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If I Move iPhoto Library to External Drive Does It Keep Organized?

Can anyone tell me:

In iPhoto 09 8.2.1 if I take the time to organize, edit, "faces" "events" etc...and I move iPhoto to an External Harddrive, a Western Digital "My Book"...Does moved library stay edited, organized face tagged, etc?


Thanks

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 13" MC516LL/A 7,1 Intel Core2Duo

Posted on Feb 26, 2014 6:33 PM

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6 replies

Feb 26, 2014 11:20 PM in response to Kacey04

In iPhoto 09 8.2.1 if I take the time to organize, edit, "faces" "events" etc...and I move iPhoto to an External Harddrive, a Western Digital "My Book"...Does moved library stay edited, organized face tagged, etc?

Moving your iPhoto Library to an external drive will not change the organization of your photos. Your tagging will stay intact.


Just make sure, that the formatting of your external drive is compatible with iPhoto. Any drive you are using to store photo libraries needs to be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). You can reformat a drive using Disk Utility.


-- Léonie

Feb 27, 2014 5:58 AM in response to Kacey04

See this document how to format a drive for photo libraries: (it explains it for aperture, but it is done the same way for iPhoto)


Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture




Also if I do format the drive how will that effect what is already on there (not just photos but documents, etc)?


I thought you were buying a new drive to use with iPhoto. 😮 If there are already documents on the drive, you need to copy them temporarily somewhere else. Reformatting will erase a drive completely.


Disk Utility (it is in the "Utilities" folder in "Applications") will show you, if your drive needs formatting.

The left pane shows your disks and disk partitions, and the right pane lets you do useful things, like reformatting and repairing your drive.

If you select the drive in the left panel, you see the formatting in the footer of the panel.

User uploaded file

Is your drive correctly formatted?

Feb 27, 2014 7:23 AM in response to léonie

Thank you for the link, and picture this really helps.


Here is the scenerio:

Just a few days ago I purch my macbook (see signature for specs). I have a PC with Winxp and wanted to trans all itunes library, photos, etc off of it and onto Mac. I have successfully have thanks to many here in this community been able to deauthorize PC, trans all iTunes library to mac backed up library to WD external harddrive. My next goal is all photos and videos.


My goal is to get all photos and videos from my pc to my WD external hd. Then from there trans to my Mac. From that point I will organize, events, faces, edit, etc. Then put them all back on WD external hd for safe keeping.


Now that is unless, "Time Machine" is safe enough for all my pictures and videos...I am still learning all about my mac and I have not set up Time Machine yet.


Finally, I do have many documents, files, photos, etc already on WD external hd (5 years worth) so...?


Thanks for your replies

Feb 27, 2014 7:55 AM in response to Kacey04

If you need the WD drive to transfer data from your PC to the Mac, you must not (yet) reformat it for Mac, otherwise the PC will not be able to read it.


Only, then it is not (yet) safe to put your iPhoto library there.

My goal is to get all photos and videos from my pc to my WD external hd. Then from there trans to my Mac. From that point I will organize, events, faces, edit, etc.

For the time being, collect all your media files still on your PC on the WD drive, but create your iPhoto library on the internal system drive and organize the photos in the library.


When you are done, and all files are copied to your internal drive, you can re format the external drive MacOS Extended (Journaled) and move the iPhoto library there.


For backing up you will need a second external drive. A Time Machine backup needs a large, separate disk.

Feb 27, 2014 8:27 AM in response to léonie

I am getting bits and pieces of your explanation...some is a bit over my head lol


léonie wrote:


For the time being, collect all your media files still on your PC on the WD drive, but create your iPhoto library on the internal system drive and organize the photos in the library.



For backing up you will need a second external drive. A Time Machine backup needs a large, separate disk.

Sorry but what and where is "the internal system drive"?


I think I may run into a snag here anyways - I was researching my WD (its older, model# WDBAAF5000EBK) here (http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/3707# and I can see that it is a 2.0 USB am I correct in thinking that my mac is a 3.0 usb? If yes than I am thinking that they won't be compatible?


I get the feeling that Time Machine is like windows system restore points. I am under the impression that Time machine will also backup my photos from iphoto so they are safe, but not in an "external" safe. But I don't understand "a Time Machine backup needs a large, seperate disk".

If I Move iPhoto Library to External Drive Does It Keep Organized?

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