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 Niel,

    Niel Niel Dec 16, 2010 5:19 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 10 (312,931 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 16, 2010 5:19 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Drag the iPhoto Library of the Pictures item in the Finder's sidebar over, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down, and point it there.

    (55532)
  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 16, 2010 9:11 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 10 (84,752 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 16, 2010 9:11 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Unless the NAS is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) you will not be able to run the iPhoto library on it

    If it is then Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)

    And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto

    And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive

    LN
  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 16, 2010 11:02 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 10 (139,557 points)
    iLife
    Dec 16, 2010 11:02 PM in response to pomme4moi
    As Larry says: iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos.

    iPhoto 11 will give you an message telling you the Disk is unsupported.

    Workaround: Put the Library on an appropriately formatted Disk Image and store that on the NAS.

    Regards

    TD
  • by pomme4moi,

    pomme4moi pomme4moi Dec 17, 2010 8:51 AM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 1 (57 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 17, 2010 8:51 AM in response to pomme4moi
    Thanks. Is there a NAS on the market whose disks can be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? I looked at the Synology and QNAP NAS devices, and they appear not to support OS Extended ...
  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 17, 2010 9:20 AM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 10 (84,752 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 17, 2010 9:20 AM in response to pomme4moi
    Not that I've seen - using a corrected formatted disk image does work according to many reports

    LN
  • by skyelement,

    skyelement skyelement Dec 17, 2010 9:39 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2010 9:39 AM in response to LarryHN
    Please define "NAS"
    Is that some kind of external drive, like a LaCie?
    thanks
  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 17, 2010 10:22 AM in response to skyelement
    Level 10 (84,752 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 17, 2010 10:22 AM in response to skyelement
    No - it is a Network Attached Storage device - basically another computer on the network dedicated to being a storage server

    Google is your friend - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage

    an external drive is just that - an external drive

    LN
  • by pomme4moi,

    pomme4moi pomme4moi Dec 18, 2010 4:28 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Level 1 (57 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 18, 2010 4:28 PM in response to pomme4moi
    Thank you all!
  • by odysseus,

    odysseus odysseus Dec 19, 2010 9:04 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 3 (930 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 19, 2010 9:04 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Would this work on a 3rd-generation Time Capsule (these units are much faster than the old ones -- mine does 40 MB/sec on reads)? But what happens if two people access the library at the same time?
  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 19, 2010 11:13 PM in response to odysseus
    Level 10 (139,557 points)
    iLife
    Dec 19, 2010 11:13 PM in response to odysseus
    I'm not sure about the TC, frankly. However, will this be a wireless connection? A strong warning: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.

    But what happens if two people access the library at the same time?


    They won't be able to.

    Regards

    TD
  • by celtxian,

    celtxian celtxian Dec 30, 2010 4:29 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2010 4:29 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Hi

    I am trying to do this but after it copies about 1.6GB across it throws up a -22 error message. Both source and destination disks are Mac OS Extended (Journaled) drives and the library size is less than half he size available on the destination drive.

    Not sure what the issue is as I have tried searching error code but not very helpful answers to the issue. Also, tried different naming conventions for backup library.

    Any help appreciated.
  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 30, 2010 5:20 AM in response to celtxian
    Level 10 (139,557 points)
    iLife
    Dec 30, 2010 5:20 AM in response to celtxian
    Try rebuild the Library to the extnernal using iPhoto Library Manager. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.

    Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

    Regards

    TD
  • by celtxian,

    celtxian celtxian Dec 30, 2010 5:44 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2010 5:44 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Terence

    Many thanks for that. I will try it and let you know how things go. My current library sis over 40GB so I would like to free up space on my laptop.

    Steven
  • by Daniel Mccarter,

    Daniel Mccarter Daniel Mccarter Jan 19, 2011 6:57 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 19, 2011 6:57 AM in response to LarryHN
    Hi I am running iPhoto 09 and would like to move the library to my external drive which is backed up and also has my itunes library. My question is if I move it using the instructions here will I loose all my folders. I have 10,003 photos and probably 100 or more folders some folders within other folders.
    I moved My iTunes library a year or so ago and ended up loosing all the folder structures I had built up over the years.
    Thanks
    Dan
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