link iPhoto to external hard drive?

[mac's my homie]

My wife and I have started a small photography business. I load all our pics on my mac in iPhoto. We run through them and delete any bad shots, then I burn a copy for her to edit in photoshop on her pc.

The problem is I have so many photos that I am running out of disk space on my mac.

Sure, I load clients photos to my external drive when we're done, but I no longer have the luxury of scrolling through thumb nails if I want to quickly retrieve an old pic.

That's why I want to know if there is any way to link iPhoto to my external hard drive? From what I've seen, I can't. But maybe someone knows a trick.

What do you guys to who have several thousands of pics on your macs?

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

Just move your iPhoto library folder to the hard drive and use a symlink (I think OS X calls them "alias"es).

 

[swiftaw]

Move your iPhoto Library folder to your external, then open iPhoto with the option key pressed, it will then ask you to choose a library, point it at the newly moved folder on your external and you'll be all set.

 

[mac's my homie]

awesome! works perfectly! I had copied the library, but couldn't find it. I never thought to push the option button.

THANKS! You two ROCK!!!!

 

[gauchogolfer]

You might like to check out a free app called iPhoto Buddy. It lets you manage multiple iPhoto libraries across various drives, very easily. I use it to keep work, laptop, and external HD photos separated.

 

[sk8]

just delete 'em ?

I moved my iPhoto library to the external, but it just copied the file. Can I delete the original ?

 

[ChrisA]

I moved my iPhoto library to the external, but it just copied the file. Can I delete the original ?

Yes. But prove it first. Rename it to "deadbeef" and see if everything still works. Verify that you really ARE using the copy this way. Then later trash the deadbeef folder.

 

[sk8]

verification-ization

Thanks for helping. As long as we're this far, I may as well ask...

Should I simply rename the "iTunes Music" folder as "deadbeef" ? After that, how do I verify if it's running off the orig or copy ?

- KO

 

[ChrisA]

Thanks for helping. As long as we're this far, I may as well ask...

Should I simply rename the "iTunes Music" folder as "deadbeef" ? After that, how do I verify if it's running off the orig or copy ?

- KO

iTunes always looks for a library (folder) with a specific name ('iTunes") if it does not find a folder with that name it complainswith a dialog box asking where such a folder can be found.

Try it. Apend "XXXX" to the curent library and the restart iTunes, It will complain as stated above. remove the XXXX and restart and you will be back to where you were.

You do have multiple backups of everything? There backups are disconnected and not near your computer? I hope so.