Using photos from a external drive in iphoto

I have 300+ gigs of pictures on an external drive (attached to my Airport Extreme) and I want to use iphoto to edit and sort these pics without moving them to my Macbook.
Is this possible?
Thanks,
Scott

Scott:
Yes it is. You can do it one of two ways:
1 - create a new library on the external HD and import the folders into the library. As you import each folder and confirm that the files are safely copied into iPhoto, you can delete the original folder. Be sure to set up the Events preferences as seen here. This will insure that each folder will be imported as a single event and maintain your folder organization. This is the preferable way. The library would not be available when the external HD is not mounted.
2 - create an alias based library (don't check the checkbox to copy the files on import) on your boot drive, set the Event preferences as before and import the folders from the external HD. This will put alias files in the originals folder of the library instead of copying the actual files. There are caveats to this method. If the HD is not mounted only the thumbnails and edited files will be viewable. You cannot have any movie files in the library as iPhoto insists on verifying their link before you can use the library. Not like the stills. Any photo you delete from the library will not be deleted from the source files on the external HD. That must be done via the Finder. If, while using the library, the HD gets dismounted the library's database file could be damaged and you'd lose all of your organizational effort. That could be averted by following the tip at the end of my signature. (It applies to normal libraries also). You cannot move or rename any of the source files once they've been added into the library. That's a big NO-NO.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto 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 written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), 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 08 libraries. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

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