iphoto/external HD?

[ecaval]

Well, we just purchased our new mac and love it.

My wife and I take TONS of pictures and like to store them on an external HD for storage purposes. Is there a way to designate the photos to import directly to the External HD instead of iphoto? I tried to uncheck the import to iphoto pref... however, when I connect the camera it continues to import directly to iphoto. Thanks!

 

[ecaval]

nevermind..... I found the solution. It's under preference "connect camera to" then just select image capture instead of iphoto.

 

[beige matchbox]

Hold option (alt) while launching iPhoto and create a new library or choose one already present

*edit*

better yet, heres a apple KB article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229

 

[ecaval]

does that actually house the actual photo on the external HD and just calls it through iphoto???

basically using the space on the ext HD instead of your computer's HD?

 

[Dimwhit]

does that actually house the actual photo on the external HD and just calls it through iphoto???

basically using the space on the ext HD instead of your computer's HD?

Your iPhoto library can reside on an external hard drive if you prefer. Just move it there and double-click it to open. iPhoto will open that one from then on.

 

[skybolt]

Here's the step-by-step to move the library to an external and use it from there: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iPhoto/7.0/en/6331.html

 

[ecaval]

ok, I was able to create a new drive path to the external HD. My question now is - where are the photo's stored via iphoto? Is there a folder for the actual photos that iphoto calls them from? I have about 1000 photos in various folders on the HD and would like to store them in iphoto so they can be organized according to date. Would I import them to iphoto and delete the folders afterwards so I do not have 2 of every photo (1 in a folder AND 1 in iphoto)

Thanks!

 

[beige matchbox]

You should end up with a "iPhoto Library" file, this is actually a package, if you right click on it and select show pack contents you'll see various files and folders, somewhere within is where the images etc. are stored, the file is managed by iPhoto and shouldn't be modified outside of iPhoto

 

[Pomeroy]

ok, I was able to create a new drive path to the external HD. My question now is - where are the photo's stored via iphoto? Is there a folder for the actual photos that iphoto calls them from? I have about 1000 photos in various folders on the HD and would like to store them in iphoto so they can be organized according to date. Would I import them to iphoto and delete the folders afterwards so I do not have 2 of every photo (1 in a folder AND 1 in iphoto)

Thanks!

This depends on how you have iPhoto setup in Preferences, but you will have at least 2 copies of all photos, One will be the original and another will be a Modified photo ( the one you see in iPhoto). iPhoto will never mess with the Original in case you ever need to revert back to it.
If you import directly from the camera and have a check mark in "Copy items to the iPhoto Library" under the Advanced tab in iPhoto you will only have 2 photos plus a small thumbnail. If you are importing from a folder and this is checked you can delete the folder they were in to save space.
Once you get all the photos you have in folders imported to iPhoto you will want to start getting the new ones you take off the camera. iPhoto makes this easy, just plug your camera up to your Mac with a USB cable and away you go. This is easy but I'm not sure I like the idea for 2 reasons.
1: with the cable between the camera and computer it would be easy to get up to go after coffee and accidently hook that cable and fling the camera or Mac or both across the room. Has Happened.
2: the photos get imported with the name the camera gave them.

I find that by changing in iPhoto Preferences under the General tab "Connecting camera opens: iPhoto" to opens "No application" I can pop the camera's memory card into a USB card reader and Batch rename the photos on the memory card by dragging the photos from Finder to the dock and dropping on an app called "Name Mangler". Then I import from the SD card to iPhoto.