Splitting an iPhoto library?

I've been using Macs since 2005 and have been taking digital photos for a few years before that (not including prints I've scanned), si I have a rather large iPhoto library - currnetly standing at 81GB. On my 1TB iMac this isn't a problem, but as I have an Apple TV for watching movies wirelessly, I'm thinking of switching back to a high end Macbook Pro with a 256GB SSD. Obviously, I don't want a third of my storage space to be filled with decade old family photos, but I also don't want to lose them.
Is there a way to either split my iPhoto library, so anything older than 3 years or so is archived to an external drive? I've just set up my Airport network to have my Time Machine and another storage drive work wirelessly, so if I can't split it, can I store my iPhoto database file on an external drive? The only problem with that would be if I wanted to access iPhoto away from home.
Thanks
Matt

You can do either or both.
To store on an external drive:
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.
To split a 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.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager
Or you can use the Split Command in iPhoto Library Manager
Regards
TD

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