Try to export iphoto library to external hard drive

Good day all
I try to my hard drive is getting full. I try to export my iphoto library but i made a mistake. when i open i photo none of the thumbtab shows up. I would have to go into the library folder to get the picture. I have not delete the orginal photos from the mac hard drive. (iphoto6)

I moved my iPhoto library to an external disk without any problem.
I copied the iPhoto Library to the external disk. Then I started iPhoto with the Option key depressed and pointed iPhoto at the Library on the external disk. Once I was sure iPhoto was working with the Library on the external disk and only then did I delete the original Library.
Allan

Similar Messages

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

That code is
-36
ioErr
I/O error (bummers)
Make sure the EHD is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and run Disk Utilty on the EHD and repair the disk. If that fails to help I'd try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button,
navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the external HD as the location of the newly rebild library.
Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

Iphoto library on external hard drive now does not show all the photos when i access it from macbook

i backed up iphoto library to an external hard drive. Deleted photo library on the macbook. After transferring some new photos to macbook from a camera, when i access the iphoto library on external hard drive only the new photos show up. Originals are still in files, but don't appear when opening iphoto library on external hard drive.

Make a temporary, backup copy of your library if you don't already have one (Control-click on the library and select Duplicate from the contextual menu) and apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

Can't transfer iPhoto Library FROM external hard drive to iMac

I just bought a new iMac. Before I said goodbye to my old computer (a MacBook), I dutifully backed up my iPhoto library onto an external hard drive. Upon setting up my iMac, I easily accessed the iPhoto library on my HD, but I didn't import it. I was able to see all photos, albums, etc.
But when I went to import the entire iPhoto library into my iMac's hard drive (into the Pictures folder), it wouldn't import. A mesage comes up that says "Preparing to copy" and the blue-and-white bar just spins and spins, without actually copying anything. So, it's weird -- there's clearly communication between iMac and external HD, but I can't take the iPhoto library off the hard drive to make it my new computer's iPhoto library.
Any hints? Thanks.

Have you tried restarting your machine?

Need to transfer iphoto library to external hard drive

need to transfer iphoto library to external passport drive. It will not let me drag and drop

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
The external drive is formatted in NTFS, a format that OS X can't write in. You have to erase the external disk.
First, open Finder, choose the external drive in the sidebar, under "Devices", and copy all the content of your external drive to another folder like Desktop.
Then, follow these steps to format the external drive in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as Format > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html Finally, drag the iPhoto library to the external drive

Can't set up an iPhoto library on external hard drive: access privileges

Hi all
I am trying to set up an extra iPhoto library on an external hard-drive to store some of my photos.
I get the following message: 'iPhoto cannot create a new library in this location because you do not have enough access privileges.'
The external hard drive is Formatted: Mac OS Extended (Journaled), is 500g capacity and is empty. Also 'Ignore ownership on this volume' is ticked.
I am the administrator of this computer (imac) which is running Yosemite 10.10.1
Any clues as to what I need to do to make this happen? I'm not much of a techie!
Cheers
Finella

Once you've confirmed that the EHD is formatted correctly and all is well (run Disk Utility and repair the disk) try the following to create an almost "duplicate" library on the EHD:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
5 - in the next window name the new library and select the EHD as the location where you want it to be placed. Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

Copying saved iphoto library from external hard drive back to Macbook Pro

Please help, I have accidentally managed to permanently delete my iphoto library and by this I mean that I somehow dragged my library into trash and then emptied it. I don't know how this happend but I quite quickly found out I had done it and shut my computer down. I have since done a recovery with disk drill and have hopefully recovered most of my photos though I havent had time to look through all the 1000's of photos yet. I do have a copied version of my library on an external hard drive that I did in 2012 and I have tried to copy this library back to my pictures folder so i at least have my photos up to 2012 back but it is not working. I have read through some of the threads on here regarding iphoto library back ups and I think the issue might be that the external hard drive is formatted Fat32 and not os extended.
I am hoping someone can help me get this working. Here are the facts.
1. I am running iphoto 11, version 9.2.3 on a macbook pro running os x 10.6.8
2. The copied iphoto library is on an external hard drive that is fat32 formatted. I can open the package contents and see the originals folder with all the yearly folders inside and all the numbered folders inside that with the pictures in them, so I know the pictures are there.
3. If I try to copy the library folder over to the pictures folder on the macbook i just get a pop up window saying 'preparing to copy iphoto library' and the scrolling bar but the copy doesn't actually start.
4. If I try to open the library through iphoto by holidng down the option key, iphoto tells me that the library has to be upgraded but i am reluctant to upgrade the original copy of the library. I would prefer to copy it first in case anything goes wrong but then i have the problem above that the copy doesn't work
Thank you in advance for any help.

The copied iphoto library is on an external hard drive that is fat32 formatted.
Therein lies the problem. iPhoto libraries need to be stored, placed on a disk formatted OS X Extended (journaled). The FAT format doesn't support the complexity of an iPhoto library and can, and more often than not, corrupt a library.
Try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download the free version of iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed, i.e. in the Pictures folder of your MBP. Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

Can't open iphoto library from external hard drive

I'm backing up my enormous iPhoto library to two external hard drives in order to free up space on my computer. Before deleting the photos permanently from the laptop, I wanted to double-check that the copies of the library I made on the two externals would actually work on another computer, should something happen to my laptop. When I plug my external hard drive into my laptop and use option+click on iPhoto to choose which library I want to use, it opens up the library from the external just fine, no problems. However, when I plug the same external into a different Mac computer and do the same process, I get the immensely frustrating message of "You can't open photo library blah blah blah changes have been made using newer version of iPhoto". However, both my laptop and the second computer are running the exact same version of iPhoto (the most recent), so that can't (or at least shouldn't) be the problem. I found suggestions to rebuild the library, which I did, but the same result occurs. I double-checked to be sure that neither computer needed updates (they didn't).
When I plug one of the externals into the second computer, though, I can open up the package contents of iPhoto library and all the photos are visible, so I know the information is all there. But I don't want to lose my albums, etc.
So do I just delete the copies of my library from the externals and try it all over again? I'd prefer not to, since I have 40,000+ photos, and that takes a while.

To reinforce what Larry pointed out both Macs must be running the same version of iPhoto. And the external HD must be formatted as shown in this screenshot:
and don't forget the ignore ownership.
OT

Can't back up iPhoto library to external hard drive

Just purchased a new ext. hard drive; when I try to back up my iPhoto library (v. 5.0.4) to it I get a message "can't copy one or more of your items". When I click to continue, it simply stops. I had no trouble backing up iTunes and other files. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Lori;
Thanks to you for your support as well. I have tried dragging the iPhoto Library both directly from the Pictures File in Finder, and from a copy of the iPhoto Library folder on my desktop. I get the same non-result in both cases: "One or more items can't be copied. Do you want to skip them and copy the remaining items?" It doesn't specify what items can't be copied, and when I click yes (to continue) nothing gets copied.
As I said earlier, I successfully backed up my entire iTunes folder with room to spare, so I know the external hard drive is operating properly. Any ideas? Thanks again.

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.
Regards
TD

Accessing old Iphoto library on external hard drive in new iphoto

We recently bought a new macbook pro with iphoto 9.5.1. Previously, we had a 2008 macbook and had transferred the very large iphoto library onto our Toshiba external harddrive. After downloading Tuxera NTFS to be able to use the external hard drive on this computer, I tried to open the iphoto library. It said that the photos needed to be upgraded to be usable on the new iphoto. So I downloaded the iphoto upgrader. When running it, it says the iphoto library selected (the one on the external hard drive) does not need to be updated. When I try to open it through iphoto, it says that it needs to update and starts the process. Within a minute is says that some of the permissions on the library are incorrect and asks if I want to repair it. After clicking to repair it, iphoto stops responding and we have to force quit to stop it. Any ideas on how to access the library? I have over 20,000 pictures in that library and would like to be able to access them on a regular basis.

fter downloading Tuxera NTFS to be able to use the external hard drive on this computer,
An iPhoto library MUST be on a volume formatted OS X Extended (journaled) in order to be used from there. So your NTFS server won't work. You'll need another external hard drive formatted as I described:
There is just no way to make it work on your drive as it is configured now.
OT

Exporting iphoto album to external hard drive.

Hello,
I'm trying to export an iphoto album to an external hard drive that shows up on the left side (side bar) of finder. If I copy and paste the album, the pictures are rearranged.
Is there a way to drag and drop the album directly into the external hard drive?
Side question: Is there a way to add iphoto or imovie to the side bar of Finder under 'places'?
If there is, it seems this would be an easy way to access a specific album in iphoto and directly drag and drop it from a listing in Finder to the external hard drive listed in Finder's side bar 'devices' category.
Thanks

PWpw:
First, you don't need to go into the iPhoto Library package to get access to your photos for use outside of iPhoto. Read Terence Devlin's treatise on file access. It has all you need to know.
The pictures, when exported to the external HD, are viewed using the Finder and can only be viewed by title or date. If you want your photos to be in a particular order, you will need to rename them in iPhoto using the Photos->Batch Rename-Title to Text with the sequential numbering box selected. Then export them to the EHD using the File->Export->File Export menu option with the option to use the title as the new file name. You photos will then be in the order you want when viewed alphanumerically in the Finder.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Can't Open iPhoto Library on External Hard Drive

Hi, please help!
I currently have 2 iPhoto libraries. 1 is on my external hard drive- and isn't recognized by iPhoto anymore. And the other is a newer one, on my internal hard drive.
Here's what I did:
I copied my entire iPhoto library to my external hard drive (it is a Seagate, Mac OS extended drive) a few months ago, and I went ahead and deleted my iPhoto library on my internal hard drive. Then I started importing new photos from my camera, and a new iphoto library was created automatically on my internal hard drive.
I tried to access photos from my old library yesterday by plugging my external hard drive in, and by hitting the "option" key when opening iphoto. Unfortunately, when I search for the library on my external HD, the only items that appear are music. None of my loose photos or my iphoto library are recognized by iPhoto.
Anyone have a fix for this? iPhoto doesn't recognize that any jpgs/photos are on my hard drive, but when I go through finder- I can see my library, as well as many other jpgs stored on my hard drive.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Sounds like iPhoto is not seeing a valid database there.
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.
Regards
TD

How do I transfer iphoto library to external hard drive keeping events intact?

Had a one to one session but forgot how to do this. I would like to transfer my iphoto library to an external hard drive keeping the folders and events intact. I figured out how to send all my photos to the hard drive but they all transfer in single images, if that makes sense, and then i have to go thru all of the 15,000 images by hand and sort them into folders. Ahhhhhhh!
When they showed me how to do this at apple I am able to open my external hard drive and see a folder labled 'iphotolibrary" and I am able to click it open and then all my events show up just like in iphoto library.
Also does your iphoto library "Trash" take up space on your HD? Forgve me if thats a dumb question but I am kind of a computer "dummy".
thanks so much. My hard drive has VERY little space left on it so I need to transfer ASAP.

I just posted this to another topic, but it applies here as well. Hopefully there's no prohibition on cross-posting on this board, my apologies to all if there is:
"I haven't read the whole thread, so someone could have already mentioned this, but I did the same thing, move my music library to an external drive. The Help articles are helpful, but only up to a point. When that didn't work, I called up AppleCare support up, and they took me through all the standard steps, and got stumped at the same point I did. Finally she suggested trying something, and that ended up doing the trick. So here in brief is what you do:
1) Copy over your "iTunes Music" folder to the external hard drive
2) Go into Advanced preferences to have iTunes look for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. If you're like me, your music won't appear in the Library.
3) In iTunes, go to the Library window (which is probably blank), then in a Finder window, find the icon for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. Drag that icon onto the Library window.
You should now see a progress window pop up showing all the songs that it's populating the Library window with."
20" Intel iMac 14" iBook G4, 233 MHz Beige G3 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Tried to reinstall iPhoto library from external hard drive, it shows that the photos and events are there but there are no thumbnails and if you click on an image or video nothing comes up.

My hard drive crashed recently and we took it to apple to get repaired. The apple employees said that they would have to replace the hard drive but they didn't have the equipment to get the data off my hard drive. So I took it to a computer store who had the right equipment after a month and a half of waiting they finally got all the data off my hard drive and put it on an external hard drive (Seagate Expansion Portable Drive). I then took it back to apple who replaced the hard drive. Now I'm in the process of reinstalling everything. I have never done a Time Machine back up or backed my laptop up to . Which I now will do very often once I've reinstalled everything. I have reinstalled all of my desktop images and folders as well as my iTunes library with no issues. However when i went to reinstall my iPhoto library it came up blank. I then Rebuilt the library several times and this was the result.
It shows that the photos and events are there but there are no thumbnails and if you click on an image or video nothing comes up.
Please help i have three years worth of images from holidays on here and would be devastated if i lost them.

iPhoto cannot find the thumbnails or the original pictures.
Go to your iPhoto Library in the Pictures Folder.
Right-click on it and from the resulting menu, choose 'Show Package Contents'.
This will bring you inside the iPhoto Library package. There you should see a Folder called Masters. Within that, there should be folder containing your actual photos.
Are they there?

Try to export iphoto library to external hard drive

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