[chasg]

Hi All,

I'm not an iPhoto user, but I am a professional photographer and so an iPhoto-using friend of mine has come to me asking how she can back up certain files she's got in iPhoto.

Personally, I use a combination of Aperture, iView Media Pro, Bridge and Photo Mecanic for my various work flows (I'm in the process of abandoning Aperture and iView). Each of my apps uses a different process to deal with individual files. All of them let me move and copy files as necessary.

I seem to remember, from the one time I tested iPhoto out, that each full-res photo ends up in its own folder, making it very hard to use the Finder to do any organisation (much less backing up).

How can an iPhoto user make a selection of photos, and then make copies of those photos in some designated folder? Any way to automate backups?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Chas

[k squared]

If you want a back up of your entire iPhoto library, copy the iPhoto Library folder from one hard disk to another. For a selection of photos, create an album. Then, under the Share menu item, select 'Burn'.

Not sure by what you refer to as finding it hard to use the Finder for organizing: isn't that what iPhoto is for?!.

[mduell]

If only Apple would provide a tutorial for how to "back up certain files she's got in iPhoto."

[zro]

If only Apple would provide incremental backup à la iTunes. :/

[OreoCookie]

With iPhoto, you are not supposed to manipulate the folder structure in the Finder. With Aperture, you can do both, have Aperture manage the pictures in its own way or leave them in place. If you already have Aperture, why would you go back to using iPhoto?

Aperture solves the backup problem very elegantly, you can even retrieve deleted pictures …

[AKcrab]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

If you already have Aperture, why would you go back to using iPhoto?

Originally Posted by chasg 

... an iPhoto-using friend of mine has come to me asking how she can back up certain files she's got in iPhoto.

Can't post only quotes, eh.

[chasg]

I think that some of you have misunderstood: I am not the iPhoto user, I'm posting this question on behalf of a friend who is the iPhoto user (who asked me to help out as I am both a photographer and a Mac-guy :-)

As for Aperture, there is a lot good about it, but I personally don't think it's ready for prime time (at least not for us event photogs who are producing 1000 and up photos for our clients in low and mixed lighting conditions).

k squared: thanks for that. I'm pretty sure that she's wanting to move the files to another hard drive, rather than to an optical disc. Can I use the same technique (photos to new album) and copy photos to another hard drive somehow from there? (simple as select all, and then drag and drop?).

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to contribute.

Chas

[TETENAL]

Select all and then drag and drop will only copy the edited versions, without album structure, without commentary and keywords, without the originals. Burning to CD or DVD from within iPhoto does all that.

iPhoto doesn't really have a way to back up albums to another hard drive as far as I could tell. You are supposed to make a copy of the complete "iPhoto Library" folder on another drive to backup your photo or use real backup software like Apple's "Backup" to do incremental backups of everything that changes within the iPhoto Library when you import and edit photos.