pomme4moi

Q: How to move iPhoto library to NAS

Hi. I want to move all my media content to a NAS - my iTunes music and movies, and my iPhoto photos. How do I move the iPhoto library? As FYI, I am using iPhoto 09 but plan to upgrade to iPhoto 11 shortly. Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 16, 2010 5:14 PM

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Q: How to move iPhoto library to NAS

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  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jan 19, 2011 7:53 AM in response to Daniel Mccarter
    Level 10 (139,572 points)
    iLife
    Jan 19, 2011 7:53 AM in response to Daniel Mccarter
    Make sure the disk 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.

    It will be exactly the same as it was when the Library was on your Internal Disk

    Regards

    TD
  • by Elbows,

    Elbows Elbows Jun 14, 2011 1:42 AM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jun 14, 2011 1:42 AM in response to pomme4moi

    Well, after a lot of trial and error, I seem to have iPhoto 11 working with my Synology NAS (DS411j)!

     

    I tried everything with iPhoto 9 but the thumbnails weren't working. So I purchased iPhoto 11 on the app store and installed it. It spent the whole night converting the library and this morning is seems to be working. I can see all the thumbnails, slideshows work and i can open the images. Going to continue the testing but it seems positive.

  • by Jeannot65,

    Jeannot65 Jeannot65 Aug 4, 2011 12:27 AM in response to Elbows
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2011 12:27 AM in response to Elbows

    Hi Elbows,

     

    Looks like you did exactely what I want to do and as it seems to work I'd be very interested if you could let us know how you did it in details ? (I just got a DS211J)

     

    Thanks in advance,

     

    Cheers,


    Jean

  • by Elbows,

    Elbows Elbows Aug 8, 2011 5:42 AM in response to Jeannot65
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Aug 8, 2011 5:42 AM in response to Jeannot65

    Hi Jean,

     

    Not sure there is much more I can add unfortunately.

     

    I was having trouble using iPhoto 09 with the NAS, the thumbnails weren't appearing. I had transferred the library to the NAS (just copied it into the Photos folder) and then option clicked on iPhoto (as described in a previou post). Then selected the new library on the NAS.

     

    So I downloaded and installed iPhoto 11. As soon as I opened it, it started converting my library (I had backed it up). It took a long time but once it was finished everything was working. I have now had it running for a few months. There are about 9,000 photos on there.

     

    Evereything seems to work well, I can add photos from my Canon 60D, add faces, upload to Facebook etc, with no problems. Sometimes it is a little slow but I think that might be my Mac as it's always been that way. I have a few issues with iPhoto hiding all the images etc. in it's own special file structure but that is another story.

     

    I hope that is of some help?

  • by Jeannot65,

    Jeannot65 Jeannot65 Aug 9, 2011 1:03 AM in response to Elbows
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2011 1:03 AM in response to Elbows

    Hi Elbows,

     

    Very helpfull indeed. Can you also confirm the process you used to migrate your library ?

    Did you create a disk Image and copied it on your NAS or did it work straight away ?

    You mention above you did copy the library into the photo folder, is it a photo folder you created on your DS411J ?

     

    Sorry to be pain

     

    Thanks a lot !!

  • by Elbows,

    Elbows Elbows Aug 9, 2011 1:28 AM in response to Jeannot65
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Aug 9, 2011 1:28 AM in response to Jeannot65

    I literally copied the iPhoto library to the Photo directory (on the NAS) that is created when you swtich on media sharing. I didn't create a disc image or anything. Really simple.

     

    Now with iPhoto11 the iPhoto package (that you option click on to see package contents) is on the NAS. Not sure if that is the same as the application iteself. Havent' checked and not at my machine at the moment.

     

    As long as you back stuff up first then just try trial and error, that's what I did.

     

    No probs Good luck!

  • by Jeannot65,

    Jeannot65 Jeannot65 Oct 4, 2011 10:43 PM in response to Elbows
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2011 10:43 PM in response to Elbows

    Hi Elbows,

     

    I just wanted to let you know that I managed to make it work also... finally.... I firstly divided my library into smaller ones with IphotoLibrary Manager (that I recommend) and then copied them on the NAS. Works fine now, only bloddy faces slowing everything down. All my libraries are now shared accross my network !

     

    Cheers!

  • by marc.garcia,

    marc.garcia marc.garcia Apr 9, 2012 1:30 PM in response to Jeannot65
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 9, 2012 1:30 PM in response to Jeannot65

    Hi there Elbows and Jeannot65,

     

    Is still everything fine with your respective iPhoto Libraries? I've read mixed reports from people stating different things and your case interests me since you have successfully migrated yours.

     

    http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_share_your_iphoto_library_networked_st orage

     

    Thanks

  • by Jeannot65,

    Jeannot65 Jeannot65 Apr 10, 2012 12:03 AM in response to marc.garcia
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 10, 2012 12:03 AM in response to marc.garcia

    Hi Marc,

     

    Following Elbows good advices, I managed to make it work as previousely advised. I have now 6 different librairies stored on my NAS and shared between 2 Mac (1 Imac and 1 MacBook). It has been working well for over 6 month now and I have no problem whatsoever to report.

     

    Hope this helps,

     

    Cheers !

  • by Elbows,

    Elbows Elbows Apr 10, 2012 2:16 AM in response to marc.garcia
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Apr 10, 2012 2:16 AM in response to marc.garcia

    Hi Marc,

     

    No I haven't had any problems at all. In fact my iMac died (don't get me started!) and so I am now on a MacMini. Having my iPhoto and iTunes on my NAS saved the day as I was able to simply boot the new Mac and point it at the libraries, all worked no problem. Meanwhile the iMac is totally dead.

     

    My only slight issue is the speed. Can be a little slow compared to an internal library but I find it useable.

     

    Glad to hear people are having success.

  • by marc.garcia,

    marc.garcia marc.garcia Apr 14, 2012 8:27 AM in response to Elbows
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 14, 2012 8:27 AM in response to Elbows

    Hi there Elbows, thanks for that.

     

    May I ask how you connect your NAS and the Mac Mini? I take it we are talking of a wired network, right? Could you list your networking devices?

     

    Thanks

  • by marc.garcia,

    marc.garcia marc.garcia Apr 14, 2012 8:37 AM in response to Elbows
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 14, 2012 8:37 AM in response to Elbows

    Hi again Elbows,

     

    As far as I know, Synology NAS devices run linux Ext4 Filesystems. I would appreciate it if you could briefly describe the migration process (if you still remember how you performed it).

     

    It scares me to end up with a corrupted iPhoto Library (I could get killed by my WAF!).

     

    I need this information because I do not own a Synology NAS but a QNAP TS-239 Pro.

     

    Thanks in advance,

  • by Elbows,

    Elbows Elbows Apr 25, 2012 8:26 AM in response to marc.garcia
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Apr 25, 2012 8:26 AM in response to marc.garcia

    Hi Marc,

     

    Sorry for the delay!

     

    Yes i have a wired network (couple of cheap Gigabit hubs) with an airport extreme base station for wireless clients. NAS and MacMini plug into hub/switch.

     

    To be honest I don't remember exactly what I did. Whatever you do, just back up your iPhoto Library first if you are really nervous, I backup my NAS to an external drive anyway. Always BACKUP

     

    I think it was as simple as copying the iPhoto Library over to the NAS in the Photos share and then Alt or Option clicking iPhoto so you can choose your library, before selecting the library on the NAS. Have you got time machine so you can go back if it all goes wrong?

     

    Let me know if you get stuck and I will try and help.

     

    Sorry that isnt much help, good luck!

  • by towers00,

    towers00 towers00 Apr 27, 2012 11:06 AM in response to Elbows
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 27, 2012 11:06 AM in response to Elbows

    Hello Elbows,

      I am in the process of transferring my iPhoto (9) library (255 GB) over to a My Book Live Duo 6 TB (ext4) external HDD. I have already successfully ran Time Machine on my local HDD (a day long process as it was 475 GB on my local HDD). The MBLD is on a RAID 1 so that it mirrors betweeen two HDD.

     

    My iMac (OX 10.6.8) is pretty old but I am grateful to have organized my 25K photos on it. It is wired to my Airport Extreme Base and the MBLD is also wired to that same AE (CAT 6 using Gigabit Ethernet).

     

      Hopefully I have the same experience as you do, but I will let you all know. It has taken 11 hours to do 27 GB out of the 255 GB and it says it has 90 hours to go!

     

      I wonder if it has anything to do with how the ext4 writes the data. 

  • by marc.garcia,

    marc.garcia marc.garcia Apr 27, 2012 11:29 AM in response to towers00
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 27, 2012 11:29 AM in response to towers00

    Hi there,

     

    you seem to be talking about a DAS and not a NAS. iPhoto Library should have no problem in those conditions.

     

    Regards,

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