ThePodGaffer,
Copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library folder to a Mac formatted external drive.
Launch iPhoto while holding down the Option key.
At the prompt, choose to open another library.
Navigate to the library on the external and highlight it.
Hit the "open" button
iPhoto will open the library on the external and from now on will use this library to import images too. This will now be your working library. Make sure everything is working correctly and everything is fine in the library.
You can then delete the library on the internal if you wish.
Lori
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Moving iPhoto library to a second drive bay on a MacPro
My iPhoto library is 190 GB and I need to move it to an alternate drive bay on my MacPro. I copied (not moved) the library over to the new drive. When I launch iPhoto, it still uses the original iPhoto library on the home drive (even if I launch with Alt iPhoto). I was expecting to be asked in a dialog which library I wanted to point to, but I didn't get a dialog. Is that because it's on a different drive, not just a different folder? Before I delete the original library I want to make sure I have done this properly and iPhoto is pointing to the new drive bay.
Thank you.When you depress the option (alt) key and launch iPhoto you should get a window showing all of your iPhoto libraries so you can select one - are you not getting this window or does it contain only one library?
TO verify where the library you are using is launch iPhoto and open an event - select a photo and right click (control click) on it and select the show file (or shoe original file) option and see the path to it (I like the column view to do this)
if you find that you do not have a valid iPhoto library on the second drive just quit iPhoto and trash the one you copied to the second drive and drag the iPhoto library as a single entity (just one drag operation) from the pictures folder on the first drive to the second drive and launch iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) key - you should see both libraries not - select the one on the second drive, test it and then you can quit iPhoto and delete the one on the first drive ( I suggest launching iPhoto one more time and verifying that things are good before emptying the trash)
LN -
Moving iPhoto library onto external hard drive
I would like to transfer all of my photos over to my external hard drive as my MacBook is filling up fast.
I followed the directions on moving the iPhoto library onto my external hard drive. I can see the iPhoto icon on the external drive. I no longer see it under Me/Pictures.
If I select the iPhoto icon on my external hard drive to open iPhoto, it opens without any photos. If I press "option" while opening iPhoto from the icon at the bottom of the screen the only option I have is from the following: Users/Me/Movies/iMovie Projects.localized/iPhoto Library. This option does open iPhoto so that I can see my photos. There is an option there to "Create New" so I added my hard drive. But if I use that as my default, I get no pictures.
A couple of questions. How do I complete this process? Where are my pictures now? I'm assuming they are on my external hard drive. I didn't delete them from my MacBook so I'm also assuming they are there but not visible.
ThanksAs we're not sure what you have done exactly it's hard to be certain how to progress.
This is how you 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.
There is no way you've done that if you can no longer see the Library at Me/Pictures. -
Moving iphoto library to an external drive
i want to move my iphoto library to an external drive to free up space. i've copied my library to the new drive. i hold down the option key when launching iphoto and when i try to select the new librbary, iti isn't highlighted/clickable. any suggestions?
but when i hold option key, the only photo library that comes up is the one on my internal hard drive.
In that case try clicking on the Choose button, navigate to the USB drive and select the library there:
OT -
Iphone won't sync after moving iPhoto library to external hard drive
I moved my iPhoto library to an external hard drive, now my iTunes will not sync with my iphone. It has an error when syncing photos and quits
iPhoto works just fine, iTunes works just fine. This only occurs when syncing. Please help!Put your iPhoto library on the external hard drive and hold your Option key down when opening iPhoto. Then just select the library on the external drive. You can have multiple libraries too.
Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador An Apple User Group iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Macsimum News Associate Editor Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support' -
Moving iPhoto library to Ext Hard Drive please help
Hi, I am moving from a Imac to Mac Book air. I copied the pictures folder on Imac to the External Hard drive. Plugged EHD into mac book air. Opened Iphoto and held down option key and then selected the libary on the EHD. Lots of activity on ext hard drive, but my pictures are not showing up in Iphoto. Any help would be really appreciated. Some priceless family photos I need to get access to. My Imac is no longer working, so I am going to be using the MacBOok air as my primary
I copied the pictures folder on Imac to the External Hard drive. Plugged EHD into mac book air. Opened Iphoto and held down option key and then selected the libary on the EHD. Lots of activity on ext hard drive, but my pictures are not showing up in Iphoto.
What are you seeing, when you are opening the iPhoto library in the copied Pictures folder? An empty iPhoto window? Error messages?
Is your external drive formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled)?
Do you have the same versions of iPhoto on your iMac and new MBA? What are the versions?
Regards
Léonie -
Moving iphoto library to external hard drive.
My mac mini is fast running out of disk space and I am trying to move the iphoto library to an external hard drive.
I have copied the library across to the external disk, renamed the exisiting library and have now tried to restore/rebuild the iphoto library using the new library on the external disk. All of the albums/events/faces appear in the finder window but iphoto hangs for up to 8 hours before I force quit and try again. I only have 20gb of photos and would not think the library should take this long to rebuild??
I am running Lion along with the most current update of iphoto.
Any assistance greatly appreciated.That article is missing a key piece of info:
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.
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Trouble moving iPhoto Library (9.6) with Yosemite to External Hard Drive
I fresh installed iphoto, and updated it to current version (9.6) on Yosemite. There are no photos on it yet. I am trying to transfer it to my new hard drive that is formatted Mac Extended Journaled. Every time I get error code 36.
Previously, I tried moving iphoto library over to hard drive when I had photos on it, and I got the error code. So I uninstalled iphoto, reinstalled it, I am still getting the error code.
Any ideas? I am moving library from House icon > pictures> iPhoto Library and dragging that to Hard drive.Thanks for the speedy reply.
I am not sure what you mean by "create the library on the drive".
I just tried importing 10 photos into iPhoto on my mac and then i quit iPhoto and went User>Pictures> iPhoto Library and dragged to my external, but got the same error 36. I just cannot get the iphoto Library to drag over to my external without being stopped by error code 36.
My goal is to import my photos into iPhoto that is stored on my hard drive, so I dont have any of those photos on my mac. Any ideas or clarification if I didnt follow your instructions Thanks -
I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?
Exactly what did you do?
The correct steps are
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
My guess is that that you have not switched iphoto to use the external drive yet - opttion launch and select libary
LN -
I switched my current iphoto library out for the saved one on my external drive by mistake. It said, Switch Libraries.... Do you want to switch the current iphoto library from AAA iphoto library (what I called the old one I guess - in my OWC) toOWC Mercury on-the-go and relaunch iphoto? cancel or relaunch
Sorry, I was looking for a way to save my current iphoto images to my hard drive. Yeah, I guess just drag something over right? Anyway, now I cannot retrieve my last 2 or 3 years of photos, Can You HELP me?
Mac os X version 10.6.8
2.66 GHz Intel core 2 Duo
etcDepress the option key and launch iPhoto = use teh select library option and select the correct one
yes to move your library to an external drive
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 -
IPhoto doesn't import after moving iPhoto library back to original (?) spot
Hello:
Because I needed space on my original drive, I moved iPhoto library to another drive and then moved it back. iPhoto works perfectly well - It automatically loads my photos. But - when I attempt to import from my Canon Digital Rebel, it won't do it, giving a message that these files (all 7 photos in the camera) may be corrupt.
However - the photos do import correctly on my wife's Mac.
I am thinking that I did not put the iPhoto library back in exactly the right spot.
Where should it go?
Oh - and Happy New Year!
Ian
933 MHz G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)Hi Iann,
There is really no right spoet as you can place the iPhoto Library folder almost anywhere in your Users folder. The Pictures folder is the default location for the folder.
What I need to know is, when you moved the library to another spot, did you open iPhoto when it was there? And when you moved back to the original spot, did iPhoto open?
When you move the iPhoto Library folder, you must then launch iPhoto with the Option key depressed. iPhoto will then tell you that it can't find the library , and do you want to open another one or create a new one. You must then choose to open another one and navigate to where you moved it, then highlight it in the window, then click "open"
Lori -
Anyone else had this problem? Anyone know how to fix it?
I haven't deleted my photos of my computer's hard drive yet so can go back to using that if it will fix my problem
ThanksNo that is not a problem and no one has reported it here
to change the library depress the option key and launch iPhoto and use the select library command - see if the behavior is the same on both frives
How did you move the iPhoto library to the external drive?
What format is the external drive?
LN -
I Lost my iphoto library when backing up to my hard drive.
I thought I was backing up my iphoto library to my hard drive. I dragged it off my dock and dropped it onto the external hard drive. The cloud poof came up. I took it to the Mac store because I was having problems with my speakers. They said I needed to update my OS. I installed Snow Leopard. Since then I have NOT been able to find part of my iphoto library. I have everything through Aug 2012. Everything since September forward is gone. I have tried everything, but cannot seem to find it. Any ideas?
Here is what I have tried so far...I found 'pictures'
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/
Then when I click on pictures this comes up...
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/
Then when I click on the iphoto folder these four options come up...
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/iPhoto.ipspot
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/AlbumData2.xml
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/AlbumData.xml
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Metadata%20Backup/
Then when I click on the 4th one, Matadata backup the following three options come up...
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Metadata%20Backup/Globals.i pmeta
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Metadata%20Backup/BackupSta tus.ipmeta
file:///Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Metadata%20Backup/Albums/
Then when I click on Albums the following comes up...
The following file could not be imported (The file is an unrecognized format)
/Users/suzannekelly/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Metadata Backup/Albums/Album.5562.ipmeta
I am currently using iPhoto 09. Like I said, I have everything BEFORE September of 2012, and nothing since then.
Thanks,
SZKelly -
I have an iphoto library on an external drive, which I have connected to my airport extreme. I can see the disk in my finder and access data on the external hard drive through the wireless, local network. The only problem is that when I use my iMac, the machine does not read the iphoto library on the external harddrive, instead it picks up the library that's on the iMac itsel. Is this a preferences list issue or something else? Any help would be great, thank you.
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.
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Moving iPhoto library back to iMac
I'm in the last stages of upgrading to a new iMac, external drive and Time Capsule. Currently I have my iPhoto libraries (each user) on the external drive. I want to move them to the iMac. This should be simple but it seems that when ever I do something in iPhoto with upgrades or new devices I invarialblly mess something up and I lose photos.
I have iPhoto Library manager. Should I be using that app to perfrom this operation?
What's the most effective way to do this?
Thanks.No - simply drag the iPhoto library from the external drive to the internal drive (this is for an iPhoto library - t is NOT for a Time Machine backup of an iPhoto lbirary - that has to be restored using Time Machine)
If you do not have an existing iPhoto library on the computer just drag it to the pictures folder and launch iPhoto - if you do have an existing library you will have to rename it and drag the library to the pictures folder - in that case depress and hold the option key and lanch iphoto using the resulting select library command to switch libraries - or with recent versions of iPhoto use the switch library command
LN
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