Moving iPhoto library onto external hard drive

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Level 1

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Moving iPhoto library onto external hard drive

I would like to transfer all of my photos over to my external hard drive as my MacBook is filling up fast.

I followed the directions on moving the iPhoto library onto my external hard drive. I can see the iPhoto icon on the external drive. I no longer see it under Me/Pictures.

If I select the iPhoto icon on my external hard drive to open iPhoto, it opens without any photos. If I press "option" while opening iPhoto from the icon at the bottom of the screen the only option I have is from the following: Users/Me/Movies/iMovie Projects.localized/iPhoto Library. This option does open iPhoto so that I can see my photos. There is an option there to "Create New" so I added my hard drive. But if I use that as my default, I get no pictures.

A couple of questions. How do I complete this process? Where are my pictures now? I'm assuming they are on my external hard drive. I didn't delete them from my MacBook so I'm also assuming they are there but not visible.

Thanks

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jan 28, 2013 1:56 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,290 points

Jan 28, 2013 2:07 PM in response to nekowaifer

As we're not sure what you have done exactly it's hard to be certain how to progress.

This is how you move an iPhoto Library

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.

3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.

4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.

There is no way you've done that if you can no longer see the Library at Me/Pictures.

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Answer 2

nekowaifer Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 28, 2013 5:20 PM in response to Yer_Man

Thanks Terrence,

Yes, I've clearly done something wrong. I dragged the iPhoto library from Me/Pictures to my external hard drive. I could see the library on the external drive but not in Me/Pictures. I just tried dragging it back. So I now have three options when I press option/alt and launch iPhoto.

1) Users/Me/Movies/iMovie Projects.localized/iPhoto Library

2) Users/Me/Pictures/iPhoto Library

3) /Volumes/MyExternalDrive/iPhoto Library

The only one that works is #1. So the question now is: where did I go wrong and how do I correct it?

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,290 points

Jan 28, 2013 11:08 PM in response to nekowaifer

At a guess the copy to the external went wrong - and it should be a copy not a move.

Why have you an iPhoto Library here:

Users/Me/Movies/iMovie Projects.localized/iPhoto Library

Is this a properly working library? With all your pictures?

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Answer 4

nekowaifer Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2013 7:02 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence,

Yes, I can see all my pictures and folders if I launch iPhoto from Users/Me/iMovie Projects.localized/iPhoto Library.

Also, since I did the same action, dragging the icon over to the external drive and back, I now have iPhoto Library icons on the external drive and in Me/Pictures. What to do?

Feel like I've made a mess and haven't necessarily freed up any space on my MacBook.

Thanks.

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