iPhoto library - managed or referenced

First off, you need to make a clear distinction in your head between your photos and the files that contain them. Best way to explain this: The Beatles wrote a song called 'Let It Be'. They didn't write an mp3 called that. Tht mp3 is just a container for the song. So too that Jpeg, Tiff or whatever is just a container for the Photograph.

iPhoto is designe for folks who want to organise their photos and don't really want to bother with the files. Import the photos and then forget about the files. They're stored somewhere - and where matters very little.

So, if you're concerned about organising Files forget about iPhoto. You'll never be happy with it. It just won't do what you want.

I make this digeression to begin with because pretty much all your specific queries treat the Photos and Files as interchangebale concepts.

Specifically: to Managed v Referenced:

1. There is no difference in functionality. You get no extra abilities either way. None whatever. There is no functional advantage to running a Referenced or Managed Library, it's just file storage. Why? Because you never access the files anyway.

2. There are big differences in the reliabilty if the Library. If you run a Referenced Library then you run a greater risk of damaging the Library yourself - especially as a new user.

So, run a Managed Library. It's safer.

So, this question actually makes no sense - if you take my meaning:

1. picture organization (in iPhoto and on the hard drive)

You can't organise pictures on the Hard Drive. You can organise the files, not the pictures.

the hard drive organization comes from my current back-up practices

Change your back up practises. You're not just backing up files now, you're backing up a database - that's your files and whole lot more.

3. make sure I keep originals (jpeg, tiffs, and most often raw files)

Iphoto does this automatically. It treats the original like a film shooter treats the negative. It will never alter it in any way. You can export the original at any time, or revert to it from an edited version.

4. in future I might want to switch to Lightroom or Aperture to catalog/organize images

There is an upgrade path to Aperture. There ins't one to Lightroom.

What bugs me about "managed" approach that I have no control over HD organization, which might be ok, if everything else works.

Organise your photos in the iPhoto Window in any way you want. Events, Albums etc. If you want to migrate at some point in the future to an app that does'nt have an upgrade path, then you export from iPhoto to the Finder.

Apps like iPhoto2Disk or PhotoShare will help you export to a Folder tree matching your Events.

I. I am not sure how to properly back-up my images. Is there a way in iPhoto to back up everything? Or in another words, what would be a proper way to back up images from iPhoto?

With a Managed Library you back up the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder. This gets everything.

II. What can I do when I run out of disk space while using managed library?

Move the Library to a bigger disk. You can run a Library from any disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Or make a second Library. Or third.. etc

IV. Can I simply delete iPhoto's "library folder" and start from scratch? I could also try (which I did not) to make a new library ...

Yes, from the Pictures Folder. Or hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'

V. Can one convert managed iPhoto library to Lightroom/Aperture while maintain corrections, keywords, tags, etc?

To Aperture, yes. You can simply import an iPhoto Library. To Lightroom, sort of. As I descibed above you can export from iPhoto to the Finder. However, what to export? The Original will be just that - the original and that will contain no metadat added in iPhoto. Or, the Editied version which will have all the metadata but won't be the original...

Note: these issues exist no matter what Manager you migrate from or to - you have pretty much the same issues if you go from, say, Lightroom to Aperture or vice versa.

As I said at the beginning, the key thing to decide is whether you want to manage files or photos. Once you settle on the answer to that it will be easy to decide which way to go.

This thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3062728?tstart=0

Discusses some of the issues specific to running a Referenced Library in iPhoto is some detail.

By ll means post again if you want more.

For years we've worked with a files-in-folders metaphor on our computers. That's changing now with OS X - and others will follow too. Now we're moving to the 'Everything is a Database' model. Files are being deprecated, data is being stressed. That's exactly what versioning is about on Lion. Basically, file is nothing without the data that it contains. The data is everything.

iPhoto has no cross platform ability whatever. Accessing the Library back up from a Linus machine will show you a confusing array of folders and won't get any additional metadata you have added in iphoto.

And that doesn't change whether you use a Managed or Referenced Library.

Most Simple Back Up

Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.

Slightly more complex:

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

If cross-platform is a key feature then iPhoto is not the app for you.

To use Beatles metaphor: why would you hide the original record/lyrics into black basement, into filing cabinet placed in disused lavatory, and put "Beware of Leopard" on the door.

To protect it, and that's exactly what iPhoto does - as do apps like Aperture and Lightroom. They protect your original (in it's container...) and only ever operate on a copy of the data.

There are no risks associated with a Referenced Library, just limitations - and if somethign goes wrong a whole lot of extra work.

I am getting tired of chasing and installing tons of other programs just to get simple functionality such as viewing images.

With respect, your problem arises because you're trying to find one app that works in the same way on three different OSes.

Gald to help and by all means post back if you need more.

Regards

TD

i have struggled with this ever since i became a Mac user in 2008. I use a Referenced library but mostly because i have heard of people's iPhoto's database getting corrupted. However, i have found a referenced iPhoto libary to be very frustrating when i had started adding geotags and keywords in my photos in iPhoto and found out that it only retains that data if you export the photo. So what i have been doing is adding the geotags and keyword data with Picasa and then I do a "rescan of location" and then iPhoto will find it. however, that doesn't work for keywords. I wish Apple would make iPhoto a little more like iTunes actually.

I use a Referenced library but mostly because i have heard of people's iPhoto's database getting corrupted.

And they frequently post on here with "I lost all my photos!!!" style queries. However a corrupted database means in 99.99% of cases that a single file (the main db file) has been damaged. No photos are lost whatever. Running a Referenced Library is no protection against that.

When you add metadata to a photo in iPhoto (like Keywords or Places etc) it's stored in the database. Why? Because it's much faster to search the db than the large store of files for "keyword is My Dog". Again there's no need to write the data to the files because - managed or referenced - the system is designed for access via iPhoto or any of the many ways that iPhoto integrates through the operating system - like media browsers and so on. You can search on Places, keywords, faces etc in all of these.

i have found a referenced iPhoto libary to be very frustrating when i had started adding geotags and keywords in my photos in iPhoto and found out that it only retains that data if you export the photo.

Again, Referenced Libraries are about file storage and nothing else. Simply, you never access the files in the store, you go via the Database.

When you use apps like iPhoto (and Aperture or Lightroom, exactly the same) they become the "go-to" apps for your photos. Want to edit them - go to iPhoto (and edit them via iPhoto or any app you want but the starting place is iphoto), Want to email? Print? Upload to a site? Simply: anything you want or need to do with your photos can be done with or via iPhoto.

The problem you're having with Places and Keywords is that you're not using iPhoto as it's designed. If you do, this is simply not a problm.

Regards

TD

It's important to clarify something:

If you add keywords or other metadata in iPhoto it can be exported with the files when you export - as long as you export in a format that supports such metadata (so forget using png, for instance)

If you export the Original you get just that - the original - and by definition that excludes any metadata that you added in iphoto.

So, an iPhoto workflow might be: Import a Raw, Process it, Keyword and so on. Then you want to use it somewhere else: So, export it. You have a number of options in the Export

Dialogue

1. Current: The shot in it's current state. Misisng a lot of metadata

2. Original: The shot as importd. Exactly. No added metadata

3/4. Jpeg and Tiff: The current version of the shot plus any metadata added (if you choose to do so in the dialogue)

5. Png: The current version of the shot minus a lot of metadata because png metadata support is very limited.

I know that you can write metadata back to the Original in Aperture, not so sure about Lightroom but I'd be suprised if you can't.

I would characterise the set up this way: You're a guy with a point and shoot, or a Phone you shoot in Jpeg, you take snaps of the kids and on your summer vacation, you fix red eye and not much else, you want to send them to Grandad, make a nice calendar, share them on Facebook: iPhoto is for you. Not that it can't do more, but that's the target user for the app.

You're a serious hobbyist, a pro, you shoot high volumes, you shoot Raw, you have a DSLR or Bridge camera, you have a need of powerful organising tools - like IPTC and Exif, then you need to be using Aperture or Lightroom.

You can move files and directories without any problem on the same volume. Just drag them around, iPhoto will track the changes.

However, and this is a limitation, there's no way to move them if the Library is on one volume and the files are stored on another.

(In Aperture this is easy, you use the Relocate Masters command).

Regards

TD

Afterthought: There is no way to share faces metadata - there's just no agreed metadata standard for this on any system. It's too new.