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Single Referenced iPhoto Library or Multiple Managed Libraries

I have a huge iPhoto library and I do very little editing. The library is on a firewire drive connected to an iMac. With iPhoto 11, the library has become sluggish (in addition to getting larger). I like to have all the photos in one library, but that seems to be the problem.


Having done some research, I am wondering whether it would be better to ignore the iPhoto file structure and make one complete "referenced library" or is it better to use iPhoto Buddy or iPhoto Library Manager to cut up the current library? Picasa may work faster, but I would like to stay in the Apple eco-system as long as possible. If one referenced library is the answer then how do you safely move the iPhoto Library files to the new file structure without corrupting the files and/or metadata?

iPhoto '11, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jul 9, 2012 8:53 PM

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Posted on Jul 9, 2012 9:09 PM

Referenced libraries are a nightmare - better now with Aperature and iPhoto being able to use the same library but still something to stay away from - and they offer no advantages at all


iPhoto buddy offers nothing today


iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - can cut up your library and can help manger multiple libraries - but usually one large library is better than multiple smaller ones


How big is your library? Both in photos and in finder size?


LN

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Jul 9, 2012 9:09 PM in response to DRU66

Referenced libraries are a nightmare - better now with Aperature and iPhoto being able to use the same library but still something to stay away from - and they offer no advantages at all


iPhoto buddy offers nothing today


iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - can cut up your library and can help manger multiple libraries - but usually one large library is better than multiple smaller ones


How big is your library? Both in photos and in finder size?


LN

Jul 10, 2012 4:14 AM in response to DRU66

It is about 315 gigs. So, reference library looked great until the breaking and re-adding of aliases. Why not iPhoto buddy? It sounds like I have to split the library (funny, that's what I thought the events were for), buy a program to do that or buy Aperture, or go back to Picasa. Picasa really is looking pretty good right now. The promise of technology, including Apple, is bit overrated. Keep your life in iLife, unless it is too big.

Jul 10, 2012 4:33 AM in response to DRU66

iPhoto is good for 250,000 images in the library. The hard disk space is of no relevance, as long as you have the library on a large enough diks that's appropriately formatted.


So, how many items?


iPhoto Buddy does nothing that you cannot do with iPhoto - hold the option (or alt) when launching and get the same options.


Not sure why you think you have to split the Library (or even why you thought Events have any role in that).


No you don't have to buy an app to split the Library, but it's more convenient if you do - and it has added features that can be very useful if you are using multiple libraries (including moving images/albums/events plus all versions and metadata between libraries etc).


Not sure why you think you have to buy Aperture or go back to Picasa either, but hey ho, whatever works for you.


Regards



TD

Jul 10, 2012 5:16 AM in response to DRU66

About 34,000 images on a properly formatted external drive.


I have been considering splitting the library because all the advice across the internet in Apple communities seems to be that iPhoto 11 is slower than its predecessors (and I agree) and the two most frequent offered Apple friendly solutions seem to be (1) Split Libraries or (2) Buy Aperture.


Picasa gets thrown in too from time to time.


It is almost unusuable at this point. I am on an older iMac (Alum. 27" with Core2Duo and 4GB RAM) and that really should not be the problem.


Thanks for the recommendations, including anything additional.

Jul 10, 2012 5:35 AM in response to DRU66

It's a well known fact that the Internet knows very little 😉


Performance issues are a bear to troubleshoot. But I have a 40k+ library and no speed issues. And, these days our libraries are far from huge - we regularly see reports from folks here with 100k and more. The largest I've seen mentioned was in excess of 300k images.


Also, my experience is that iPhoto 11 is not slower than it's predecessors, if anything, the opposite is the case.


So whatever is causing the issue, it's not size.


What exact version of iPhoto do you have? Have you tried rebuilding the library?

Nov 22, 2012 7:45 AM in response to LarryHN

Hi all. I am reading this post and thinking why would you want one huge library. I'm going through a nightmare right now with a corrupted massive library that houses my family's memories.


I had several time machine back ups. But it is only good as the data backed up. If corrupted then the backup has corrupted data. Garbage in, garbage out.


So I guess I'm asking. If you have 50k pics. Ranging, for example, from years 2005-2012. In all one library. When you open up iphoto to work with current pics, why stress it out to also bring in 5 years of pics that you probably almost never use.


Trust me. I love having all the pics at my disposal too.


But I've learned over the last two days that this seems like a huge risk.


If you have say 7 libraries ranging from 2005-2012. One of them gets corrupted. Only one gets corrupted ;)

The others are probably fine.


This whole rebuild and repair = totally worthless in my opinion. It not only didn't fix it, but it some now mysteriously added pics i previously deleted (like months ago)and rearranged other events. My library is totally shot. If I had several libraries I would be dealing with a disaster on a much smaller scale.


I also tried to rebuild with iPhoto library manager. Didn't work.


I'm a complete novice. But I'm sold on multiple libraries.


And for what it is worth, I spoke to a few apple senior techs. They told me they don't recommend libraries more than 40-50 gigs? Certainly not over 100 gigs.


Anyway I admit.... Part of me is also venting ;)

Nov 22, 2012 8:27 AM in response to Tigervision

1. The protection against corruption is exactly the same if you have 1 library or 100: a solid back up regimen.


2. While it might be your opinion that "this whole rebuild and repair = useless", that's not the actual experience of the thousands of people who have successfully run the process.


3. The size of an iPhoto Library in gigs is utterly meaningless. It's a database. It's the number of items. The actual files are just stored in the Finder.


Regards



TD

Single Referenced iPhoto Library or Multiple Managed Libraries

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