i want to copy my pictures in iphoto to an external hard disk, how to do?

Hi ...

If you have the latest version of iPhotp installed > iPhoto '11: Back up your iPhoto library

Backing up iPhoto libraries with Time Machine

Are you trying to backup? If so you need to beckup the iPhoto library intact as a single entity - just drag it to the drive or use a bakcup program like Time Machine

Or are you trying to move your iPhoto library to the external drive and use it there to save space on your boot drive - if so 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

What exactly are you trying to do?

To copy just the photos? File -> Export and export them to wherever you want.

To copy the Library: Drag it from the Pictures Folder to the external.

Regards

TD

Hi Terence,

I am trying to export the pictures to and external hdd but i get the message of "unable to create" then the extension which is my external hard drive...

What format is the Hard Drive?

that sounds like a possible solution but what if I just want to copy certain photos like jurgen is trying to do?

I get the same problem - unable to export blah blah blah. I am using iphoto 8 and I hate the changes they did. IMO apple screwed things up making it harder to manage photos manually.

I much preferred the old file folder hierarchy with originals/thumbs/mods by year etc. Much easier to figure out what is what.

anyone else figure the solution besides moving/copying the whole **** library?

thanks

Of course the key information is the blah blah blah and without it it's hard to know what the problem is.

I much preferred the old file folder hierarchy with originals/thumbs/mods by year etc. Much easier to figure out what is what.

And, obviously, not understand what the various elements were. Accessing rhe "mods" for instance, was only get a middle quality preview and not the best quality, which is what exporting offers.

This User Tip

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921

has details of the options in the Export dialogue.

******* Trivial - ******* export the ******* photos to the ******* location of your ******* choice

And if you want to manage photos manually there ia a really simple solution - quit using iPhoto and manage them manually

LN

Oh - BTW the implied profanity does not help the process in any way - maybe you could formulate and ask a simple and complete question instead opf leaving critical inormation out while you play games with symbols

wow larryhn - you add nothing to the discussion. That's called a troll.

No thanks to 4 different apple forum postings/ thanks to a youtube video, I solved the problem.

For others who are experiencing similar issues, check:

iPhoto - preferences - sharing - make sure the boxes are checked for sharing your pics.

Also, make sure you aren't trying to copy thumbs only. I figured this must have something to do with the way pre-iphoto 8 versions merged info with the newer ones.

I would have older pics, say from 2007 or older, and apparently on the older versions of iphoto, you could delete the original file but still have the thumb show up on the preview. You know this is the case when you click on the thumb and you get a grey jpg with an explanation ! point.

So if you are trying to just pull off a few pics here and there to an EHD like me and it's giving you the unable to export error, check your SHARING PREFERENCES

oh, and larry/others who choose to make this a flame session - have fun as I am not subscribing to updates.

Again the actual answer is

Trivial - export the photos to the location of your choice

Sharing is NOT a good solution to copying certain photos - exporting is

And sharing is not required for exporting

LN

ugh.

you are correct LN.

I determined that all of the confusion was due to initially trying to export older full size photos that were no longer in the library - just the thumbnails. I wonder if the original poster had the same situation going on.

hmm.. thought I unsubscribed from this thread ;-)

I realize this post has been sufficiently answered, but for anyone that stumbles on this for a solution:

An alternate method (at least with iPhoto 9.5.x) is to copy and paste the photos from the iPhoto library to the destination folder. Keyboard shortcuts or the Edit-menu can be used. If you're objective is to move only a handful of photos quickly and easily, this method works well and does not appear to affect image quality (somebody please correct me if I am wrong on this point - the file sizes are equivalent copy-pasting and exporting).

Copy and paste is not recommended for a number of reasons

Mainly you are getting only a preview of the photos with limited metadata

exporting as easy and give yu exact control over what is exported incluing the quality and the metadata - tha is why it s recommended and Copy/pase is not

LN

Hi Lavapirate, what if my whole library is thumbnails? I think my originals are on my TM? I am trying to revert from Mavericks to SL and I want to back up my library to another Ext HD just in case, but every time I try to export, I get the message "unabel to create..." and I I try to drag to desktop, I get a grey jpg with an explanation ! point.

You have a problem and to solve it you need to start a news thread for your new problem and include the details of your system and your porblem including version of iPhoto and of the OS, exact error messages, location of the iPhoto library, and recent changes

On the surface with virtually no information it sound likely that you have been running MalWear like MacKeeper or CleanMyMac2 and have damaged or destroyed your library - but until you create a new thread and provide detailed information on your system and your problem no one know or can really help effectively

LN