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Steps to Move iPhoto Library to a New Location. Step 1: First of all locate your iPhoto Library. In order to do so select the Home folder from Macintosh hard drive or alternatively click on “Go” button from the Apple menu and then select Home. Now double click to open the picture folder and then locate your iPhoto Library Package from there.
- External drives can be excluded by TimeMachine if not available when the backup runs or if they haven't been removed from the exclude list in System Preferences.
Anyone who uses TimeMachine and plans on doing this should check their settings carefully. - Wow, talk about a headache. I don't remember how I moved my iPhoto library several years ago, but I decided to defnitely no allow my photos back into that convoluted mess. Hopefully the Photos app is a lot better, but I still think I'll selectively add photos rather than dump everything into the app. Simple folders and dates on several external hdds works fine for me.
- In the UK the Western Digital My Passport Drive for Mac cost a lot more than the standard My Passport drives - the only difference is they are pre-formatted for Mac so you can save money if you know how to launch Disc Utility and format a drive for Mac OS Journaled.
They also come in a range of colours which is handy if you have several. For example Carbon Copy Cloner often prompts 'Blue backup has not been run in a while' so I just plug in the drive and away it goes. - This is one of the reasons I use Aperture. You can use a referenced or managed library, on a per photo basis, I also would not just make a backup and call it a day, I would test that backup before continuing. Lastly, I wouldn't empty the trash without first backing up, and testing, the library from its new location.
- Right click the iPhoto library, show package contents, navigate to the 'Originals' folder.
That's where your actual photos are, including some of your naked wife that you thought you discarded but remain obscured (but not forgotten). - Quote:Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Quit iPhoto by going to Quit iTunes in the iPhoto Menu Bar or pressing Cmd+Q.Obviously a typo...
Thanks for the process but as @chabig mentioned making sure every step is correct helps a lot. I also had to look very closely to see that the iPhoto Library was actually dragged on top of the LaCie drive. What confused me was this drive icon wouldn't show up to the left of the menu unless the desktop was full and the drive mounted to the middle of the desktop. This isn't being picky, I would rather have had a visual more realistic to show what was going on.
You also talk about moving part of your iPhoto library in the opening paragraph but don't describe how to do this. Your instructions only talk about moving the entire iPhoto Library bundled database. How do you split your main library into various sub libraries or can you only view one library at a time? It appears only one library is available at a time.
- Moving your iPhoto library is pretty much computers 101, ain't it. It's about as difficult as moving a folder.
@nick29 - manually selecting and placing individual photos in a folder hierarchy is what sounds convoluted, imo.
I have several iPhoto libraries. I'll create new ones for specific projects, and then I keep work stuff separate from family stuff, all except the family one a separate HD. I didn't see anything about making sure the external HD is formatted as Journaled. So is that no longer necessary? You can simply move the iPhone Library regardless of the formatting of the external drive?
- Quote:Originally Posted by citivas
I didn't see anything about making sure the external HD is formatted as Journaled. So is that no longer necessary? You can simply move the iPhone Library regardless of the formatting of the external drive?
Most external drives and USB flash drives come formatted as Fat 32 which is a Windows format but OS X can read and write to it just fine. If you want better performance, you can use Disk Utility to format the drive as Mac OS X Extended (journaled). Just make sure there is nothing already on the disk that you want to keep. If there is, you should back it up somewhere because formatting erases all data.
- What if your external drive goes to sleep, will iPhoto wake it up? And can several computers/devices share the same library?
- Quote:Originally Posted by Nick29
Wow, talk about a headache. I don't remember how I moved my iPhoto library several years ago, but I decided to defnitely no allow my photos back into that convoluted mess. Hopefully the Photos app is a lot better, but I still think I'll selectively add photos rather than dump everything into the app. Simple folders and dates on several external hdds works fine for me.A headache??? The steps involved in moving your iPhoto library come down to 'move your iPhoto library'. It's a package and can be moved on your drive or copied to another drive just like any other folder or file.
As far as simple folders with dates... that's fine if you don't have many photos or don't do any serious editing with them. Otherwise, how do you do things like, 'Find every photo with 'Mary' in it' or 'Find every photo taken in Paris', etc...
Personally, I keep all of my photos backed up as simple folders with dates, and then import them all into Aperture where they're properly organized, tagged, and edited non-destructively.
- I don't work for them, but I have to recommend this $30 program, iPhoto Library Manager, for dealing with unwieldy photo libraries. It does a ton of stuff that iPhoto should let you do, like merge libraries, create custom libraries, etc. It does stuff that iPhoto should know how to do, but doesn't.
What the…??
1) Drag the file in question (Your iPhoto Library) onto an external HD.
2) Delete the old original.
3) Hold Option key while launching iPhoto, and then choose your iPhoto library on the external HD in the resulting window.
Done.
- Has anyone try to do this on a network storage ? I have one synology and it does not work...
Regards
Jorge I've debated getting iPhoto manager for $40 or just plunking down another $40 for the now dead aperture.
$40 for features iPhoto should have seems a bit much especially since it's potentially as dead as Aperture with the move to Photos later this year.
- Wow, talk about a headache. I don't remember how I moved my iPhoto library several years ago, but I decided to defnitely no allow my photos back into that convoluted mess. Hopefully the Photos app is a lot better, but I still think I'll selectively add photos rather than dump everything into the app. Simple folders and dates on several external hdds works fine for me.
What headache? That entire process is move the Library (s) where you want it (them), and use Option when opening iPhoto to select the new location. What on earth could be simpler? I think my cat could manage that. - What headache? That entire process is move the Library (s) where you want it (them), and use Option when opening iPhoto to select the new location. What on earth could be simpler? I think my cat could manage that.
I think he means that he doesn't like all photos to reside within an app; the OSX package, which as we know is still browsable from the Finder. Still, people who prefer folder by date and time, Aperture is the way to go, as that app allows you to simply leave the photos in place with a Referenced Library. - Quote:Originally Posted by mstone
Most external drives and USB flash drives come formatted as Fat 32 which is a Windows format but OS X can read and write to it just fine. If you want better performance, you can use Disk Utility to format the drive as Mac OS X Extended (journaled). Just make sure there is nothing already on the disk that you want to keep. If there is, you should back it up somewhere because formatting erases all data.
Is it Fat32 that has a limit on the maximum file size? You cannot copy files > 4 GB on it right? I can't seem to remember if that was a Fat32 limitation or an NTFS limitation.If it is a Fat32 limitation, can your iPhoto library grow to more than 4GB? Will it recognise it as a folder with multiple files, or treat it as a single file?
My iPhoto library is currently 315 GB and I have it on a Journaled 4TB drive. I am just curious about Fat32 options.
How do I make a backup of my NEW iPhoto library in the external disc? Can Time Machine make backups of external discs?
What if the external disk crashes? :-( I don't want to lose my photos.Thank you very much for your time and GREAT solution for my Macbook Air running out of space due to a LARGE iPhoto Library. :-)
In this practical tip, we explain how to change the location of your pictures in iPhoto.
Macbook Photo Library Location
Store imported files outside the Photos library. In the Photos app on your Mac, choose Photos Preferences, then click General. Deselect the “Copy items to the Photos library” checkbox. Now, when you import photos or video, Photos leaves the files in their original location and accesses them as referenced files. Make sure you’ve backed up your photos, quit Photos, then: Copy the Photos Library from your Pictures Folder to an external disk. Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch Photos. From the resulting menu select “Other Library” and navigate to the new location. You’ll get a message that says: “This library contains items that need. IPhoto’s Search will check for any text-based information you’ve input into a photo, but it can’t see most of an image’s photographic metadata like photo type (JPEG, PNG, raw, and so on.
Move the location of the library
Iphoto Library Location
Close iPhoto before following the steps below.
Where Did My Iphoto Library Go
- Open the Finder. Then press the key combination Shift + Cmd + G and type in the window the path '/ Users / username / Pictures' (without quotation marks). Instead of 'username' use your corresponding username.
- Now move the iPhoto library to the new location.
- When you open iPhoto, you will be asked for the iPhoto library. Most of the time iPhoto directly suggests the moved file. If this is not the case, click on 'Other libraries' and select the appropriate storage location.