iPhoto Help

[BimmerNFS]

Hi guys, i have a couple questions... Well i just bought a new referb 15" rMBP with 256gb flash. Well i didnt realize my iPhoto library was so large (145gb) combine that with iTunes and Video i'm at 235gb before i even install any apps. I have heard that you can run your iPhoto library on an external drive. By doing this is it slow to load photos? i'm a bit worried as well about if the external drive fails and would loose all the photos. A good thunderbolt drive with RAID 1 (for data security) or SSD drive is a bit out of my price range right now. i do have a 1tb USB 3.0 drive but its only a 5400rpm drive so im just worried that it will be slow. My number one reason for upgrading to a new rMBP was because iPhoto was so slow on my old 13'' MacBook. Now that i have a good computer i've also thought about upgrading to Aperture as well. I dont like the idea of always having to plug in a external drive to get my pictures but until i have enough to upgrade the flash storage to a 480gb or 512gb that might be my only option. Thoughts?

 

[BimmerNFS]

Please help, any suggestions are welcome!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Since you're considering Aperture, it could be a big help resolving your issue. Aperture allows you to manage multiple libraries on multiple disks, so you could split that iPhoto library into several libraries, keeping the most-needed material on your fast internal drive, and the less frequently-needed material on a slower outboard drive.

It's kind of a shame to lose the advantage of the fast internal drive for active editing, showing "live" slideshows, and the like - better something than nothing!

 

[BimmerNFS]

Since you're considering Aperture, it could be a big help resolving your issue. Aperture allows you to manage multiple libraries on multiple disks, so you could split that iPhoto library into several libraries, keeping the most-needed material on your fast internal drive, and the less frequently-needed material on a slower outboard drive.

It's kind of a shame to lose the advantage of the fast internal drive for active editing, showing "live" slideshows, and the like - better something than nothing!

Thanks for the reply, seems like this is going to be my best option until i can upgrade the internal drive or about to get a fast SSD or Raid 0 thunderbolt drive.

 

[snberk103]

Hi guys, i have a couple questions.... Thoughts?

You can run iPhoto from an external, I don't know about the speed as my drives are all internal. However, I would guess that a USB 3.0 connection to a regular HDD is going to be be fast enough if you have enough RAM. That is the usual bottleneck for speed ... it's not enough RAM, and anything to do with images eats RAM.

Also... putting your photos on an external HDD with no back up is just as dangerous as putting all your photos on an internal HDD with no backup. One hardware glitch and your photos are toast... gone... poof ... gone to the fjords... lying belly up in the bottom of the bird cage. A Raid system is not a good backup because a single hardware fault can take out both the primary and the backup copies. You need to put your images on a separate HDD in a separate enclosure to have the 1st step of a good backup. The good thing is... the backup disk can be old slow HDD since you will probably be able to start the backup at night and then just walk away. Mine automatically starts at 1am every night. If it takes 4 hours to complete, what do you care? You're sleeping. There are some great threads in the digital photography section on MacRumours... I suggest you start there, and then ask any questions you may have.

Luck.