Backing up iPhoto library which is stored on an external hard drive

Sure use an incremental clone or backup program - Time machine for example - I use TM and Carbon Copy Cloner - others use TM and SuperDuper - others use other backup programs

LN

You can include the external HD in the TM as any external HD that is connected will be backed up automatically. To exclude an EHD it must be added to the exclusinon list in the Time Machine preferences.

So if your EHD isn't being backed up add it to the exclusion list, close TM, open TM and remove it from the list. The force a immediate backup and check your TM drive when the backup is compete.

Here are the contents of my TM backup, my boot drive and 3 other drives, 1 internal and 2 external.

OT

You must NOT have the iPhoto library (or any dymanic file) on the same volume as teh TM backup - the TM backup grows until it fills the volume and at that time iPhoto will stop working

And of course if your iPhoto library is on the same volume as the backup then you have no backup against disk failure since both are on the same hardware and both fail at the same time

You need another external drive for your iPhoto library

LNM

I am having a similiar problem. I have 2 EHD - one for Time Machine and one for iPhoto. They are both identical WD "My Book Studio EHDs". The one containing my iPhoto library is grayed out in the TM exclusion list. I have quit iPhoto, quit TM, reopened TM and still cannot backup the EHD containing my pictures. I have looked on the web an in Apple support to no avail. I confirmed both EHDs are formatted for Mac. Any guidance is greatly apprecuated. Thank you

I confirmed both EHDs are formatted for Mac.

What is the actual format.

As this is a Time Machine question you might have more luck on the Time Machine forum - that's part of the 'Using Mac OS X' forum for your version of the OS.

The reason it's grayed out is TM is using that one for its backups. Check the drive to see if you see a file named Backjups.backjupdb on it.

If you do then check the other EHD for a similar file. If there is one check to see which has the most recent and most backups. You can change the drive to backup to in the Time Machine preference window - click on the Select Disk button.'

Then move the iPhoto Library to the drive that isn't being used by TM and erase any library from the TM EHD.

The format is "Mac OS Extended (Tournaled)"

Thank you - this worked - now I need to figure out how to change their label on the desk top!

Bring up the Info window for the drive (type Command + i), click on the icon in the window and try the Delete key. It may remove the TM icon and restore the default one.