ljs10
Level 1 (8 points)
Mac OS X

Q: El Capitain Photo backup

I have El Capitain on a Mac Pro early 2009. I have Photos on an external drive (4 bay DROBO) and want to back it up on another external drive. I have created a new library on the new drive but I'm unsure how to import the photos & videos (almost 1 TB) in their folders over?

 

Thanks for any help

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), Mac G5 desktop

Posted on Aug 3, 2016 7:50 AM

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ljs10

Q: El Capitain Photo backup

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  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Aug 3, 2016 7:57 AM in response to ljs10
    Level 6 (8,476 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 3, 2016 7:57 AM in response to ljs10

    time machine would back up everything on your drives so if you had multiple locations of photos on a single or multiple drives in your backup they would all be backed up in the event of a catastrophe.

    Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support

     

    you could also duplicate the folder with Carbon Copy Cloner, a 3rd party solution.

    https://bombich.com/

     

    if you have photos outside of your external drive the photos themselves are generally keep in

    macintosh HD/Users/[your account]/Pictures

     

    you can drag and drop the photos or folders into a new HD provided the drive is not formatted NTFS for Windows unless you have 3rd party software to provide read/write in that format. Other mac formats and window FAT32 and EXFat which are popular with off the shelf external drives will be supported.

  • by ljs10,

    ljs10 ljs10 Aug 3, 2016 8:10 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 3, 2016 8:10 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT

    Thanks for the quick reply. 

    Photos is on the (DROBO) external drive, it is not in HD/Users/account/Pictures, I do not think it is backup by Time Machine or anything other than the DROBO?

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 3, 2016 8:24 AM in response to ljs10
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 3, 2016 8:24 AM in response to ljs10

    What format is the Drobo and how is it connected? The Photos library needs to be on a local drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) connected with a fast wired connection that is not used as a TimeMachine backup volume and that is always available prior to Photos being launched

     

    As to backing up the Photos library you do that by makng a copy of it on a correctly formatted drive or by using backup software like TimeMachine

     

    LN

  • by ljs10,

    ljs10 ljs10 Aug 3, 2016 9:22 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 3, 2016 9:22 AM in response to LarryHN

    The 4 drives in the DROBO are formatted Mac OS Extended Journaled. It's is connected by firewire. I have been using Photos for months without issue.

    Time Machine has its own external drive formatted Mac OS Journaled . The drive I want to put Photos backup on is formatted Mac OS Journaled, I need to know  how do I make a copy of Photos to put on this drive?

     

    Thanks

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 3, 2016 9:28 AM in response to ljs10
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 3, 2016 9:28 AM in response to ljs10

    Drag it from the source to the destination

     

    LN

  • by ljs10,

    ljs10 ljs10 Aug 3, 2016 10:35 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 3, 2016 10:35 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thats what works for other files & what I tried first.

  • by ljs10,

    ljs10 ljs10 Aug 3, 2016 10:37 AM in response to ljs10
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 3, 2016 10:37 AM in response to ljs10

    I am able to export photos to the drive but they are individual jpgs, I really don't want to re-folder 50,000 of them!

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 3, 2016 11:44 AM in response to ljs10
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 3, 2016 11:44 AM in response to ljs10

    No one suggested exporting - that is not a way to backup your Photos (it can backup selected photos)

     

    If you want help you have to provide information - why can't you drag the library to a different drive?

     

    LN

  • by ljs10,

    ljs10 ljs10 Aug 3, 2016 11:54 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 3, 2016 11:54 AM in response to LarryHN

    Ha thats the question, I tried to drag it & it just would not stick. I can drag other files to the drive with no problems.

    Do you think it could the DROBO? or maybe the size? 

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Aug 3, 2016 12:09 PM in response to ljs10
    Level 10 (108,906 points)
    iCloud
    Aug 3, 2016 12:09 PM in response to ljs10
    The 4 drives in the DROBO are formatted Mac OS Extended Journaled. It's is connected by firewire.

    Is the case-sensitivity of the DROBO file system the same as on the external drive you want to drag the library to? If you drag from a not-case-sensitive drive to a case-sensitive drive you might have file errors because of file name ambiguities.

     

    You could use cloning software to copy the Photos Library over instead of dragging and dropping.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 3, 2016 12:32 PM in response to ljs10
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 3, 2016 12:32 PM in response to ljs10

    It is not the size - it should drag and drop exactly  like any other file or folder

     

    You can try cloneing software (CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper) to clone it over

     

    LN