backing up photos to external hard drive,and exporting back to CF card on camera

Edit: Note: It's been a while but the Export command may be in the Share menu on older versions...

1. To back up an iPhoto 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

2. To Back up Just the Photos

Use the File -> Export command to export the images to where you want them.

BTW: there are no user-serviceable parts in the iPhoto Library Folder. Rooting around in there can cause damage.

3. Edited Photos to CF Card is a two part process:

Exporting is just File -> Export. Choosing any setting except 'Original' and you'll get the Edited version.

The CF Card? Just drag and drop there.

But a couple of possible problems: Canon Cameras don't show up in the Finder. So you'll need to stick the card into a USB Card Reader for get them on there

Camera Cards are all formatted FAT. That means there's a limit to the number of items on the top level of the card: Workaround: Export the shots to a folder and drag that over

And, of course, if you want to see the shots in the camera, you'll need to put them in whatever specific folder it uses for the photos.

Regards

TD

I will be migrating backups from the LaCie onto my new Mac : will I be sacrificing anything taking that route rather than backing up the iPhoto Library ?

Yes, all the albums, originals (or edits) metadata and so on.

To move a v5 Library to a new machine:

To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:

Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...

But however you do choose to link the two machines...

Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.

As it's such an old version you'll need to download this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1523

and run it.

Then launch iPhoto on the new machine. That's it.

This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.

I do have a Canon

Canon's don't appear in the Finder and so there is no way to copy files to the camera. It's a "feature" of the brand. The only way around this is to beg/steal/borrow or as a last resort buy a USB Card Reader.

Regards

TD

From what I can gleam from the MacTracker app all G4 Macs had FireWire ports. Therefore you can connect your Mac together via a Firewire cable while putting your G4 into Target Disk Mode, Transferring files between two computers using FireWire.

That turns you G4 into essentially an external HD connected to your new Mac where you can just drag your iPhoto library from it to the Pictures folder on your new Mac.

OT

Run the Updater on the new machine after you've got the Library over there.

How to is described in the link I gave: Transferring files between two computers using FireWire

Hi guys.

I need to move out the iPhoto library to not corrupt it exctracing the originals etc...I've tried to copy the iPhoto library on an ext HD but it tells me "the folder already exists"...I also tried (as a test) to copy the "Originals" folder and it stopped telling me that some files cannot be copied...well I think that I'm dealing with a format issue as I formatted the ext HD as FAT32 and it has the 4 GB file transfer limit and also the file extension name limit that I think is the reason why the copy is being interrupted.

Please help me. Thanks

this is a totally different issue and threadjacking is confusing for you and other posters - a new thread would be best - the basic reason for this new problem it that the iPhoto library can not be on a FAT formatted drive - it must be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)

LN

LarryHN, "threadjacking" is a very strong and aggressive term (not applicable in this case - his doubt is germanely related to the issue at hand, which is backing up his photos). try to be more understanding with people who have problems and difficulties that you do not. the way you write aggressively to other users is absolutely not the way to go, even if you owned this forum, which you do not.

i understand that you actually want to help people, but bullying them is not the way.

@djfrankieflowers, you might want to give Time Machine a try (in case your objective is to STORE your iPhotos Library while you perform maintenance on your Mac). this is not a solution for saving and using iPhoto Library from an external device.

in case you decide to use TM and run into a permissions problem when restoring your backup, take a look at this recipe (worked for me on snow leopard):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3757573?answerId=20475748022#20475748022&ac_cid=tw123456#20475748

Dear Gentlemen.

What I need is to save space on my Mac an move all the pictures I don't need on my computer as I use it for professional use.

I regularly use TM but I want to move those pics on an external drive. I don't need iPhoto and his functions. My priority is to keep my pictures safe on an external HD. The problem is that as soon as I bought an I phone I was obligated to use iPhoto. With my blackberry I was just saving my pics on the internal drive in sequential folders.

I bought a HD and formatted it Mac native and Now I don't know what to do to move those pictures. I tried to export them but it stops transferring after 60 pictures. I copied the iPhoto folder and I worked out but I know it could be an issue to have 2 identical folders in different locations.

I hope that now you understand what I'm trying to do. Thanks for the support.