Getting photos to an external hard drive

Question

Level 1

0 points

Getting photos to an external hard drive

My apologies if this is explained somewhere already. I have iphoto 6 and am running 10.4.11.

I have an external hard drive which automatically backups my ilife once a week. I need to get all the iphotos off the hard drive and onto the external drive because we have maxed out the hard drive. And then- I would like to keep that as the place photos get sent.

so- first- how do I back-up (my wife's) 17, 000 photos to a dvd(s) as another place for safe keeping and then how do I get all the photos to the external and tell my mac to keep sending them there and retrieving them from there from here on out? I once switched my itunes to the external but I'm not sure how and had, in the process, backed up my itunes on the hard drive( couldn't figure out why my storeage hadn't increased) . So this makes me nervous.

Thanks a lot for any help. Rick

G5imac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Feb 20, 2010 8:29 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Feb 20, 2010 8:45 AM in response to Hilltool

To move the iPhoto Library Folder:

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity 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.

how do I back-up (my wife's) 17, 000 photos to a dvd(s) as another place for safe keeping

Select Rolls and/or batches of Rolls and burn them to DVD using the Share -> Burn command

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 2

Hilltool Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2010 9:11 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence,

Ok , then, once I do that and have tested it out and backed up to dvds----to get rid of the photos(and give me space) on my hard drive do I just drag the library folder to the trash on my hard drive (gulp?) And, if I do that, do I still have an empty folder in my pictures folder that is labled "library"?

thanks

Rick

Reply

Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Feb 20, 2010 9:14 AM in response to Hilltool

to get rid of the photos(and give me space) on my hard drive do I just drag the library folder to the trash on my hard drive

Yes.

And, if I do that, do I still have an empty folder in my pictures folder that is labled "library"?

Not if you drag it to the trash...

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 4

Hilltool Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2010 9:19 AM in response to Yer_Man

Sorry for keeping this going......

Am I wrong in thinking that I may want to keep a folder on my main hard drive labeled "library" in the pictures folder.... just in case something awful happens to the external and I need to revert to storing things on the hard drive again and, if so, then am I correct in assuming that rather than drag the whole folder to the trash I should just drag the contents in batches to get rid of them?

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Feb 20, 2010 9:26 AM in response to Hilltool

No matter what, you need to have a back up. That's at least two copies of the entire Library.

Am I wrong in thinking that I may want to keep a folder on my main hard drive labeled "library" in the pictures folder.

Why would you want to have an empty folder called Library there? Or anywhere? An empty folder is just that. It's not a back up nor is it necessary for a restore.

just in case something awful happens to the external and I need to revert to storing things on the hard drive again and,

To revert to storing on the HD again just drag the Library Folder +back from the external+.

If that's not possible and you're restoring from the DVD's, all that work is done in the iPhoto Window. The existence of a folder called Library in the Pictures Folder is a pointless exercise.

if so, then am I correct in assuming that rather than drag the whole folder to the trash I should just drag the contents in batches to get rid of them?

There is pretty much no circumstance where you manipulate batches of files in the iPhoto Library Folder. period. You always deal with it as a unit

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 6

Hilltool Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2010 9:33 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence,

Thank you very much. You've been patient and precise and it is appreciated. I hope people are helping you at something as much as you are helping people here.

Rick

Reply

Answer 7

Feb 20, 2010 2:03 PM in response to Yer_Man

Terrence,

You seem to be very knowledgable and clear at explaining how to resolve issues and wondered if you could point me in the right direction? I have filled my hard drive with photos and I would like to quickly free up some space before I embark on making back up copies onto an external hard drive.

In my iPhoto library I seem to have 3 files DATA, MODIFIED & ORIGINALS that all seem to have the same or simialr batches of photos. Can I delete either DATA, MODIFIED or ORIGINALS freeing up some space but not jepordising how my photos appear when I look through them in iPhoto?

What I have found is that if I delete some files that sem to be duplicated I get the grey dotted boxes rather than photos and it panics me a bit.

Your help or a solution would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Matt

Reply

Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Feb 20, 2010 2:06 PM in response to Matthew kalupka

Matt

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

In my iPhoto library I seem to have 3 files DATA, MODIFIED & ORIGINALS that all seem to have the same or simialr batches of photos.

ℹ Originals are the photos as they were downloaded from your camera or scanner.

(ii) Modified contains edited pics, shots that you have cropped, rotated or changed in any way.

(iii) Data holds the thumbnails the the app needs to show you the photos in the iPhoto Window.

Can I delete either DATA, MODIFIED or ORIGINALS freeing up some space but not jepordising how my photos appear when I look through them in iPhoto?

Under no circumstances. All are necessary for iPhoto to work. More formally: Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 9

Feb 25, 2010 7:26 PM in response to Hilltool

I've been wondering how to do this for ages. Thanks for the help TD. You're a champ!

Reply

Answer 10

Gaslevin

Level 1

4 points

Apr 26, 2010 12:05 PM in response to Yer_Man

Hello Terence,

For some reason when deleting files from iPhoto and after emptying the trash can on iPhoto the space available on my hard drive is pretty much the same even though I deleted a couple gigs worth of data.

By deleting photos or videos from iPhoto am I not deleting them from the hard drive?

Thansk,
Gaston

Reply

Answer 11

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Apr 26, 2010 12:52 PM in response to Gaslevin

Gaston

Are you running a Managed or a Referenced Library?

A +Managed library+, is the default setting, and iPhoto copies files into the iPhoto Library when Importing

A +Referenced Library+ is when iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing because you made a change at iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced. In this scenario you are responsible for the File Management.

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 12

Gaslevin

Level 1

4 points

Apr 26, 2010 1:16 PM in response to Yer_Man

TD,

I am running a Managed Library.

thanks!

Reply

Answer 13

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Apr 26, 2010 1:22 PM in response to Gaslevin

With a Managed Library, putting pics in the iPhoto trash and emptying it will remove the files from iPhoto and
the HD.

If they are not going then you may have a damaged Library

Here's a test.

Select a photo in the iPhoto Window and right click on it. From the resulting menu select 'Show File (or 'Show Original File' if that's available). A Finder Window should open with the file selected. Does it?

Now, back to the iPhoto Window. Put the same pic in the trash and empty it.

What happens in the Finder?

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 14

Gaslevin

Level 1

4 points

Apr 27, 2010 8:58 PM in response to Yer_Man

You are right, they disappear with your test. Thanks!!

Reply