You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

move iphoto library to external hard drive

Is it possible to move the iPhoto library to an external hard drive?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.1.x)

Posted on Apr 22, 2011 9:51 AM

Reply
103 replies

Mar 18, 2014 10:47 AM in response to Old Toad

Haven't tried (2) yet, but have tried everything else you listed, I'll do all that (in that sequence) tommorrow.


Re "Show Library Folder", didn't bother, just used:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1 (then -ideally- reboot)

I find that Finder feature's still a bit too limiting...


Thanks/Night.

Mar 18, 2014 7:55 PM in response to Yer_Man

Terence Devlin wrote:


If you bought that machine new in 2013 I would expect iPhoto 11 to be on it. yes.


Yes the machine was brand new & my Qn was;

Just as I own a license of Lion/ML/Mavericks & can install it on other machines I own*, can I not do the same for iPhoto 11?

And you missed my 1st Qn in my last post to you, but I'll have an answer to that soon enough I guess...


Thanks.

*within reason, I realise some Mac's are just too old

Mar 19, 2014 3:01 AM in response to jedlh

Spoke to Apple Care,


By virtue of the MAS account associated with my mid-2012 rMBP, supposedly I'm entitled to use the latest "iLife" apps on my Mac Mini.

Supposedly the suite's not known as iLife any more, only iMovie/iPhoto/GB are in the bundle, iWeb/iDVD are no longer included, nor actively developed.

Does ALL that sound correct?


I have just searched for the latest version of iPhoto in the MAS on my Mini & I see it there...

Before d'loading & installing, I have tried the suggestion of disabling auto-updates, this didn't resolve the issue.

Should I bother with this suggested fix too, or just go ahead & update iPhoto to the latest version via MAS?


Not sure I'm interested in iMovie or GB, I'm currently doing a bunch of things to minimise space used on my boot/system SSD.

How much space are they likely to take-up (content aside)? Are they (IYO) light-years ahead of 3rd-party options (assuming I'd even use them)?


Thank-you.

Mar 19, 2014 3:23 AM in response to Yer_Man

Side question, how come when I search "com.apple" in Spotlight, it doesn't reveal the many plist files on my system?

I realise it probably doesn't search for files/folders that live under hidden dirs like /Users/[username]/Library, but there are plist files that begin with "com.apple" & are in directories which aren't hidden.

Mar 19, 2014 3:32 AM in response to jedlh

Spotlight doesn't search for system files - like the plist files - by default.


By virtue of the MAS account associated with my mid-2012 rMBP, supposedly I'm entitled to use the latest "iLife" apps on my Mac Mini.

Supposedly the suite's not known as iLife any more, only iMovie/iPhoto/GB are in the bundle, iWeb/iDVD are no longer included, nor actively developed.

Does ALL that sound correct?


Yes.


Should I bother with this suggested fix too, or just go ahead & update iPhoto to the latest version via MAS?


Just update. Back up first, of course.


How much space are they likely to take-up (content aside)? Are they (IYO) light-years ahead of 3rd-party options (assuming I'd even use them)?


I don't use GB but iMovie is just short of 3 gigs.

Mar 19, 2014 3:55 AM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad wrote:


Since you have no photos in the library try the following:


1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your

User/Home/Library/ Preferences folder.


2 - delete the contents the following folder:


User/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto


3 - delete the library, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new library. See if that will help.


(1)

Rather than delete completely, from /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences I moved com.apple.iPhoto.plist & com.apple.iPhoto.LSSharedFileList.plist to the trash.*


(2)

I checked /Users/Library & /Users/[username]/Library for this Containers sub-folder but it didn't exist, there wasn't even a "Containers" folder in the former.


(3)

Moved to the trash too...


Alas, after doing all this, iPhoto launched with the same issue occuring.

So I guess that means my only next step is to try to update to the latest version of iPhoto?

*I also checked /Users/Library/Preferences, just in case something was there

Mar 19, 2014 4:12 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence Devlin wrote:


(1)

Spotlight doesn't search for system files - like the plist files - by default.


(2)

Just update. Back up first, of course.


(3)

I don't use GB but iMovie is just short of 3 gigs.


(1)

Is there a way to tell Spotlight to search for system files?

I've already made ALL hidden files/folders viewable, but clearly Spotlight isn't aware of that.


(2)

I've tried it anyway, next I'll try the update (as you suggest) to see if it fixes the problem...


(3)

In what scenarios would I really want iMovie & GB (I have some ideas, but would like to hear other folks thoughts), & are there better 3rd-party equivalents?

For now I'll leave both apps (or equivalent 3rd-party ones) uninstalled until later, after higher priority sw is installed & once I'm sure I have enough space.


Thank-you.

Mar 19, 2014 4:20 AM in response to jedlh

jedlh wrote:


I checked /Users/Library & /Users/[username]/Library for this Containers sub-folder but it didn't exist, there wasn't even a "Containers" folder in the former.


I also checked /Users/Library/Preferences, just in case something was there


Correction:


/Users/Library => /Library

/Users/Library/Preferences => /Library/Preferences

Mar 19, 2014 4:24 AM in response to jedlh

Is there a way to tell Spotlight to search for system files?

Yes, but I don't recall it. Try asking on the Using Mac OSX forum


The visiblity or otherwise of files has no relevance in this case.


You might want iMovie if you wanted to edit video, GarageBand if you're making music. Yes there are alternatives but, bluntly, the question is too vague - define "better" for a start. Final Cut is "better" as is Logic Pro, but one costs $300, the other around $200, so you need to define paramaters. There are lost of sites on the web that compare apps, you might consider checking them out.

Mar 19, 2014 4:31 AM in response to jedlh

jedlh wrote:


Alas, after doing all this, iPhoto launched with the same issue occuring.


Should I restore the com.apple.iPhoto plist files & the iPhoto Library that I moved to the trash before proceeding with the update?

I looked in the dir where the plist files normally exist, & now there's only one: "com.apple.iPhoto.plist".

I doubt it's necessary but just checking...

Mar 19, 2014 5:02 AM in response to jedlh

Another infuriating (yet somewhat unrelated issue) that just cropped-up...

I had three partitions on my external HDD, all were showing-up fine on my desktop.

But today I notice they're no longer showing-up for some reason...

I go to Disk Utility & all seems fine there, I can also find them in Finder (after some futzing about).

I also just tried rebooting but it made no difference, so no freaking idea what the prob is 😠


Any ideas?

move iphoto library to external hard drive

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.