import old photos into iPhoto 09

Ok, so I just got another MacBook for a friend and he has imported (using iPhoto 09's import function) 4000+ images. Is this the best way to get photos into iPhoto as we started by copying the images from an external drive to his "Pictures" folder. If we add new images using a digital camera will they be stored in "Pictures" or does it store them elsewhere.

Thanks for any help,

Kieran.

Hi,

iPhoto stores content in its library, ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library. To verify this control click it and choose Show Package Contents. You only need to keep stuff in Pictures if they're not imported into iPhoto otherwise you'll have them twice thus wasting disk space.

You can also move the iPhoto Library off system:
- close the application
- select and drag iPhoto Library to a new location on your external disk whilst holding down the Apple (cmd or "command") key. Holding the Apple key is generic to OSX and ensures the selection is moved instead of copied (unix command mv versus cp).

Next time iPhoto is launched it will ask whether you want to create a new Library (on system) or reference a path of your choice (external disk for example).

Out of interest, if you are storing you libary on an ext drive, what do you do about backups?

I find the business of back up quite frustrating actually, at the moment I have a second FW800 HD backing up the first.

In reply to a post by ian_c:

Out of interest, if you are storing you libary on an ext drive, what do you do about backups?

I keep my iTunes library on an external drive, it gets backed up by Time Machine along with everything else. (Though TM could do with having a bigger drive )

Why do you think there might be a problem?

Hey thanks for this. I'll get rid of those duplicates that are now in the pictures folder.

Just, if the main archive is on an external drive, it is presumably there to save space on the internal one. So if it is not on the internal one - where to put the second copy...

As bosie says the answers is probably a 2nd ext drive.

(Not had a chance to go 10.5 yet also)

Edited by ian_c (Sun 22-Feb-09 20:21:11)

Ah, I see what you're getting at.

Yes, my iTunes library is on one external HDD and TM uses a second, both daisy-chained on FireWire 800.

There'll be a third external HDD going in shortly, probably on USB2 as it doesn't support FW800, and a re-arrangement of what goes where.

With CD's being so cheap now there is a temptation to use them for photos. Be warned however that I have found this unreliable even using the best manufacture.
One or two discs that were done about 4 years ago now refuse to load a significant number of images, even though accessed in different drives including the one they were burned on.
mervt