Upgrading to Yosemite, questions about iPhoto and content.

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Level 1

8 points

Upgrading to Yosemite, questions about iPhoto and content.

I had to re-format the Seagate External Portable Hard drive as exFAT - I was advised, from another source, that this would make the file content (that I plan to keep on the Seagate drive) - mostly photos - JEPGs, & PSDs - readable on any other computer or version of Mac OS. The result was that there were nearly 3,000 unnecessary bits of files and debris left over from the Seagate unit on my iMac v.10.8.5 - Every single thing was nothing that I needed. Got it straightened out, … eventually - ugh. (My iMac is fine - plenty of memory/storage and great all round.) And now the external portable drive works fine and actually seems to be a pretty durable little unit with a huge capacity. Got a few more tests to run on it just to make sure - but so far it seems good with the new format. Used Utilities to erase it and then re-format it.

I am still running iPhoto. Plan to upgrade to Yosemite in a few months but am working on making sure I have all my photo images and processed images backed up - including creating a Master file - which I have saved in so many places, now that if I lose anything it is because I have so many backup places that I can't remember them!

Do you have any advice that I should prepare for before I get to the upgrade - cannot lose my photos. Right now, I am setting up Adobe Lightroom to work with my image files. That is a real challenge. I thought the Seagate would help smooth that out if I ran LR off that unit and kept a Master file of the images as the "go to" - for the image files it needs to reference. Not.

The application is fabulous but the way LR "sees" images on my computer is completely "blind". The image file is right there - and LR gives the error that it cannot find the image - so I have to show it where the image is: that is okay for one image - but I am not a hobbyist - cannot do that for 1,000s of images - every single time! There has to be a better way!

Posted on Aug 26, 2015 8:52 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Aug 26, 2015 10:37 PM in response to F. Quill

I had to re-format the Seagate External Portable Hard drive as exFAT - I was advised, from another source

If you are using either iPhoto or Photos this is Really bad advice as the iPhoto or Photos library can not be on an exFat device - it can only be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) - no other format will work

And as to the rest of your post I have no idea of you are saying or asking

There is no possible way way to use either iPhoto or Photos with an exFAT formatted drive

There is no possible way to use either iPhoto or photos and LightRoom using the same photos - each does the same job in a totally different way and has to have its own separate copy of the photos

Given these base line facts please ask any additional questions you have with a clear, concise description of your situation and the question

LN

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Answer 2

F. Quill Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 26, 2015 11:26 PM in response to LarryHN

Did not mean to lose you, there. (I thought everyone knew this before - except me.) I created a Master file, from the image files or content of iPhoto. (Found the instructions for establishing that file in a LR help manual.) This, I placed as a folder, which is no longer attached or labeled or in anyway connected to iPhoto. So the images now exist in the master file as JPEGs (primarily, for this discussions sake). The image files are no longer dependent on iPhoto to be viewed or managed or moved. This means that LR can "see" them, now. (BTW - I do like that iPhoto is kind of cocooned/protected from other applications or outside software that is not part of their own exclusive Mac family. Makes great sense.) While LR is an incredible data-manager and image-editor, etc - none of the images that you view and work on are actually are ever "in" LR. The thumbnails that you view and work on are not actually stored inside LR - which is why the link to the actual image file is really important to get right - or LR "cannot find the image".

There are some other courses that I am taking and this external drive - formatted with exFAT and storing my files - is required because it is the only way that I can work on my own computer - the iMac - and then take the results to school to do assignment work, etc., on their Windows-based PCs. So far it seems to work for everyone else without a problem.

If you did have some experience with this I would appreciate your advice. Otherwise, I totally understand if you wish to end this conversation. I will figure it out. (Learned a lot in the last few days, already!)

Cheers!

F.

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Aug 27, 2015 8:56 AM in response to F. Quill

Ok

So you are not asking any question about iPhoto? If that this correct then this is the wrong forum as it is only about iPhoto for Mac and is only attended by iPhoto volunteer users

It sounds like your question is exclusively about Light Room - - the place to ask that is in an Adobe LR forum

And again as to iPhoto - the iPhoto library must only be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended - and the way to not lose your photos is to always have at least one good, current backup and preferably two

LN

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