Error copying iPhoto library

[Poohjlv]

Hi,

I just got a new external HD. It's formatted to MS-DOS (I want to use it on Macs and PCs, was this the right choice?) Anyway, in trying to copy my iPhoto library onto the external, I get a message that says "One or more items can't be copied. Do you want to skip them and copy the remaining items?". If I skip, nothing copies anyway.

So, what do I need to do? And once I get it to the external, how do I run iPhoto from there permanently?

Thanks,
Pooh

 

[GimmeSlack12]

If it is formatted to MS-DOS you should probably reformat it to HFS+ (Mac format). As for placing your iPhoto library there, I'm not too sure. It seems easy enough, but I can't find any options to do such a thing. I'll get back to you. But first of all reformat that drive. Note: reformatting erases everything on the drive.

 

[spinne1]

Hi,

I just got a new external HD. It's formatted to MS-DOS (I want to use it on Macs and PCs, was this the right choice?) Anyway, in trying to copy my iPhoto library onto the external, I get a message that says "One or more items can't be copied. Do you want to skip them and copy the remaining items?". If I skip, nothing copies anyway.

So, what do I need to do? And once I get it to the external, how do I run iPhoto from there permanently?

Thanks,
Pooh

The only format that both Macs and PCs can read and write to is Fat32. Beyond that, copying any file should simply work. What kind of connection is it, USB or Firewire? I don't think you should attempt to run iPhoto from your external drive. You can store all your pictures there if you choose and choose a folder on your external drive as your iPhoto folder, but the actual application should stay on your internal drive.

 

[Poohjlv]

The only format that both Macs and PCs can read and write to is Fat32. Beyond that, copying any file should simply work. What kind of connection is it, USB or Firewire? I don't think you should attempt to run iPhoto from your external drive. You can store all your pictures there if you choose and choose a folder on your external drive as your iPhoto folder, but the actual application should stay on your internal drive.

"MS-DOS" is Fat32 (I'm pretty sure). I don't want to run the application from the external, I simply want to move the folder there because it's taking up the most space on my laptop's internal hd. So rephrase: how do I copy my iPhoto library folder without getting that message and then tell iPhoto to use that folder. There wasn't any setting in the preferences pane.

My apologies if this is redundant. I feel like I'm not the first person to have asked this and if I tried a little harder, I would have found an old thread about this.

 

[animefx]

Your MS-DOS format is probably in Fat16.

"MS-DOS" is Fat32 (I'm pretty sure). I don't want to run the application from the external, I simply want to move the folder there because it's taking up the most space on my laptop's internal hd. So rephrase: how do I copy my iPhoto library folder without getting that message and then tell iPhoto to use that folder. There wasn't any setting in the preferences pane.

My apologies if this is redundant. I feel like I'm not the first person to have asked this and if I tried a little harder, I would have found an old thread about this.

 

[Poohjlv]

It's definitely Fat32

 

[spinne1]

Okay, I've looked around a little in iPhoto (I almost never have used it). It appears as though you must have a folder on your boot drive called your "iPhoto Library." This folder generally is used to hold your photos. However, there is an option under the Advanced tab of Preferences that allows you to deselect having iPhoto copy all your photos in your library to that folder. Therefore, to do what you want, you should be able to manually copy your pictures from your original iPhoto folder over to your new hard drive and then deselect the button that has your computer copy the photos to your iPhoto Library folder and then manually add them to your library using the Import to Library command under the File menu. Doing this will only add aliases of your photos but not the actual photos.

 

[tERminal]

Ok, I will bite my tongue here about Apple File Management and not rant; but I use MANY operating systems and it is the worst IMHO.

Especially because I am having a similar issue. I am very technically literate, but achieving some things through the graphical interfaces in OS X is entertaining at times. Quite frankly my experience with iPhoto and its lack of good image/file management drives me crazy. I am working with a counterpart to move roughly 21k of photos in an iPhoto "library" with many albums to an external drive. How do you MOVE (not copy) all the photos (and from what I have seen the images are simply scattered around the drive) to an external AND maintain the "albums" inside iPhoto itself? I mean if I have to, I can hunt down all the "directories" of photos and copy them individually - but then what about the dang albums he has created? The albums seem to be the biggest problem.

I did not think it was what we wanted but I tried to "export" them anyhow but at 5200 files it always quits (file per directory limit?) Not only that it puts all the files in one directory without creating sub-directories or any other organization. Could you copy the iPhoto library directory to the drive? Not sure what good that would do... I guess we would then need to point the software to the new library directory.

The goal here is to have a drive that contains all the images he works with so that he can take it home work there and then come in and have all his work ready to go when he plugs it in. He is doing a similar thing with his iMovie projects. But he started creating those directly to an external rather then on the drive.

Is anyone here using the iPhoto Library Manager? Any thoughts on it?

And as an FYI - MS-DOS is FAT16 aka FAT - so if it is indeed MS-DOS it is FAT16 and NOT FAT32 (also AKA FAT). FAT is the sort of the "stanard" File system on virtually every piece of media that can be used on multiple platforms (camera flash cards for example). But MS-DOS FAT ended with FAT16.

 

[LSS]

Could you copy the iPhoto library directory to the drive? Not sure what good that would do... I guess we would then need to point the software to the new library directory.

Yes. Copy or move the iPhoto Library folder to the drive. Then hold down ALT when you launch iPhoto and select "Choose Library...".

You can even have multiple libraries this way. Or you can use an app called iPhoto Buddy to change between the libraries.