Exporting iphoto events to external hard drive?

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.

Now you have two full versions of the Library.

3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there

Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal

Some Notes:

As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.

You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'

You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager

No, moving a Library to an external will make no difference to Photostream.

No - you do not ever go into the inside of the iPhoto library - there are no user servicable parts in it and messing around there may corrupt the library and cause data loss - you use iPhoto to manage yoru photos - you do not use the finder at all - iphoto is the "finder" for your photos

LN

If I need something that's on the EHD library, I need to select that library in iPhoto, right?

Exactly.

I found that if I select the event or even multiple events in iPhoto then I choose File>Export. Then the Export box pops up. There will be a field titled Subfolder Format and here I choose Event Name. I also check off the boxes for Title and Keywords as well as for Location Information. I also choose the full size for the size and for the File Name field i choose filename versus the other choices and i leave the prefix for sequential blank. I don't think any of these other field matter I just wanted to be specific to what I did. The most important thing is that in the field titled Subfolder Format to choose Event Name. Also the even needs to have more than one photo in it otherwise it exports as a single photo.

Once I click the export button a finder window will pop up and I choose the location, in my case an external hard drive.

I also have moved my entire iphoto library to the external hard drive, but I also wanted the entire library in another format other than iPhoto so that I could share with others who don't have apple devices.

Hope this helps.

That's actually a different thing. You've not moved your iPhoto Library nor have you moved any Events. What you've done is export from your Library to folders in the Finder. The limitation on this is that you lose the non-destructive editing feature on these versions.

Hi Terence - I have a similar issue.

I have copied my iPhoto library to an external drive but could not open either the original or the copy from the dock. The error message suggested I download 'iPhoto updater' which I did but somehow failed to improve matters.

I managed to re-establish the link between the dock and the original iPhoto library by quickview of the icon in Finder/Pictures and now have access to my original library. your recommendations would suit me fine for my purposes but I have scared myself sufficiently not to rush things. I am running Yosemite would this make any difference to your recommendations as when I use the alt key I get the little delete sign in the corner of the iPhoto icon?

Your comments would be most grateful thanks

What format is the external drive?

Hi Terence,

My external drive is a Western Digital MyBook Live which is network connected. I am not sure what format is used (perhaps multi-format?) as it is compatible with "Time Machine" for auto backups and also is on line for the family's PCs. We can store files from any computer (mac or PC) on it and then access these locally or remotely. Sorry I am not able to provide a definitive answer but hope this will explain. Thanks for responding so quickly.

You have two problems -

1 - the iphoto library must be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) - yours is not the correct format and it will not work

2 - the iPhoto library must be on a directly connected drive - it can not be on a network connected drive

You need a correctly formatted drive with a local wired connection like Thunderbolt, FireWire or USB

LN

Western Digital MyBook Live which is network connected

This is Network Attached Storage (a NAS) and is the source of your issue. The Library must be on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and directly connected to your Mac.

Ok thank you -

I'll need to think about how I might change my system to a dedicated backup drive - Did not want to purchase an Time Capsule? (too expensive) could consider dedicated portable drive just for backups and keep WD for network service - any recommendations?

Hi Terence,

Ok thank you -

I'll need to think about how I might change my system to a dedicated backup drive - Did not want to purchase an Time Capsule? (too expensive) could consider dedicated portable drive just for backups and keep WD for network service - any recommendations?

What ever you want - my choice is to use a TimeCapsule for Time Machine backups and internet access, a large enough internal drive for everything on my Mac including the iPhoto library and a locally connected OtherWorld Computing drive for other uses

Everyone has to make their own choices for things like this - to me given the quality and ease of use the TC is a bargain - you disagree

LN

Hi Larry - I did not mean to denigrate the Time capsule but as I have a limited budget and already set up a home ethernet/WiFi network for all the family's various devices it seemed counter productive to replace large parts of this when I only have a problem with backing up my Mac. My apologies!