How To Migrate Your iPhoto Library To An External

ByMike Moffit

Recently, I purchased a massive 2TB external hard drive so that I could create a media server with my Mac mini and free up space on that machine and my MacBook Pro. Some of you may not have even considered this an option but it is a great way to save space on your computer’s primary drive. At the same time it can make your photos a little safer and a little less safe as well.

Storing your photos on an external hard drive helps safety because typically you are not accessing your external as often as your primary drive which will increase the time before the drive fails, and before you ask, yes, every hard drive will fail at some point. It also makes them slightly less safe because Macs come standard with impact detection.

My layman’s understanding of how this works is that the Mac will quickly lock the drive’s components in place whenever an impact is imminent. Since your average external doesn’t have this feature, you run the risk of dropping the external while it is operating and damaging its internals. However, in the long run, I think this is a much better way to store all media including photos, music, docs, and movies.

Now onto the part you’ve been waiting for — how to do it!

Step 1

  • Plug in and power up your external drive so that it mounts on your Mac. Also make sure that iPhoto is not running. If it is simply click on the icon to open it up and hit command+Q to quit the app.

Step 2

  • Locate your iPhoto Library. This should be stored in your Pictures folder but if you can’t find that, open up a new Finder window and follow this path: @Macintosh HD > Users > “your username” > Pictures@

Step 3

  • Move the iPhoto Library package to your external by using either cut and paste or by dragging the package to the external. If you are using the dragging method, I always find it much easier to have two finder windows open.
  • You might have to wait some time for this action to finish. The time it will take can greatly vary depending on the amount of data being moved, the type/speed of both drives and the interface in which they are connected (USB 2.0, FireWire, Thunderbolt, etc.)

Step 4

  • Once your iPhoto Library package has been moved, you need to tell the iPhoto app where to find the pictures. To do this hold down the alt/option key and launch iPhoto. This will open a new dialog window asking you to select the iPhoto Library you want to use. Select the option for the library we just moved. If you see multiple options and are unsure you can see the directory path for the currently selected library. Just make sure its path is going to your external hard drive and hit Choose to confirm the selection.
  • If by chance you don’t see your existing library in the list simply click the Other Library… button and navigate to the iPhoto Library you moved to your external hard drive.

Whenever you open iPhoto, the app will automatically pull its data from the library on your external. Keep in mind that if you don’t have the external connected, you won’t be able to access the photos within iPhoto. That seems like a simple idea but I have been caught once or twice not powering up my external and wondering where the heck all my media is when I turn on iTunes.

If in the future you decide you want your iPhoto Library back on your Mac’s hard drive, all you have to do is follow these steps again with one exception. Make sure you drag the iPhoto Library from your external to the Pictures folder on Mac and make sure to select the library with the directory going to your Mac and not your external.

Voila! You just freed up some space on your Mac’s hard drive.

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