Moving photos from laptop to external hard drive

I have many photos on my laptop and have a catalog set up through Lightroom 3.5. I decided the best way to store the photos is to keep them on an external hard drive so that I may work on them easily from any computer on my network. (laptop is frequently shut off) Is there a way to maintain /import/export/ edit the current catalog so that it works with the photos on the external drive? I would really hate to have to do the catalog with all the keywords all over again.

You can copy or move the catalog file (*.LRCAT) to the external HD by using your operating system (Windows or Mac Finder). Then, once moved, double-click on it to open it. All your catalog information (keywords, other metadata, edits) will be available.
The only concern (for Windows users, I have no idea if this is true for Mac) is that the external HD must have the same letter on each computer you attach it to. In other words, if it is drive E: on your computer today, it must be drive E: on all computers. Changing drive letters is relatively easy in Windows; if you need to know how to do that, let us know.

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How to move iPhoto photos from MBP to External hard drive

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http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229?viewlocale=en_US

Workflow question: moving photos from laptop to external in same catalog

Hi,
I was hoping to change my workflow a bit and would appreciate some advice. Currently, I do all work on my Macbook attached to an external monitor, keyboard and firewire external drive. I have a single catalog that encompasses all photos on that external. New photos go from CF card to an 'unfiled' directory on the external. After keywording, rating, deleting and processing, those files get moved to the appropriate folder (people/places/things with their subdirectories).
I would like instead to load photos directly to the Macbook hard drive and have that be the 'unfiled' directory. When I'm done with the above workflow, I would then connect the external and, ideally, move the photos directly to those folders (within Lightroom). I know I can do this by running separate catalogs and doing an export/import function. I was hoping to be able to do this as seamlessly as I do now. Is it possible to do all of this within the one 'main' catalog that serves both the Macbook hard drive as the 'unfiled' directory and all other folders on the external? By the way, that catalog file currently resides on the external.
Thanks!
E

Eric-
Thanks for the post.
What I do now as far as organization is to dump the photos into directories based on location (ie state/city) or, more importantly, kids name/year/month. I would prefer to keep that level of organization in addition to my keywords.
I'm also realizing it's pretty stupid for me to keep the catalog file on the external. I'll move it to the Macbook now (I can just do that with the finder, right?) and am wondering, can I comfortably run the one catalog with it pointing to a 'laptop' folder when not connected to the external (and show the 'external drive folders' in red) and then have it properly find and read the folders on the external when reattached??
Thanks again,
E

Want to move all songs from laptop to external hard drive...

I was hoping someone could help me move all of my songs from my laptop to an external hard drive in the most efficient manner. My library is using up too much space on my laptop. Any other time I would just copy and paste the songs from one folder to the new folder on the ext HD and delete the files on the PC. If that is okay to do, then how do I redirect iTunes to always search and save to the ext. hd? Or is ther a migration tool that does all of this in iTunes??
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This has been covered here multiple times, but again:
If you are running iTunes 6,, see:
iTunes: Moving Your iTunes Music Folder
IMPORTANT: do not delete the iTunes folder or the preference files it contains from your boot hard drive; delete ONLY the tracks themselves (i.e. the contents of the old iTunes Music folder).
If you have iTunes 7, then you can use the procedure above, but a better way is usually to just drag the entire iTunes folder (the entire folder, not just the iTunes Music folder) to your desired location. Then hold down the Shift key (Windows)/Option key (Mac) while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location. Note that this procedure assumes that all of your tracks are contained in the iTunes Music folder. If they're scattered around your volumes, moving them becomes much more complex.
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Tranferring photos from iphoto to external hard drive

Hi there, I'm a bit of a luddite, and am trying to back up all my photos on an external hard drive. I've dragged the library over, but none of the individual photos appear when you click on the folders (the ones I've created and named).
You can access them via the "year" folders that iphoto automatically creates but I - for the life of me - can't understand the logic behind these!
Does anyone know how to transfer folders (and their contents) from iphoto to an external hard drive?
Cheers

First off - and this is really important - what version of iPhoto are you using?
iPhoto Menu -> About iPhoto.
The basic idea - copying the iPhoto Library Folder - is correct.
Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Regards
TD

Is it possible to download photos from ipad to external hard drive?

I am wondering if it would be possible to use ipad with retina to get photos from camera to an external hard drive? We are hoping to do this for holiday snaps over an extended period without having to take a laptop with us.

I've never tried myself, but you can look at these options
There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
The Kingston Wi-Drive, which costs $50 for the 16 Gigabyte, and then $30 more for every 16 gigs more. It works by you turning it on and then accessing the files on it from an app that you download on your iDevice. You can access music, movies, and other stuff. No connections or anything, it works like a WiFi connection, you connect to it from the setting on the iPad under wireless networks.
Then there is the Seagate GoFlex, which some would recommend over the Wi-Drive. But this one costs $199 and had 500 Gigabytes of storage. It works the sameway as the Kingston: no wires, runs over its wireless connection. You can actually fit up to 300 HD movies on it.
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html

How to export photos from iPhoto to external hard drive keeping Events structure (files and titles)

Hello!
I’ve been looking for a Automator application that does this for quite a while now.
Basically I want to have an Automator application that saves a copy of my iPhoto pictures in a folder, inside Finder. Like a backup. Later on, I can save those “folders and files” on my external hard drive.
What I want it to do is this:
1) Export photos from a selected Album or Event on iPhoto. Using as title: “Event name” – “number” (I mean the number of the file: 1, 2, 3 …)
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3) Organize the photos in different folders, the same way they are in iPhoto.
The idea I had, was that it would do this automatically every time I launch iPhoto, as if it was synchronizing the photos into that folder.
And then, every time I connect my hard drive, it copies these “real” folders into my hard drive.
Is that possible? If yes, could you help me creating it, or tell me how I can do so myself, or where to download something like it?
Thank you a lot! Kind regards,
xanacarfran2008

Is this waht you want to do?
It's built into the File Export function of iPhoto 9 (11). Select what every photos you want and use that option to put each photo in a folder with the Event title it came from as in this test of six randomly picked photos:
OT

Hard time copying photos from iphoto to external hard drive

Sorry this is so long, and perhaps unclear, but I would like to copy my photos from my iphoto library onto an external hard drive. The problem is that every time I try and copy the whole library, it finds a picture that crashes the whole effort. I then tried exporting Event by Event to the hard drive, and that worked for a while, but then after about 10 of them it stopped working: about 50 photos into each Event it tells me that it cannot create the volume on the hard drive. Do you think it's a problem with the hard drive?
I have tens of thousands of photos, and this is taking forever, since every way I try to do it starts but never finishes, and I am never sure what actually has transfered.
I also have opened the iphoto library and copied the originals, the modified, AND the data files, but that takes forever too, and I'm never sure if I really have everything. I'd like to copy event by event if possible... and I do not want my iPhoto library to live only on the hard drive, since I use it as a back up and not permanently attached. any ideas?
Thanks so much!

mdg516
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
The problem is that every time I try and copy the whole library, it finds a picture that crashes the whole effort.
Why does the pic do this? Is it a corrupt file? Or is it a missing file?
but then after about 10 of them it stopped working: about 50 photos into each Event it tells me that it cannot create the volume on the hard drive. Do you think it's a problem with the hard drive?
No, that message usually means that iPhoto cannot find the actual photo being copied.
Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and right click on it. From the resulting menu select 'Show File (or 'Show Original File' if that's available). A Finder Window should open with the file selected. Does it?
Regards
TD

How do I transfer photos from mac to external hard drive please

How do I transfer photos to a external hard drive please?

This answer may need to be expanded a bit. If your photos are in iPhoto and you are moving iPhoto's library to an external drive, once you've dragged the library to the external drive you'll need to let iPhoto know the library has moved. Hold the option key and double-click iPhoto (or click on the iPhoto icon on the Dock). You'll get a fileselector menu to select the library - point it to the external drive. Once you've established that the copied library has copied correctly you may drag the library on your computer to the trash and empty the trash.
Warning: You do have a backup of your entire computer, right? Just in case something goes awry with the process having a backup is always a good idea.

How move to move itunes files from laptop to external hard drive for 4 profiles, How move to move itunes files from laptop to external hard drive for 4 profiles

My current laptop has no free space, it has my iTunes on, my wife's, and ours kids too.
In order to sync our iPhones/ iPad I need more free space.... Therefore was going to purchase an external hard drive and move the files from my laptop to the external hard drive.
But have no clue on which files to move across?
Need to move them across and keep the individual iTunes accounts for me/wife/ kids.

This article may help
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751

HT5182 How can I back up photos from iPhoto to external hard drive?

I have a large number of photos that I need to move onto an external hard drive to free up my MBP's internal hard drive. Most of my photos were imported in RAW format and editied in iPhoto. I understand from other posts that iPhoto converts these photos to jpegs. I'm quickly running out of room.

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.
Regards
TD

Transfer/back-up photos from iPhoto to External Hard Drive

I have an External Hard Drive to which I wish to transfer/back-up my photos (from iPhoto). My External Hard Drive though has documents and photos that are in Microsoft Word. Please help me with the step by step process of transferring/backing-up photos to my ExHD. Can I still keep my MSWord files, or do I need to clear up the whole ExHD? My main concern, is really to free the memory of my MBPro because I have so many photos already. Thanks

Copy your entire iPhoto Library as a unit from the Pictures folder in your Home folder onto the external drive — just drag the iPhoto Library onto the external drive's icon or into its open main window. Do NOT try to copy your photos any other way than this.
After the copy is finished (it may take a while if your library is large), open iPhoto while holding down the Option key, and select the library on the external drive for iphoto to open. If it opens normally and everything seems to be in order, you can delete the iPhoto Library file from your internal drive. Don't forget to empty the trash afterward.
REMEMBER THIS: Now that your iphoto Library exists only on the external drive, it is not backed up! Back it up on a second external hard drive, or sooner or later you will lose it to a hard drive failure. The one sure thing about hard drives, like all other mechanical devices, is that eventually every hard drive will fail. Don't wait for it to happen and then think about the backups you should have been making all along!

Uploading photos from cam to external hard drive with I photo

I have my computer set up to have photos on external hard drive, with I photo library. when I plug my SD card in, and I photo uploads, it puts them directly on to my computer, rather then my external HD.
1. How do I change settings so it defaults my downloads to EHD
2. How do I transfer those photos back onto my hard drive from one Iphoto library to the next?
3. How do I copy photos from i photo to a separate folder?

I have my computer set up to have photos on external hard drive, with I photo library. when I plug my SD card in, and I photo uploads, it puts them directly on to my computer, rather then my external HD.
I'm not clear - do you have multiple iPhoto libraries or are you trying to use a referenced library (not recommended) with the referenced photos on the external drive?
1. How do I change settings so it defaults my downloads to EHD
To set the default iPhoto library depress the option key and launch iPhoto - select the iPhoto library you want as the default
2. How do I transfer those photos back onto my hard drive from one Iphoto library to the next?
The easiest way to move photos with all of their associated metadata between libraries is using iPhoto library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/
3. How do I copy photos from i photo to a separate folder?
select the photos and export (file menu ==> export) them
LN

Transfer photos from iphone to external hard drive

I have limited space on my MacBook hard drive. I do not use iPhoto, I use Aperture, and like I said I'm out of space. I want to transfer the photos and video directly from my iphone to my external hard drive. Either I'm blind or this is the most unintuitive thing Apple has done. Help please!

UPDATE:
I have just realized that when you do this, on the bottom left of Image Capture you can scroll down and adjust the setting so that when plug you iphone into your computer that image capture automatically pops up and not iPhoto or make it so no import program pops up at all. At the very least I am glad to have the option to not have iPhoto automatically pop up because I don't like it.
Also- you can select the box below this to have photos automatically deleted from your phone after they import. I was doing it manually on my phone and obviously this takes a while.

How to transfer pictures from laptop to external hard drive

have multiple events in i-photo and need to transfer to external hard drive have watched tutorials and followed directions only to see an error (null) message
Any ideas?

well if you are trying to transfer/copy only the events from iphoto to an external drive, and not the entire iPhoto library, all you have to do is select the entire events, or the photos you wan to transfer/copy (select the 1st one, press shift and select the last one) and drag onto the icon of the external hard drive. It might be best to create a an empty folder onto the external. (command+shift+N) Once the empty folder has been created, open it on a separate window, and drag the photos into/over the open folder and you will see the green circle with a "+" inside it, which indicate that you will be copying, and not transfering. Et voila! As Gitse said above, it's pretty simple.

Moving photos from laptop to external hard drive

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