iPhoto to external hard drive

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Level 1

35 points

iPhoto to external hard drive

I have been trying to backup my one of my iPhoto to an external hard drive. Every time it is telling me that the "name already exits" I have about 8 iPhoto's I have already put on this hard drive. They all open up great. I change the name of that iPhoto. and I try-ed again to copy it. And it gave me the same "name already exits” I can see the iPhoto on the external hard drive but it is empty. I then deleted that iPhoto from the external hard drive, and then emptied the trash secure. Then I try-ed again. It gives me the same message again.

I then used a different hard drive. Again it gave me the same message "name already exits” This external hard drive was empty.

This iPhoto I am trying to copy opens up just fine on my iMac. I do not understand why it will not copy. Any help would be very appreciated.

hnicks 😐

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Feb 17, 2014 6:51 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Feb 18, 2014 1:30 AM in response to hnicks

How are you trying to backup? Are you copying your iPhoto library to the external drive by dragging it using the Finder?

This error message may be referring to duplicate filenames inside your iPhoto library package, not the name of the iPhoto library itself. This can happen, if your external drive is formatted incorrectly.

Select the icon of your drive in the Finder and use the command "File > Get Info" or the shortcut "⌘I".

You will see the formatting in the Info panel in the "General" brick. By default a new drive will usually come formatted MS_DOS (FAT), and if you use a drive formatted like this with iPhoto libraries, you may get problems with duplicate filenames, because the filesystems may handle filenames differently. Your drive needs to be formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled). See: iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives

If the formatting should be wrong, move all content of the drive temporarily somewhere else to save it, and then reformat the drive. Reformatting will erase the drive.

See this document on how to reformat a drive: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture

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Answer 2

hnicks Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 18, 2014 5:18 PM in response to léonie

Thank you. I will check it out tonight when I get home. I am sure you are right. I guess I am glad all the other iPhoto's worked like a charm.

Thank you.

Hnicks

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Answer 3

hnicks Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 19, 2014 8:19 PM in response to hnicks

léonie

Thank You! . I reformatted one of the extertal drives to MacOS X Extended (Journaled. It works great. What I do not understand, is I have 8 other iPhoto libraries on the first external hard drive and they all work just fine. And it is formatted in MS_DOS (FAT) Do you know why this one iPhoto library well not copy to that drive when all the others did? The reason I like using the MS_DOS(FAT) format is we still have one PC. Sometimes my Grandkids need photo's for school and they use the PC so I just give them the external hard drive to use.

After copying the iPhoto to the new reformatted drive I then try-ed to put it back on the other external hard drive with all the other iPhoto's and it still did not work. I was wishing I would be able to added it to the original external hard drive. I hate the thought of having to copy all the iPhoto's libraries again they are between 40 and 50 gigabytes a piece. If you have any other suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again.

hnicks 🙂

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Answer 4

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Feb 19, 2014 9:20 PM in response to hnicks

It is called luck

Why can you drive over the speed limit for a month and then get a ticket - luck

If your iPhoto library is not an the correctly formatted drive IMac OS extended (journaled) you will have porblems - the only suggestion it to only have your iPhoto library on a correctly formatted drive - doing otherwise will be a problem

And having your Grandkids mess around in your iPhoto library is a sure way to lose photos

LN

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Feb 20, 2014 1:07 AM in response to hnicks

What Larry said, you have been extremely lucky.

See what Apple says about FAT formatted drives: Poor performance and data loss

iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives

If you store your iPhoto library on a volume that is formatted as FAT32 (a file system commonly used on Windows PCs), you may encounter issues including poor performance or data loss. Referenced images stored on FAT32 volumes may also sporadically go offline. Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.

If you teasure your photos, don't risk it. The file system format will determine how pilenames and pathnames are stored. And if the photos are stored on an incompaible fle system, this can cause duplicate filenames or inconsistencies in the internal databases. Then iPhoto will not be able to retrieve the photos or worse, overwrite or delete the wrong photos.

Could you get your grandchildren a cheap external drive, where you export your photos to?

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Feb 20, 2014 2:59 AM in response to léonie

Grrr - I meant to write:

If you treasure your photos, don't risk it. The file system format will determine how filenames and pathnames are stored.

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Answer 7

hnicks Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 20, 2014 7:03 PM in response to léonie

léonie

Thanks again. I feel very lucky. I will strart working on putting all my iphoto's in the OS extended (journaled). I appreciate all the help. It is nice to have someone who cares help out.

hnicks

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Feb 20, 2014 7:11 PM in response to hnicks

You are welcome 🙂

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