Transferring photos to external hard drive
I'm trying to free up disk space on my MacBook Pro and move my photos from Pictures on my Samsung external hard drive but when I drag them on or copy to paste them it won't work. I'm sure I've done it before but its not working. Any ideas?
Dependeing on how much data is on that external drive and the size of the internal drive on your Mac you could Copy all the data from the external to the internal on the Mac and then format it in the Mac format.
More than likely since that external was used on a Windows PC it is formatted NTFS. Mac OS X can READ from that format buit it can not WRITE to it.
With the drive connected to your Mac open Disk Utility, it is in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder, and select that external in the left hand column of Disk Utility. It will tell you how it is formatted. Or you can Right Click on the external in finder or if it shows on the desktop and select Get Info. A window will open and list the format.
I suspect it is formatted NTFS and although you might think you have copies files to it from your Mac you actually haven't. You've more than likely just copied files From it.
It is always best to have more than one external drive. So Yes buy another external.
Similar Messages
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Trouble opening iPhoto library in Aperture that has been transferred to an external hard drive.
I am having trouble opening my iPhoto library in Aperture now that it has been transferred to an external hard drive.
Versions being used:
MacBook Pro 13-inch mid-2010
OS X v. 10.9.1 Mavericks
Aperture v. 3.5.1
iPhoto v. 9.5.1
Order of events: got MacBook > took pictures > created an iPhoto library > upgraded to Mountain Loin > added more photos to iPhoto library > upgraded to Mavericks > purchased and downloaded Aperture > copied iPhoto library to a 750 GB WD My Passport.
When attempting to switch to this iPhoto library while using Aperture an error stating, “Unable to Switch to Library. Aperture cannot switch to the selected library because the file system of the library’s volume is not supported.” iPhoto can access this iPhoto library with no problem. What is missing? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.“Unable to Switch to Library. Aperture cannot switch to the selected library because the file system of the library’s volume is not supported.”
Aperture 3.5.1 is checking for file system compatibility, iPhoto not always.
copied iPhoto library to a 750 GB WD My Passport.
Check the filesystem on your WD drive. Did you remember to format the drive for MacOS, before you copied the library there? It needs to be formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled) to be used with any photo library. iPhoto may be able to open the library, if the filesystem is not supported, but you are risking data loss.
You can reformat the drive with Disk Utility, if the file system is wrong (after backing up your iPhoto library to a different drive). See:
iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives
Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture
Regards
Léonie
You see the File System in the Finder's "File > Get Info" panel, when you select the drive in the Finder and use "File > Get Info" from the main menu bar or press cmd-I. -
How to export photo to external hard drive? (time capsule 3t)?
cant find photo in hard drive. where does iphoto store photo? i looked for the foler everwhere....
how to export photo to external hard drive? (time capsule 3t)?
Simple - launch iPhoto, select the phtoos and export (file menu ==> export) to the destination of yoru choice - see the user tip onexporting for details on the export optiopns - https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto?view=documents
However is the Time Capsule being used for Time Machine backups? If it is do not use it as an external drive too - it needs to be dedicated to one use only
cant find photo in hard drive. where does iphoto store photo? i looked for the foler everwhere....
And this is a totally different question - by default in your iPhoto library - and to access then see the user tip on accessing yoru iPhoto files - https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto?view=documents
You never access them directly - always using the supported access methods
LN -
Backing up photos to external hard drive,and exporting back to CF card on camera
iPhoto 5 on Mac Power PC G4, OS 10.4.11
backing up photos to external hard drive (LaCie) My iPhoto Library contains a number of files (such as 'Library.iPhoto' 'iPhoto.db' 'ThumbJPG.data' etc) and a number of folders with dates such as 2005 etc, containing folders within folders, none of which with any contents.
Is there a way I can organise just the photos on their own so that I can select just those to be backed up on my LaCie hard drive, without all those distracting and (apparently) unnecessary extra files and folders ?
exporting edited photos back to CF card on camera I have tried everything I can think of to export photos from iPhoto back to the CF card on the camera, without success. It must be possible to do ?Edit: Note: It's been a while but the Export command may be in the Share menu on older versions...
1. To back up an iPhoto Library
Most Simple Back Up
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex:
Use 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. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate
2. To Back up Just the Photos
Use the File -> Export command to export the images to where you want them.
BTW: there are no user-serviceable parts in the iPhoto Library Folder. Rooting around in there can cause damage.
3. Edited Photos to CF Card is a two part process:
Exporting is just File -> Export. Choosing any setting except 'Original' and you'll get the Edited version.
The CF Card? Just drag and drop there.
But a couple of possible problems: Canon Cameras don't show up in the Finder. So you'll need to stick the card into a USB Card Reader for get them on there
Camera Cards are all formatted FAT. That means there's a limit to the number of items on the top level of the card: Workaround: Export the shots to a folder and drag that over
And, of course, if you want to see the shots in the camera, you'll need to put them in whatever specific folder it uses for the photos.
Regards
TD -
I have macbook pro. I can not make changes in external hard drive such as deleting photos also I can not add photos to external hard drive. could you please help me?
That's the way.
The drive is probably formatted NTFS which is Windows proprietary file system. Mac OS can read it, but not write to it.
You can do as suggested by TheDave if you have sufficient HD space for temporary storage. Depending on whether you need to continue using the drive with Windows machines there are a few options.
Best for Mac only use is to re-partition and format as GUID partition map and Mac OS Extended (journaled)
For dual use, Leave the partition as MBR and format as FAT32 (MS-DOS in Disk Utility). This has a file size limit of a little over 4GB, but can be read and written to by both Mac and Windows.
There is also exFAT (aka FAT64) if both OSs support it - no file limit there that you'll ever reach.
Alternatively there are software solutions which will allow the Mac to read and write to NTFS drives. I'm told they're not as good as the other solutions, but may be an option if you haven't space to store the contents while re-formatting. -
How do I import photos from external hard drive to iCloud library?
I have saved many photos to an external hard drive for security. I would like to store at least some of them in iCloud so I have direct access from Photos. Is this possible please?
how do I import photos from external hard drive to iCloud library?
Just like you'd do it with iPhoto. Drag the photos or folder of photos into the open Photos Library window or onto the Photos icon in the Dock.
If you have the iCloud Photo Library activated in Photos the new photos will be copied to the online iCloud Photo Library along with the rest of the photos in your library. Remember, with the iCloud Photo Liberty it's all the photos or none. You may have to purchase additional iCloud space to store all of your photos. -
When I save photos to external hard drive they lose the names I have typed in
when I save photos to external hard drive they lose the names I have typed in on the MacBook
Hello and thank you for your reply. When I export, this is what I have used:
File Settings:
Image Format: JPEG
Color Space: sRGB
Quality : 80-100
I have not checked the box for "output sharpening", although I did minor sharpening as part of my edit process in LR.
For Image Sizing, I have not changed anything. This is what is currently selected: "resize to fit" box is checked and "long edge" is selected, 500 pixels. Resolution 72 pixels per inch. The "don't enlarge" button is NOT checked.
I'm hoping this is where my issue resides!!
Thank you! -
Photos not showing up in iMovie project after transferring project to external hard drive
I just finished moving my iMovie '11 projects and events to an external hard drive. In one particular project (the only one I've used photos in), the photos will not play back when I watch it in the preview window. The picture shows up in the project editing window, but during playback the computer seems to use the last frame of the last played video. All of the previous settings are the same, it will just not show the pictures. I've tried re-inserting them, even trying different pictures that were not used originally, but nothing seems to work. I've also tried closing iMovie and restarting it, but no luck.
Hi all
I am having the same problem - all a bit wierd. Yesterday I could drag and drop images from finder into my project. Today, I can drag andf drop the images from finder and they display in the project - but not when it is played.
I tried importing the images into iphoto and dragging them from the media selection window - still no joy - I can see them in the proejct - but they just don't show when played.
Is it because the project has been marked as finished in some way - although I haven't finalised it?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks -
Backing up all my photos on external hard drive
Hi!
I have iPhoto 4.0.3 (no need to upgrade, nor have I had the time to do it yet), and I have 6,347 photos. It says that I'm using 3,506 MB. My computer isn't running slowly, but I haven't bought extra RAM and I'm sure iPhoto isn't helping the speed of my computer. I have a LaCie external hard drive with 104.12 GB available. I have heard that I should drag my "iPhoto Library" folder to the external hard drive and save it there. I already have supposedly saved all my pictures on a DVD as well. My first question: Is just dragging and dropping this folder to the ext. hard drive sufficient or is there something else I need to do to make sure it is transferred? Second question: Once transferred to the LaCie, will these pictures only open in iPhoto? Third: Is it then safe to delete all my photos in the iPhoto program?
Thanks!
KimiPhoto Help topics of interest...
"backing up your iPhoto Library folder"
"moving your iPhoto Library"
"switching between photo libraries" -
I have a Mac 10.8.2 and iMovie 08. I have uploaded movie's from my video camera onto iMovie, and now I cannot move them to my external hard drive. I was able to do this before, but I don't remember how I did it. I tried to drag it and I tried moving it by using the share tab.
Any information on how I can go about transferring from iMovie to my external hard drive would be helpful.
AND
Any information on how I can transfer movies and pictures from my camera directly to my external hard drive would be helpful as well.
Thank You!I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots. -
Cannot Find Photos on External Hard Drive Using iPhoto and Time Machine
Hi everyone,
This is my first time posting on this forum and am really hoping for some help! I have a 2006 PowerBook G4 that is running iPhoto and Time Machine, and I've used an external hard drive to backup everything on the computer via Time Machine. When I plug the external hard drive into my newer 2010 MacBook Pro, I follow this path to try to access the photos:
External Hard Drive > Backups.backupd > PowerBook G4 12" > Latest > Macintosh HD > Users > Me > Pictures > iPhoto Library
When I click "iPhoto Library", I get the following message:
"The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another library."
So, I do as the error message says and I hold down the "option" key and iPhoto launches and says:
What Photo Library do you want iPhoto to use?
In this case, I choose "Other Library..." and again follow this path:
External Hard Drive > Backups.backupd > PowerBook G4 12" > Latest > Macintosh HD > Users > Me > Pictures > iPhoto Library
When I choose this, I again get the following message:
The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another library.
So as you can see, I'm feeling a bit like I'm chasing my tail in trying to open these photos. I did follow another user's advice and confirm that all photos are infact on the hard drive by using the "control" button and clicking "iPhoto Library" under the pictures folder, and choosing "Show Package Contents". All looks to be in tact in the "originals" folder when showing package contents, however, I just can't find a way to actually view the photos in iPhoto. I really don't want to import all the photos to my current MacBook Pro, because I'd like them to live on the external hard drive (which is formatted for Macs) so that I can browse the photos on the external drive, rather than housing it on my computer.
One other thing I tried was opening iPhoto on my MacBook Pro and going to File > Browse Backups... which essentially opens Time Machine and shows me the photos on my MacBook Pro but gives me no option to view them from my External Hard Drive.
Any super users out there willing to lend me some help?
Thanks!The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another library.
You can have an iPhoto library on an external drive and use it from different machines
and you can have a Time Machine backup
The two can not be on the same volume - and iPhoto can not access the TM backup - it must be restored to use it
LN -
Need to move photos to external hard drive but can't find them in library
When we bought our Mac in 2005, we moved all of our photos from our PC onto the Mac, so I had pictures dating back to 2003. All of the photos we've taken since 2005 have been imported through iPhoto and show up in the library when we open iPhoto. However, through the library, I can't see any photos prior to 2005. I know they're on the system somewhere, because our screen saver is a slide show, and photos pre-2005 show up.
My question is twofold:
1) Where do I find those pre-2005 photos?
2) I am out of space on my hard drive and want to move the majority of our photos to the external hard drive, but would like to keep a year's worth of photos on the hard drive. How do I move most of them to the external drive but keep some on my hard drive?
Thanks for any help!Were these pre 05 pictures imported to iPhoto too?
If so then your database may be damaged:
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
2) I am out of space on my hard drive and want to move the majority of our photos to the external hard drive, but would like to keep a year's worth of photos on the hard drive. How do I move most of them to the external drive but keep some on my hard drive?
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk. Make sure the disk is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Now you have two full libraries.
3. On your internal, delete the pics you don't want from iPhoto there.
Now you have a full Library on the External and a smaller subset on the internal.
4. To choose between Libraries: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
Managing Multiple Libraries - including moving pics/albums/rolls and metadata between them - is greatly facilitated by using iPhoto Library Manager
Regards
TD -
Retrieving old photos from external hard drive without replacing current library
Hi everyone,
This problem has probably been discussed before but I have not been able to find a definitive answer. Hopefully I can find a solution to this problem here.
I am having trouble with my workflow in iPhoto. Right now when I place an SD card full of digital photos into my Macbook Pro, I import all of them directly into iPhoto. I use iPhoto to organize my photos and do simple edits and changes. However, recently I have begun to fill up my 250GB hard drive with photos and HD video, so I use an external hard drive to backup my computer before deleting unneeded items. Obviously, the purpose of backing up is to be able to go back and retrieve those items. With items saved in Documents>Photos, they can be easily organized, and then retrieved later from whatever date they were saved on the external drive, adding them back to the existing photos currently on my computer. However, iPhoto is a great tool, so I prefer to use it instead. But I notice that saving an iPhoto library onto a backup drive is not the same as saving a folder full of pictures. When I try to open an iPhoto library from my external hard drive, it tells me something about not being able to open it, or replacing my current library with the old one just to view my pictures. I simply want to find old photos saved within iPhoto, and add them to my existing library. Does iPhoto really only allow you to open one library at a time, and not browse them and add them together? If so, then just saving photos outside of iPhoto in Documents seems like a better workflow for retrieval, but at the cost of not being able to utilize iPhoto's capabilities.
If my view of how iPhoto works here is very wrong, please let me know. I just don't want to have to save my photos outside of iPhoto just to be able to find them again without replacing my current photos. Thanks everyone for your help.iPhoto can only open one library at a time.
Here's one way to do what you want:
1. Quit iPhoto.
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the external drive.
Now you have two full copies of the Library. To choose between them: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
3. On the Internal Library, remove the pics you don't want with you all the time.
Now you have one full library on the external and another smaller sub-set on the Internal.
A couple of comments:
a. The external disk needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
b: When you're removing the unwanted pics from the Internal Library you need to delete them in batches of about 100 or so. Trashing more at one time can cause problems with the database.
c: Managing Multiple Libraries - including moving pics/albums/rolls and metadata between them - is greatly facilitated by using iPhoto Library Manager -
Photos on External Hard Drive, Catalog on Internal; New Computer
I just got a new computer and want to move my Adobe PSE catalog over to the new internal hard drive. I don't know where to put it since Vista's directories look different than XPs. All of my photos are on an external hard drive, but my guess is that the letter will change when I move it to the new computer. How do I handle this migration so that I can see all of my information (photos, tags, titles) on the new PC? Thanks for any advice.
The entire process of making a backup, including backups of photos, via the PSE Backup Catalog command, makes moving catalogs and photos as successful as possible. Doesn't depend on what version of PSE you own.
If you are using PSE5, and the drive letter of the external HD remains the same, you can simply move the catalog file to the new computer. You can put the catalog anywhere you want on the new computer, and then double-click on it the first time to open it. Really doesn't matter where you put it.
i But
, if the drive letter where your photos are stored changes ... oops, that makes things a whole lot more difficult. Best to go back to the solution in paragraph 1.
If you are using PSE6 or later, you need to speak to a PSE6 or PSE7 expert. -
Transferring data from external hard drive to new replacement Macbook Pro...
Hello,
Apple have arranged to give me a replacement Macbook Pro due to faults with hardware on the one I am currently using. I will be going to pick up the replacement Macbook Pro tomorrow morning.
As a complete novice I just wanted to check that I have backed up the data from my current laptop onto my Iomega external hard drive properly, as I am slightly nervous about losing all my work and not being able to transfer all my files onto my new Macbook Pro tomorrow.
I did a back up using time machine earlier today which took quite a long time and seemed to go successfully. Is this the right thing to have done to save all data from my current laptop onto the external hard drive?
Will transferring data from the external hard drive onto my new Macbook Pro be a simple task?
Will I have to reinstall all my software such as Logic and Pro Tools? Also will my preferences and settings for music software be changed?
I'd greatly appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
DeenaWell it's like this.
If your problem on the Mac didn't affect the software or the TimeMachine backup, then restoring from that using SetupAssistant (when you first set up a new Mac it will ask you to restore) should go fine.
HOWEVER, if there are software issues on the Mac that also transferred to the TimeMachine drive, that will only transfer them back onto your new computer.
You can't very easily just pick out the things you want to restore from TimeMachine with, it doesn't give that fine detail of control, and if it's really messed up, it might not restore anything at all.
The golden rule of backups is to maintain two separate and easily accessible hardware copies of your data off the machine at all times.
Since you don't know for sure if the TimeMachine restore is going to work as intended, and your only other source is going to disappear, I'd advise a additional backup of your Music, Documents, Pictures and Movie folders etc., to another regular external drive via regular drag and drop copy methods.
The operating system and programs can all be reinstalled from fresh sources on the new machine, provided you have the AppleID and password, license codes for your programs, email passwords and any other necessary information to re-establish the license on the new machine.
(In some cases licensed software HAS NOT transferred to a new machine with a TimeMachine restore and had to be reinstalled)
Some times you have to contact the developer or "uninstall" the licensed program so it sends a signal to their servers that the program has been removed, else your license code may not work on the new machine.
You might decide the new machine would be better off with a fresh install of your programs that you know are 100% compatible with Lion etc., leaving a lot of older stuff you installed over the years off the new machine, if you restore from TimeMachine, you don't have this option. You pretty much get all the crap along for the ride,
If your new machine gets all crapped up, then restoring Lion is going to going to be a tough challenge, as you need a strong reliable Internet connection to download a fresh copy of Lion from Apple servers (no more disks). Once you do that, then somehow you have to use third party software ($$) to cherry pick your files out of TimeMachines trap. More headaches than you anticpated, and likely a charge by a specialist.
So I'd advise another hard drive with a copy of just your files, just in case a crap-up occurs
You can restore Lion yourself if it craps up, install programs from fresh sources as you know how to do, use the old license codes and then return your files manually exactly back into their same Music, Pictures, Documents, and Movies (etc, not Library) folders as before.
The key to this manual method is to make sure to use the same user name as before, so all your file location data pathnames retained by program files like iTunes to where the songs are located on the drive, are matched. Once you open these programs and restablish the links in OS X, then you can move them around.
Some tricks, if you use iPhoto, you can right click "show package contents" and inside is a folder with your Originals, copy that out and you can reimport your pictures into the new iPhoto Library on the new machine.
So use TM if you dare, but prepared to do things manually is my opinion.
TM restores have not been all that reliable or dependable, the more messed up your machine is, the worst the restore seems to be.
Good Luck
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