move iphoto library to external hard drive

It seems that my technical verbage is not accurate. Regarding how iPhoto works and its libraries always confused me a bit but now I am tackling this again to make sure I am on understand it and want to make sure I am backing this up correctly.

I just purchased iPhoto Library Manager last evening and was working on it when I had a moment.

iPhoto what? There are two parts to an iPhoto installation. The Application lives in the Applications folder and should never be moved. The Library is in the Pictures Folder by default. Which are you moving?

I ask this as you continually refer to 'opening iPhoto', 'moving iPhoto' etc, but never to a Library.

Yes, your understanding is correct. There is no automatic connection between the Libraries on the internal and the external, so if you make a change on the internal, it will not also be present on the extenal (unless you've deliberately set up a back up script, and you haven't).

I copied the iPhoto icon from the appications folder to the My Book icon. Since that was wrong, that explains the fact that any change I did in iPhoto also appeared in My Book instantly. But it didn't save an original copy.

I am not used to describing it as a library. I hardly use iPhoto for more than I just download photos and go.

I had only one library but now I have two (after I created it last night with iPhoto Library Manager). So apparently I need to drag the library over to My Book from the Pictures folder. After I do this, will it also be in my Pictures folder still?

On your last paragraph above, I guess I am confused about the automatic connection between the two libraries. To understand correctly, after I copy the library over, are you saying that the change I make internally to the library will not be present to the external memory IMy Book) unless I copy it over with the new changes every so often?

Key question: Assuming you move the library (and not the app) how exactly did you open iPhoto "through My Book"?

Your drive is formatted FAT32. It's a Drive and not a Raid. If you wanted to make a Raid (and you don't) it would be formatted as indicated. You need to reformat the drive.

I went into Finder, click on the My Book icon, click on the iPhoto icon (not the library). I thought the iPhoto icon was the library because I only had one library at the time.

How do I change the formating then? I see how it is formated under the "First Aid" tab but I don't see a place that will change it.

Thank you.

I had only one library but now I have two (after I created it last night with iPhoto Library Manager). So apparently I need to drag the library over to My Book from the Pictures folder. After I do this, will it also be in my Pictures folder still?

Yes. If you need space you can then delete it from the internal drive.

To understand correctly, after I copy the library over, are you saying that the change I make internally to the library will not be present to the external memory IMy Book) unless I copy it over with the new changes every so often?

Correct. They will be two independent libraries.

Is your aim to Back Up your iPhoto Library?

To change the format of the Drive you erase it and then select the new format for it. Check the help on Disk Utility for more.

Regards

TD

Thanks, TD. It is starting to make more sense.

I would like to back up my iPhoto Library on a continuous basis. Long ago I burned a bunch of photos on a disc but the only drawback to that is that none of the photo comments or titles are saved on disc, just the photos. Also, I can't recall if it even saves on the disc the date the photo was taken so it is hard to preserve that info about the photos. I think you had wrote somewhere to also use Time Machine as a secondary backup (which saves the information and photos) but Time Machine would require the next upgrade to my system. (Which I have by the way and never installed for fear of losing photos during the install.)

What is your recomendation to use a secondary backup now to save photos and comments besides My Book using my current OS X 10.4? (Untill some point in the near future where I will install the next version OS X.)

Thank you for the info on my Drive. Hopefully I can do it smoothly without any glitches.

Sincerely,

Kathy

Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate

Thanks, but when I try to drag iphoto library over to my EHD, I get a circle with a line through indicating that it can't be done. I am operating a mac mini with Lion 10.7.4. I am therefore using iphoto '11. Any thoughts?

Time Machine automatically will back up any volume connected and mounted. You must "excluded" items from the backup, not add them. Go thru one backup cycle and then open the Time Machine folder on its hard drive and check to see if the EHD is there.

This screenshot shows my iMac and 3 EHDs. You'll be able to tell if yours is getting backed up or not.

Thanks, but TM is not backing up my EHD. I just connected my EHD to my computer to backup other files. I am unable for some reason, to backup the iphoto library.

First with the EHD connected and mounted force TM to do a backup and then check the TM drive as instructed above. If that doesn't work try excluding the EHD in TM's preferences, close TM and then open TM again and take it off the excluision list. Force another immediate backup.

Since you disconnect the EHD to go mobile when you connect it the next time force TM to do a backup right away. That will make sure it's backed up in case you disconnect it before the next scheduled backup.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Book-Live/Just-got-my-book-live-and-i-have-a-mac/ td-p/131230

NAS drives can not be reformatted. They have their own op system, it seems.

Many have said tha iPhoto will not work with WD MyBook Live.

Has anyone done this successfully?

gm

Message was edited by: gmardre

the iPhoto library must be on a volume formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)

LN

Thanks for the info just transfered my iphoto library over to my EHD and ensured my time machine was also backing up the EHD.

THX! That was exactly what I was searching for. I want my entire library to reside on the ex HDD

lol, couldn't figure out how to post! Just a thanks for the patience and informative answers given here by all of you. Having just bought a WD 'Passport' and not looking forward to re-formatting my Mac and all the other nightmares (nightmares for we Luddites) that accompany the simplist of chores on otherwise smart computers, I feel a lot braver after reading all your entries. 5 points to all of you!! Cliff.

This worked, but now I have my Iphoto library in two places. How do I safely get rid of the library on my internal drive?

907AKapple wrote:

This worked, but now I have my Iphoto library in two places. How do I safely get rid of the library on my internal drive?

If you are positive that you ahve a good iPhoto library elsewherer then simply do like you delete anything on the Mac - drag the iPhoto library to the trash and empty it (I suggest testing iPhoto once more between dragging to the trash and emptying the trash to avoid user errors)

LN