Is there any way under the sun to have an iPhoto library on a network drive?

Question

Is there any way under the sun to have an iPhoto library on a network drive?

A "working," "live" managed library, that is - not a backup.

As far as I can tell:

1. iPhoto library doesn't work on a typical NAS as the library can only be run on an OSX Extended format.

2. Recommendation is clearly to have it run on a local drive.

BUT -

Call me lazy, or simply one who cherishes comfort (heck, that's one of the main reasons I moved to Apple in the first place!), but I do all my work either on a MBA or a rMBP, and I love exploring every nook and cranny at home. I do *not* want to have to directly connect a cable and stay still for any period of time during which I'm using iPhoto (or Aperture, for that matter).

So:

Can connecting an OSX Extended formatted drive to Time Capsule (through USB) potentially work? WIll it now be an issue that this disk will be regarded by TC as an extension of itself and now cannot be backed up?

Seriously: with inflating image libraries and laptop/mobile proliferarion, more and more people are going to be working this way - not to mention wanting to share the same library across several computers/devices/users.

Is there really no solution?!?!...(Although someone mentioned in another discussion that a similar problem is now "solved automatically" in Mavericks - anyone know anything?)

OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 26, 2014 11:36 AM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Mar 26, 2014 12:13 PM in response to DanielitoLindo

Very simply - NO!

The iPhoto library must always be on a volume formatted mac OS extended and is extremely stronly recommended to be on a wired connection

LN

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,260 points

Mar 26, 2014 1:15 PM in response to DanielitoLindo

I don't believe that iPhoto 11 will allow you to create a Library on the wrong disk, but the Finder may copy one to the NAS.

But the bottom line is that - as this article tells you - 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.”

So, even if you can get a Library running on a NAS, or on a correctly formatted disk attached to a router of some kind, you still have the risk of severe dataloss and poor performance.

Other possibilities: multiple libraries is an obvious one. Complaining that you have too much data for your storage capacity means you bought the wrong machine.

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Answer 3

Mar 26, 2014 2:28 PM in response to Yer_Man

Cheers.

So, even if you can get a Library running on a NAS, or on a correctly formatted disk attached to a router of some kind, you still have the risk of severe dataloss and poor performance.

I assume this is a onsequence of iPhoto using a Library/DB rather than the OS file/folder structure.

Do you know of any similar alternatives (i.e. good photo organization with some editing functionality) that do use the latter? I'm looking favorbaly at Lightroom5...

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Answer 4

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Mar 26, 2014 2:37 PM in response to DanielitoLindo

Verify but I believe that LR may have the same restriction

Look at Digital Asset Managers (DAMs) there is a DAM forum you can check out

As to specific recomendeation - obviously all of the experianced user here use iPhoto so this is not the best place for a non iPhoto recomendation

And note that if you give up iPhoto (except for Aperture) you give up full OS intergration and iCloud intergration - and depending on the soution you choose possibly non-destructive editing

LN

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

207,361 points

Mar 26, 2014 3:23 PM in response to DanielitoLindo

You might want to look at IDimager.com | Photo Supreme. It runs on a "referenced" catalog basis much like Media Pro 1 does and can have it's source files on any volume including NAS servers.

There's a demo that you can try. The customer support people gave me these links:

http://www.idimager.com/Trial/QuickStart-Cataloging.pdf

http://www.idimager.com/Trial/QuickStart-FileManagement.pdf

http://www.idimager.com/Trial/QuickStart-GEOTagging.pdf

http://www.idimager.com/Trial/QuickStart-Advanced%20Filtering.pdf

I've not tried it as yes so can't comment further.

OT

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,260 points

Mar 26, 2014 3:38 PM in response to DanielitoLindo

I assume this is a onsequence of iPhoto using a Library/DB rather than the OS file/folder structure.

You can store your files in any way you like but it won't change the nature of the iPhoto db. I'd read up on LIghtroom carefully before buying. I've read reports of folks having issues running it on a NAS too - it's that whole non-destructive thing again.

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