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How do I transfer an iphoto library to a new machine when all the photos are external to iphoto (i.e. the "Copy items the iPhoto Library" option is not selected) ?

Title says it all really.


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jason

Posted on May 21, 2015 6:24 AM

Reply
8 replies

May 21, 2015 6:40 AM in response to scsjason

You don't, in a word. It's the key reason why knowledgeable users recommend against using iPhoto in this mode.


If you have a recent version of iPhoto it might be possible to hack the database - assuming you're comfortable hacking an SQL db. If you have Aperture it might be possible. Otherwise you're only option is to rebuild the Library as a managed one at the new location or start over from scratch.


For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:


https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361

May 21, 2015 7:57 AM in response to Yer_Man

So even if I hack the sqlite database file, there are still all the zero size place holder files

within the iPhoto Library directory hierarchy. These have extended attributes that contain

the path to the original file. Are these used to do anything in particular ? How would I go

about modifying the resourceFork attributes of these files ?


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jason

May 22, 2015 6:28 AM in response to Yer_Man

OK, so I managed to transfer all the photos to the new machine in their current directory structure. I edited the iPhotoMain.db file using SQLiteStudio (to export the sqFileInfo table as a csv file, edited the file paths, then re-imported the csv file back into the database). Copied the "iPhoto Library" directory structure to the new machine (packed it into a tar file, copied the tar, then unpacked it).


I discover that iPhoto9 doesn't work on Yosemite, so had to use iPhoto11, it detected and converted the iPhoto9 setup and it seems to be happy. Out of interest I then tried to use the new Photos app which happily converted the iPhoto11 setup and seemed happy. I didn't particularly like Photos, it seemed slower than iPhoto on my new MacbookPro, and its not possible to add location data to photos that were taken with a non GPS enabled camera so I just deleted the Photos stuff for now, I might look at it again sometime in the future if they improve it.


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jason

How do I transfer an iphoto library to a new machine when all the photos are external to iphoto (i.e. the "Copy items the iPhoto Library" option is not selected) ?

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