Ben Low

Q: Consolidating Photos library to external drive?

Travelling.  Filled up my laptop hard drive with photos.  Now home.  Want to MOVE that large collection of photos to an external drive.  Would actually like to just move all of the Photos Library to an external drive.  Don't want to just export out everything (extremely large number of photos) to the external drive and then delete what is on the laptop.  Or, if I have to, what is the protocol for this?

 

Ideally I'd like to be able to create separate Photos Libraries or Projects on various external drives.

 

Is there a way to do this.

 

All ears, Ben

MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 30, 2015 9:53 AM

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Q: Consolidating Photos library to external drive?

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  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Oct 30, 2015 10:04 AM in response to Ben Low
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    Oct 30, 2015 10:04 AM in response to Ben Low

    You can have several Photos Library and switch between them. And the libraries  can be on external drives.

    You can just drag the Photos Library to the external drive in the Finder.

    The external drives should be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled).  Check the file system of the external before you move a Photos Library there.

     

    This Help page explains, how to use more than one library and to switch between them:

    https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht6d60b524

     

    And this document describes how to format an external drive, if the file system is not MacOS Extended (Journaled) :  Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture - Apple Support

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 30, 2015 10:05 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 30, 2015 10:05 AM in response to léonie

    Léonie,

     

     

    You are an ace.  Thank you very much for this.  Just what I needed.  Very much appreciated.

     

     

    Ben

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 30, 2015 10:11 AM in response to Ben Low
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    Oct 30, 2015 10:11 AM in response to Ben Low

    You're welcome, Ben!  Good Luck

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 30, 2015 10:47 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 30, 2015 10:47 AM in response to léonie

    Aha!  And 'oops'.

     

    I usually use Aperture for work, where everything is well organized.  But I guess I've been using Photos for my iPhone snaps, and lately for everything, just because it's faster and I'm on the road.

     

    Just looking through my Photos library ... ouch ... wow ... I hadn't realised how long I've been using it.  A LOT of photos.  Is there a way I can 'CREATE' a library from a 'SELECTION' of photos from the main library?  This way I could break that vast collection into a series of subject libraries.

     

    Ben

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 30, 2015 11:06 AM in response to Ben Low
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    Oct 30, 2015 11:06 AM in response to Ben Low

    For your photos that are still in Aperture you could use the Aperture to split the library:  Create a smart album with only your five-star rated photos and select all photos in the album, then use "File > Export > Library".  Then open the exported library in Photos to turn it into a Photos Library.

     

    Photos does not support to split libraries. You would have to duplicate the library and delete all photos from the copies that you do not want in the other library.  Or use an external app:

     

    The PowerPhotos.app will soon be able to split and merge Photos libraries. Right now this version is beta tested:

     

       Fat Cat Software – PowerPhotos

     

    The link to the Beta version is here:  You can try it for free.  http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/comments/powerphotos_1.1_public_beta_now_with_copy ing_and_merging

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 30, 2015 11:58 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 30, 2015 11:58 AM in response to léonie

    Double ace Léonie.  I will try out the Fat Cat ... PowerPhotos.

     

    I know Aperture is going by the wayside.  It would be wonderful if Photos could add a few more elements from Aperture (like being able to dodge and burn and smooth skin etc.).  I was surprised to find Photos does do a lot more than I expected. And the controls for the black and white were most intriguing.

     

    Thank you again.  Will report back here once I've tried the PowerPhotos.  I'm up on the high plateau in Colorado this week ... very very slow internet.

     

     

    Ben

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 30, 2015 12:26 PM in response to Ben Low
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    Oct 30, 2015 12:26 PM in response to Ben Low

    Dodge & Burn, skin smoothing are now available in Photos, if you install Photo Editing Extensions.


    For a simple skin smoothing you could download BeFunky Express. It installs a Photo Editing Extension, that you can access from Photos's Editing panel.  It has basic brushes for portraits - skin smoothing, teeth whiten, etc:

    Screen Shot 2015-10-30 at 20.15.21GMT.png

     

    And the Affinity Retouching Photo Editing extension for Photos has dodge and burn brushes.

     

     

    I described the available extensions in this discussion:   https://discussions.apple.com/message/29226398#29226398

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 30, 2015 4:31 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 30, 2015 4:31 PM in response to léonie

    Léonie.

     

    BeFunky Photo Editor looks terrific.  Does one have to use it strictly 'online'?  Or is there a downloadable app version?  I'm often on the road and with no access to bandwidth.  Trying to find the 'Express' version still.  (Very slow bandwidth out in the wilderness here.)

     

    I was looking at purchasing the full Affinity app.  I'm unfamiliar with the idea of 'extensions' regarding Photos.  (I make films, am very familiar with third party plugins in FCPX or Premiere), just not quite sure how I connect to your suggested 'extensions' with Photos.

     

    I do have Pixelmator already installed ... can't quite figure out how I access Pixelmator via Photos?  Don't see 'Photos' in my Extensions.

     

    Screen Shot 2015-10-30 at 5.13.13 PM.png

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 30, 2015 4:40 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 30, 2015 4:40 PM in response to léonie

    Downloading Befunky Express.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 31, 2015 12:31 AM in response to Ben Low
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    Oct 31, 2015 12:31 AM in response to Ben Low

    The Pixelmator extension came with the last Pixelmator  update, a few days ago.

     

    In your screenshot the Photos Editing Extension point is missing.

    It should look like this in the System Preferences > Extensions. Did you update to El Capitan? Photos in Yosemite does not support Photo Editing extensions. You need Photos 1.1 at least. It is worth the update get the ability to add or edit locations and to have more sort options for the albums.

    Screen Shot 2015-10-31 at 08.25.43GMT.png

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 31, 2015 12:47 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 31, 2015 12:47 PM in response to léonie

    It's all become sparkingly clear!  Need to upgrade to El Capitan.  But before that I need to back up this machine.  My backup drive is far far away at the moment.  Can one do a 'backup' on an ordinary external drive that is already being used for other stuff which I can't lose?  Is there a special protocol that has to be used?

     

    If I could do that, then I have to drive into a town tomorrow that might just have a decent WiFi setup.  Though, if memory serves me right, it takes a couple of hours to download and install a new system, right?

     

    Thank you most kindly Léonie, this all looks entirely do-able.

     

     

    Ben

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Oct 31, 2015 3:35 PM in response to Ben Low
    Level 10 (106,883 points)
    iLife
    Oct 31, 2015 3:35 PM in response to Ben Low

    Can one do a 'backup' on an ordinary external drive that is already being used for other stuff which I can't lose?  Is there a special protocol that has to be used?

    That is risky. Yu could try to partition the drive - one partition with the data you alreay are having on the drive, and a ne wpartition for Time machine.  I have never tried to partition  a drive while running Yosemite, so I cannot advise you in this case,

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Oct 31, 2015 3:39 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 31, 2015 3:39 PM in response to léonie

    Thank you Léonie,

     

    I may just postpone the update till I'm back home.  I'm in the last few days of completing a 90 minute film ... and as much as I'd like to play with the stills I've been taking during this unusual break - meeting an authentic Columbian shaman who has flown up from Columbia to hang out on the high Colorado plateau ... practicality, and caution, must prevail.

     

    But thanks to you I know exactly what to do the minute I arrive home.

     

    All the best,

     

    Ben

  • by Ben Low,

    Ben Low Ben Low Nov 8, 2015 3:53 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 8, 2015 3:53 PM in response to léonie

    Léonie,

     

     

    I'm up and running on El Capitan.  The 'extensions' is right there now in Photos.  I've got Pixelmator and Befunky both installed, about to go check out Affinity.  Everything working as you suggested.

     

    Thank you X 10 for all your help.  Most helpful!

     

    Ben

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