Iphoto Library External Drive 2 Macs

10.04.2020
65 Comments

I've had a multi-Mac household pretty much since college, rocking a laptop and desktop in addition to miscellaneous iOS devices throughout the years. Dropbox and iCloud sync made most of the pains of using several Macs disappear, but iPhoto was always a problem. My laptop is tiny! My iPhoto library, not so much.

  1. Nov 19, 2009  I have copied my 26GB library over to my external HD and it appears to be there. But when I open it, it seems to be linked back to the iPhoto library on my internal HD. (I deleted the internal iPhoto and it disappeared - or said 'no items' - when I opened it on my external HD) What I am.
  2. Oct 24, 2012  To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine you will have to link the two Macs together either by a Wireless Network, Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder to an external HD and then on to your new Mac Then launch iPhoto.
  3. Macs; Mac 911. By Glenn Fleishman. It then lets you select any iPhoto library you’ve already converted (either the original or the Photos-converted version) or click Other Library to find.
  4. Feb 05, 2013  As we take more photos, download more music and videos, space is being used up quicker now than ever before. To combat this, we’re going to use an external hard drive. We’ll show you how to move your iTunes, iPhoto or Aperture library to an external hard drive.
  5. You have to tell iPhoto the new location of the library. When it can't find the library, it will ask you the location. In the window that appears, select the library you want, and then click Choose. For copying iPhoto library to a new Mac: Connect your external hard drive. When it displays on Finder, drag the iPhoto Library folder.

Jan 29, 2020  Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Library and use Optimise Mac Storage, or move your photo library to an external drive. Before you start, make sure that you back up your library.

Iphoto Library Download

Thankfully, Photos for Mac — paired with iCloud Photo Library's Optimize Storage feature — makes working with and syncing multiple Macs a breeze. Here's how you can do it.

Iphoto library external drive 2 macs free

How to use Photos and iCloud Photo Library with multiple Macs

Here's a quick, simple breakdown on setting up your Macs to support Photos and iCloud Photo Library.

I recommend starting with your biggest iPhoto library; it'll usually be on your desktop Mac. When you open Photos for the first time, your library should import automatically; if it prompts you to create a new library, your Photos library may be stored in another location on your Mac, and you may need to manually open it.

Once you've imported your biggest library on your Mac, make sure iCloud Photo Library is turned on and syncing. You can do this by following these steps:

  1. Launch Photos on your Mac.
  2. Click Photos in the menu bar.

  3. Select Preferences (or do this quicker by pressing ⌘,).

    Mar 06, 2019  Transfer iTunes Library from Mac to PC. Open one of your other PC like Windows computer, and download the iTunes,and iMusic as well, launch iMusic, go to it's music icon on the left top corner, and then click the 'Add' icon on the right top corner to add the files from your iTunes file. Part 2: Free Way to Transfer iTunes Library from Mac to PC. There are a few ways to transfer your iTunes library from one computer to another: When you get a new Mac, use Setup Assistant (or Migration Assistant, if you’re switching from Windows) to move files—including your iTunes files—from your old computer to the new one. See the Apple Support article Back up and restore your iTunes Library. You can consolidate all the files in your library in the iTunes folder to make it easier to move your library to a new computer. In the iTunes app on your PC, choose File Library Organize Library. Select “Consolidate files.” Files remain in their original locations, and copies are placed in the iTunes folder. Move my itunes library from mac to pc iphone.

    Source: iMore

  4. Click on the iCloud tab.

    Source: iMore

  5. Check off the box for iCloud Photos.

    • You can also check off the box for Download Originals to this Mac if you have the space.
    • You can check off Optimize Mac Storage to save space on your Mac by only saving a percentage of images and video locally — the rest will be thumbnails that you can click on to download when you want to.

    Source: iMore

Now, open your other Mac, and launch Photos. If you have an iPhoto library on that secondary Mac, follow the same steps as above — import your library, then turn on iCloud Photo Library. If you have duplicates of the same photo on each computer, iCloud should automatically resolve those conflicts when it syncs, providing you with just one version of your photos when the sync process finishes.

If you don't have an iPhoto library on your secondary Mac, create a new library in Photos and turn on iCloud Photo Library. If you want to save storage space on this secondary Mac, make sure Optimize Mac Storage is selected: This will save a certain percentage of images and video locally to your device, while providing thumbnails of all the others for you to download at your leisure.

After you've set up all your Macs with Photos and the sync process has finished, you're now good to go. From here on out, any time you add photos, they'll sync to every computer you've set up with Photos.

What syncs, what doesn't sync

Photos for Mac syncs a lot more than just your original photos and videos. According to a support document on Apple.com, here's what else you should expect to see sync:

  • All folders and albums
  • Smart Albums
  • Keywords
  • Memories
  • Searchable keywords
  • Key photo selections

There are a few things iCloud Photo Library won't sync, however. Here's Apple's list:

Iphoto
  • Books, cards, calendars, and slideshows
  • Keyword shortcuts
  • Unused keywords
  • Last imported album on the Mac in question
  • Names and faces in the People album

For those not using iCloud Photo Library

If you've chosen not to enable iCloud Photo Library, Apple still offers you free syncing of your last 1000 photos via My Photo Stream, which doesn't count toward your iCloud disk space.

Iphoto Library External Drive 2 Macs Free

This will sync and download images you've imported or taken on other devices, but you won't have the option to optimize your storage or sync your albums.

Octoober 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.

Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.

Open Iphoto Library On Pc

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Iphoto Mac Download

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