What is the best way to copy my iphoto library to an external drive?

I want to free up space on the internal drive by copying the iphoto library to an external drive and then either deleting the library entirely from the internal and using the external as my working library or continuing to use the internal as my working library, but deleting lots of old pictures.  I have TC and use TM for backups and have a Seagate HD that I want to use for extra storage.  Thanks,

To move the 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.
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 have two libraries:
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 <b>option (or alt)</b> key 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
Regards
TD

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