Backing up your iPhoto library is one of the most important things you need to do in order to avoid losing precious memories. You never know when your hard drive can get corrupt or when a disaster can strike. Hence, it is always a good idea to have backups.
Sometimes, having a single backup isn’t enough. For instance, you may lose a backup on the external hard drive, but if that was the only backup you had, it’s not useful. So create multiple backups and make sure you’re never going to lose those important memories.
Once you've backed up your old iPhoto library (if you chose to do so), you can proceed with deleting it: Open a new Finder window on your Mac. You should see two libraries, one is your old iPhoto Library and one is your new Photos library. Move your iPhoto Library to your trash can and empty it.
Here in this article, we’ll show you how to create backups of the iPhoto library using different methods, so you can have multiple backups.
1. Time Machine
Time Machine is great for backup and if you’re using it, you must know that iPhoto library will be backed up every time your Time Machine is run.
Although Time Machine is useful, there is one downside to it. The way Time Machine works is it deletes old files to make room for new ones. But with photos, that may not be the best thing. You will obviously want to keep old photos and hence, it is important that you also backup iPhoto library using other methods along with Time Machine.
2. Backup to external hard drive or USB flash drive
You can manually backup images from the iPhoto library to an external hard drive or a USB flash drive. To do this, follow the steps listed below.
- Connect your external hard drive or USB flash drive to your Mac and open Finder
- Click on the Pictures folder > iPhoto library
- Now copy the iPhoto library file to your external hard drive or USB flash drive connected to your computer
Note: The most important thing to note is that you must repeat this process every time you have new photos in your library.
3. Use a third party app
An easy automated way to back up your iPhoto library is to use third party apps such as Carbon Copy Cloner that have an archive option.
Archive in this context means the ability to keep images on the backup drive even if those images are deleted from your system.
The archive feature along with the ability to schedule backups makes the app a great backup system. But no matter how careful, sometimes you may run into situations of corruption or data loss. Whether human errors or other reasons, these things can happen at times.
Data recovery using Remo Recover
Back Up My Mac Iphoto Library Mac
In such cases, data recovery tools such as Remo Recover are your best option. The software has the ability to recover files due to corruption or damage to the drive. A myriad of photo formats such as JPEG, PNG, BMP, PSD, RAW images etc. can be recovered. In addition to images, other files like audio and video can also be recovered. For a detailed guide on the process of recover, refer deleted iPhoto library recovery.
You can use also Remo Recover to recover data from USB flash drives, SD cards and other storage devices in addition to hard drives. Download a trial version and try the product for free!
You can use also Remo Recover to recover data from USB flash drives, SD cards and other storage devices in addition to hard drives. Download a trial version and try the product for free!
How To Open Iphoto Library
Hi! I’m in the midst of some confusing computer issues.
I’m new to mac, and I’ve put a huge number of pictures into iPhoto. Now all of my old and new jpeg files exist in the iPhoto Library in Finder.
If a few years down the road I get a Windows laptop, will I be able to transfer my iPhoto Library to my Windows “My Pictures” and still be able to access the files? The Windows computer wouldn’t have iPhoto, so does that mean it wouldn’t be able to view them? I’m really nervous about losing the ability to access my pictures.
Would it be safer not to use iPhoto? I really like the program, but I don’t want to lose accessibility if I need to use Windows. I have two external hard drives that I frequently use to back up my files, and both are Mac/Windows compatible. The issue is just if the iPhoto Library will be transferable or not.
Thank you SO much in advance for any help! Sorry if I was repetitive – I’m trying to wrap my head around this!
I’m new to mac, and I’ve put a huge number of pictures into iPhoto. Now all of my old and new jpeg files exist in the iPhoto Library in Finder.
If a few years down the road I get a Windows laptop, will I be able to transfer my iPhoto Library to my Windows “My Pictures” and still be able to access the files? The Windows computer wouldn’t have iPhoto, so does that mean it wouldn’t be able to view them? I’m really nervous about losing the ability to access my pictures.
Would it be safer not to use iPhoto? I really like the program, but I don’t want to lose accessibility if I need to use Windows. I have two external hard drives that I frequently use to back up my files, and both are Mac/Windows compatible. The issue is just if the iPhoto Library will be transferable or not.
Thank you SO much in advance for any help! Sorry if I was repetitive – I’m trying to wrap my head around this!
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3 Answers
iPhoto is a bit tricky. You will find iPhoto Library in your pictures folder. You need to get the pictures out of that. Right click (Command click) on it and select “Show Package Contents” In there you will see a folder with the originals. From there you can drag them to a external drive. They will open without a problem on a Windows machine.
@thisisfun Thank you for your help!! I love the idea of being able to get the pictures out of iPhoto. I followed through and did the Show Package Contents, then clicked on the Originals folder. However, the Originals folder was only 4KB big (and I have about 200GB of pictures) – and didn’t contain pictures. Does this mean iPhoto doesn’t have the originals?
Thank you, again!!
Thank you, again!!
@hellolulu No, it doesn’t nessesarily mean that. If you’ve edited a photo, it puts the original version of it in the original folder. If you haven’t touched it up or anything, it wouldn’t be in the original folder.
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