How to install iPhoto

[dancks]

I'm trying to get my mom's computer to automatically back up photos to an external drive whenever there is an update.

iCloud is full and she doesn't want to purchase more space, apparently.

Problem is the computer was upgraded after a hard drive replacement a long time ago, and extra apps that come with iLife were never installed. Tutorials suggest automatically backing up photos to another folder should be trivial: just update preferences in iPhoto.

iLife was never purchased so just choosing "upgrade" from the purchased tab isn't an option. (There are no purchases under her apple ID).

iPhoto can't be found in the app store, not that it would matter: as a test I tried to install Garage Band and it requires OS X 12.12 and above.

I looked for an iPhoto download with google. It brought me to this page:

https://support.apple.com/downloads/iphoto

which appear to only be updates: requiring an older version of iphoto to already be installed

There is an iWork CD that originally came with the iMac. I attempted to install from it but the CD is not being even read/recognized by the OS. (For the heck of it I'm still looking into how I can mount it so I can view the contents)



so my only other option would be to re-install the original OS, which seems like serious overkill (I believe everything is backed up though, but I don't have an upgrade CD for Mavericks. The repair shop guy just installed it).

 

[Mrbobb]

While auto-backup seems like a sensible idea, it's always good to maintain OFFLINE archives of stuff u can't afford to lose. Ever heard of Ramsomware?

 

[DeltaMac]

Your iMac originally shipped with the iLife software package installed. That will be part of the "Other software" which would be on the installer DVDs that shipped in the box.
This is assuming that the iMac is old enough to have an internal DVD drive (2012 model or older). The iWork DVD would have been an addition to the iMac (iWork is Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, but NOT iPhoto), and there should also be two other DVDs - one for the system installer, and one that has the "Other" applications. That's where you reinstall the iLife software (iPhoto, Garageband, iMovie, etc) Those DVDs would be grey (on an older Mac), or possibly white label.
If your mother never purchased software, and there is NOTHING under the Updates tab, and you can't locate the original DVDs (if there were any), then you will need to find an iLife installer DVD. If you can't get that through an Apple store, then there are other sources for purchasing the iLife DVD - https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC623Z-A-iLife-VERSION/dp/B003XKRZES