Q: Working with multiple computers (laptop + desktop)

Has anyone found Photo Stream to actually be useful?

Yes  --  I do and  lots and lots of people find PhotoStream useful

However, it looks like iPhoto on the MacBook only sends the original RAW images to iCloud, and none of the edits;

Correct - PS stream contains exactly what you pur in it - once you add it to PS there is no connection to the original photo

i

f I explicitly send the edits to iCloud, then those get downloaded as separate JPEG images (rather than being associated with the RAW masters).

Again correct - each photo you put into PS is seperate and is not assoicated with any previous PS photo

So, I either end up with duplicate photos in my library or need to re-edit them (or hold off on editing until I get home).

 

Or wait to upload to PS until you have edited the photos

Also, it looks like event information doesn't get synchronized either, so if I do multiple separate events on a single day, I have to split and rename them on both computers.

Not clear - all PS photos imported via the iPhoto automatic import go into an event per month

As to APerture  - no - it does not handle PS differently than iPhoto

LN

For what, exactly?

for moving photos between devices - which is what it does

But then I no longer have the original RAW in case I want to re-edit, and anyway Photo Stream uploads everything immediately with no action from me.  I want all my photos that are on my laptop to also be on my desktop in both original and edited form, tied together.

You can not do that - there is (once again) no connection between photos uploaded to PS at different times

I don't care about Photo Stream itself, I care about the use case of using multiple computers to edit the same sets of photos, which Aperture does in fact explicitly support (via Library Merge), so I have just gone and purchased that.

Great - unfortuantly your question was about PS and iPhoto so that is what the answers were about

LN

, I care about the use case of using multiple computers to edit the same sets of photos, which Aperture does in fact explicitly support (via Library Merge), so I have just gone and purchased that.

iPhoto Library Manager offers the the same functionality for iPhoto - and costs less.

First time I've ever seen anyone express reservations about maintaining metadata. Curious to know more.

Well this was the problem:

move events from my current work library to an archive library stored on a NAS.

Neither iPhoto nor Aperture can have their libraries on a NAS. And it's particularly unreliable with metadata and a likely cause of speed issues too.

THis is a totally incorrect statement

What makes you say that? A NAS is just another disk as far as OSX applications are concerned.

The iPhoto libraray (and the Aperature and the Time Machine backup) must always be on a volume formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)

THey can not be on a NAS since it can not be correctly formatted

LN

iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.

See this article

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168

for more. Note also the comment:

“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”

And, in the case of Aperture - which now shares the same library:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3252?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

ALso, a NAS is not "just another disk". It's a headless computer with it's own OS - that's what makes the networking possible.

Hi Terence,

Sorry for jumping here as i have a similar doubt.

Today I have 2 macs and 2 libraries sitting on each local HD which are independently managed and backed up.

I bought the Airport Extreme + external HD. It will be my shared network folder.

Would it work well if I merge and move the libraries to one location, this shared drive in my network, and have the iphotos from both machines accessing the file directly there?

Perhaps you missed this bit, above:

“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”