Can't move my iPhoto library to external hard drive?

This is our resident iPhoto guru, Terence Devlin's, advice:

You can move your iPhoto Library to an external disk or new Mac:

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity 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.

The -36 error is an i/o one and basically it means that the Finder has found some file or other that it can't copy becuase it's damaged or has incorrect permissions or somesuch.

The most simple workaround is to use a back up application to copy the Library over. Any back up app that stores in the library the same format will do - for instance Chronosync (http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/cs/chrono_overview.html) - but there are many others. Many will have a free trial too...

Hi Folks

Terence's advices are a treasure. I too have iPhoto 11 library - holding some 10000 pics - and for organisational reasons, I am looking to transfer part of this library to another newly created (as yet empty) library on this same drive. I have no iPhoto library manager and so I am keen to learn of best way to move this segment of photos - I would be so grateful for your help. Thank you very much

If you don't have Library Manager and don't want to buy it then the only way to do what you want is to duplicate the Library and then delete those pics you don't want in Library A from it, and then repeat the process with Library B.

Can I use Carbonite to restore my existing library on to an external drive, then delete the one on my HD?

Seems like a very slow way to do it, and as Carbonite back ups are not always reliable with iPhoto Libraries, be sure to test in thoroughly before you delete anything.

Ok, thanks for the tip.