iPhoto Library amond multiple users

Thank you for your reply! Actually I switched drives: the new 3TB one became my Time Machine drive, and my older 2TB drive became my iLife drive, where I placed my iPhoto Lib. Here's a screenshot of the drive's info (below). You can see the "Shared folder" checkbox is checked, because there is no "ignore ownership on this volume" selection for some reason.

That icon indicates that Time Machine is still connected to the drive. Make sure you've select the 3TB drive and the 2TB drive is not in the excluded window of the TM preference pane.

Yeah, I was wondering why that icon is still there. I selected the 3TB drive for Time Machine, and the 2TB drive itself is NOT in the EXCLUDED list (because I do want to back up the iPhoto library) - although there are folders inside the 2TB drive that I do want to exclude, so they do show up in the list.

I wonder if the old TM backups (which are still on the 2TB drive) are what's causing the icon to remain? There is a folder called Backups.backupdb in there. Would I just need to move that folder out of that drive? Or is there another way?

Try putting it in the excluded list for a bit and then remove it.

Deleted the Backups.backupdb folder, and tried excluding the drive from backups for about 12 hours. Still no go on the icon change. However, I do now see the checkbox for ignoring ownership on that drive's info sheet, and I checked it. Now, my other user can access the drive! Thanks for your help!!

If you want to change the icon to something other than the TM one open the Info window for a drive with the icon you want and select and copy it. Then bring up the Info window for the 1 TB drive and paste it over the TM.

This thread has been very helpful.

I currently have my iPhoto library shared between two users via Users/Shared. I have a Mac Mini, and want to add an SSD on top of the current hard drive. If I get an SSD can I use that to specifically host my iPhoto library but still have it be accessible to multiple users?

...I think waht I'm really asking is: will the new SSD appear/act as an external hard drive so I can share access to the library that way?

I think waht I'm really asking is: will the new SSD appear/act as an external hard drive so I can share access to the library that way?

I'd ask that on the Mini forum. But if it does, then yes.

Here is a simple solution that allows you to share an iPhoto library between multiple user accounts that does not require moving your library to an external drive or disk image. All you need to do is share your Pictures folder with multiple users.

Using this method iPhoto will run as fast for each user as it would if it was not shared. I didn't want to put my library on an external drive or disk image because, in addition to using Time Machine for a local external drive, I pay for an online backup service in case of fire or theft, and that service will not backup an external drive or disk image.

Instructions:

1) Start with a single library owned by one User Account who has administrator privileges.

2) Create a new user group called photoshare:

• System Preferences > Users & Groups
• Unlock if locked (lower left lock icon)
• Hit the plus sign (lower left) and in diaglogue box under New Account choose Group from the drop down menu
• Full Name: photoshare
• Add users with check boxes as desired
• Right click on the group photoshare in the left plane, confirm that "photoshare" appears in the box "Group name." Otherwise the next steps won't work.

3) Open the terminal application. Type these commands in successively; each may take a few minutes to execute.

• chgrp -R photoshare ~/Pictures/

  Explanation: this sets the group ownership to photo share (http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/fileowner.html)

• chmod -R g+rwx ~/Pictures/

  Explanation: this gives all members of the owner group read/write/execute permissions (http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/fileowner.html)

• chmod -R g+s ~/Pictures/

  Explanation: this makes sure that the group ID is set on execution and that new photos added will be visible to all users (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/what-is-the-use-of-chmod- g-s-245762/)

4) close iPhoto if open.

5) Switch to another user account

6) close iPhoto if open, and reopen iPhoto while holding down the option key.

7) A dialogue box will appear prompting you to choose the library. You should see the shared library file in the list of choices for libraries. You will probably see at least one other option called "iPhoto Library." Examine the path structure in the bottom of the dialogue box to determine which library you want to share.

8) repeat steps 4 through 7 for each user.

9) Run some tests - add or delete photos while using one account, see if you can find them in another account.

I expect you can do something similar for iTunes and iMovie.

Known Limitation:

Only one user can be using the iPhoto library at one time

Suspected Limitation:

PhotoStream syncs with the shared library using one AppleId and one computer User Account, and the photos appear for all users. But, I suspect a second User Account could not use a second Apple ID to sync the same library with photostream. I haven't tested this.

Hope this helps!

Luke

Wouldn't it just be simpler to move it to the Users/Shared folder? That'll pretty much spare you steps 1 - 5 and so on.

And of course, you still risk lots of permissions issues as you go, regardless of where you have the Library. Remember iPhoto is a database, and the fact that you've shared the Pictures Folder doesn't overcome that basic fact.

Regards

TD

Sure, that works too. I think that putting it in the shared folder shares your library with all users, whereas this method shares it only with users in the group photoshare.

So far, I've had no issues with permissions using this method. Fingers crossed.