Moving iPhoto to External- Have I messed up?

Question

Moving iPhoto to External- Have I messed up?

I am trying to help my friend clear up his computer's hard drive. He knows nothing about technology, and I prefaced this by telling him I was not familiar w/ the iPhoto app (though that probably won't stop him from getting upset at me if his photos are lost). I've moved iTunes to externals and to new computers, but this one seemed more complicated.

What we've been doing is updating his Masters on the external/backup, until I could devote some time to learning about how the program operates. I just learned, however, that he's been deleting some of the photos from the computer, since the masters are appearing on the external. (And I have no doubt that the masters are there. I've seen for myself. I also told him I wasnt sure if it was ok to start deleting stuff, but.....)

Anyway, today I put some time into researching this, and it sounds like maybe I have created more work for the both of us at this point.

Since the ultimate goal is to have his entire library on the external, and only the masters file is current, are there any special/additional steps needed to complete this transfer AND keep the organization, since the iPhoto file on the external is not, necessarily the same as the iPhoto library file on his computer?

He mainly uses iPhoto for it's Events organization, and does not tag faces, etc.

Thanks!!

Posted on Nov 8, 2015 3:40 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Nov 8, 2015 10:41 PM in response to That Zimmerman hack

Stop what you're doing, undo it if necessary and then do it properly.

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.

3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.

4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.

Regards

TD

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Answer 2

Nov 9, 2015 9:23 AM in response to Yer_Man

Unfortunately, it's a bit too late for that, since who knows how many he's already deleted. This isnt a case of 'I'm too embarrassed to say it was me, so I'll say it's for a friend,' this really is an older friend w/ a separate computer and a lack of techno know how, to even explain necessarily what all he's done.

Is there a way to sync two different library files? Or, like in the case of Final Cut, you can tell the program where to search, and it will automatically go though and re-link to the files in the new location?

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,421 points

Nov 9, 2015 11:09 AM in response to That Zimmerman hack

If both of the libraries can be opened by the same version of iPhoto you can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to merge the two libraries into a new 3rd library.

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Answer 4

Nov 9, 2015 6:17 PM in response to Old Toad

Hmm, that may be the ticket......

If we move things, and click on a thumbnail in the iPhoto program, and it comes up grey, saying it cant find the photo, is there a way to reconnect the thumbnail to the file in the new location individually?

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Nov 9, 2015 10:54 PM in response to That Zimmerman hack

No.

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Answer 6

Nov 11, 2015 4:43 PM in response to Yer_Man

Is there any way to manually determine the thumbnails that are leading to grey ("missing" though, really not) files?

My line of thinking there would be to move the "missing" masters from the external, BACK onto the computer, then migrate everything over the correct way. He's not keen on paying for the Manager program he's only going to use once. I'm working on convincing him he might have to.

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Answer 7

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Nov 11, 2015 10:49 PM in response to That Zimmerman hack

Afraid not.

I do believe that your suggestion is the way to go.

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Answer 8

Nov 18, 2015 9:58 AM in response to Yer_Man

Thanks, all, for the help. Went over on Sunday and worked on it some. It turned out to be much easier than I imagined it would. Perhaps he didnt actually delete all the thought/claimed to. Or, does iPhoto automatically add photos in the masters files to the library?

My next question, based on that, is how does he create a backup copy on another drive, and keep it current w/ the main drive. Obviously he could drag and drop, but if he deletes photos out of the main drive, but wants them to remain on the backup, dragging and dropping is less than ideal. (I personally use and love Chronosync, but he does not want to buy any programs).

If he just continues to keep the masters files updated on the backup drive, would that be sufficient, in case of emergency?

Thanks again

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Answer 9

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Nov 18, 2015 10:30 AM in response to That Zimmerman hack

Obviously he could drag and drop, but if he deletes photos out of the main drive, but wants them to remain on the backup, dragging and dropping is less than ideal

Is he backing up? Or archiving? Not the same thing.

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Answer 10

Nov 22, 2015 7:13 PM in response to Yer_Man

He says just backing up.... carbon copy, that he can put at work in case house is vaporized by a UFO.

So it seems drag and drop. However, since its nearly 800 gigs, and will only be getting bigger, that's a lot of transfer time. Since the vast bulk will be the same as what's already on the backup, would it be more time-efficient to just copy over masters that are not already there, plus a copy of the new Library file?

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