Howmanyds

Q: Can my employees open my iPhoto from dropbox without having to download it?

This is a question for both the iPhoto and dropbox users.  I'm planning to setup a 1TB business dropbox account so I can move my entire iPhoto libraries (1 is 600+GB and 1 is 150GB).  I would like my employees who work from their homes across the country to be able to open my iPhoto libraries on their computers to access certain tools like searching for faces or tags.  Is this possible or would they have to have the 600+GB space on their hard drives and have to actually download the whole library to their local disk from dropbox?

 

Another way of asking, could an iPhoto library be opened from dropbox online?  Or would that be a dangerous way of editing the contents of the library?

 

Any other suggestions for me?

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Aug 15, 2014 10:06 AM

Close

Q: Can my employees open my iPhoto from dropbox without having to download it?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Aug 15, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Howmanyds
    Level 9 (53,825 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 15, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Howmanyds

    Since Apple recommends against the use of networked drives for the iPhoto library, my recommendation would be to use something like DPhoto to store the photo you wish to share instead of move the library in its entirety to the network. Networked drives are known to cause corruption to the iPhoto library.

     

    Allan

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 15, 2014 10:13 AM in response to Howmanyds
    Level 10 (85,113 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 15, 2014 10:13 AM in response to Howmanyds

    What you want to do is beyond the capabilities of iPhoto - it is a basic personal use program with no multi-user capabilities designed around simple point and shoot cameras for single user home use

     

    There are Digital Asset Managers that are designed for enterprise use - there is a DAM forum that discusses various programs and you should be able to find one that will work

     

    iPhoto will not - for starters the iPhoto library must always be on a volume forted Mac OS extended which explodes DropBox - every test and every post here from people trying to use DB for their library indicated a disaster often destroying the library beyond use - it is not a place to store, transfer or backup an iPhoto library

     

    Not to mention that if it did work it would be so slow that it could not be used

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Aug 15, 2014 10:20 AM in response to Howmanyds
    Level 10 (107,942 points)
    iCloud
    Aug 15, 2014 10:20 AM in response to Howmanyds

    Better not!

    We have seen quite a few reports of iPhoto libraries being corrupted and data lost, because of syncing in DropBox. I.e., large libraries are especially prone to sync errors, because the syncing can take days to complete. And if the library is opened in any way, while a sync is happening, the internal databases will be corrupted.

     

    independent of the risk when syncing a photo library; iPhoto has not been designed as a network database or even a shared database.  The library needs to be on  locally connected volume, and the drive needs to reformatted MacOS Extended (Journaled).

    see:  Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library  (this holds for iPhoto as well)

     

    iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users