iPhoto Library copy - SLOW!!!!!

Hi all, New to this forum......but addicted to Mac for years!!

I am having a HUGE problem copying my 75G iPhoto library from my MacBook to an external HD (Formatted FAT32) - (as some of my friends still labour on PC's)......

I have tried to copy the library as a unit, AND have gone into "package contents" and tried to copy the individual Folders / files......... My estimated time climbs to around 1500hours!!!!!!!

I can quite easily copy the folder named "Originals" which is 63G and obviously stores the original photos in a couple of hours.

I think the problem has something to do with all the metadata? such as tags / faces / key-words / events etc - I have around 2000 photos, yet when I copy the package contents, it is showing that it is copying over 150 000 files. This is obviously info I don't wish to loose as it will take me for ever to redo - even if my memory serves me perfectly!!

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks
Mark

I'm not sure what you're actually trying to achieve - you mention using FAT32 because of friends with PCs but then say you want to keep all the iPhoto metadata etc which is only any use on a Mac.

Without knowing the intent it's hard to give a full answer. But assuming you want this as a full backup of your iPhoto library then it's the whole library file you need to copy.

I'd expect 80gb to take roughly 1 - 1.5 hours to copy to a USB2 hard disk. Many small files do increase the copy time but the numbers you're quoting are disproportionate.

Do you have another disk you can try?
Do you have another USB2 cable to try?
Is your Mac connected to mains power?
Is the disk problem free? No bad sectors, formats OK.
If possible can you re-format to MacOS extended and see if you have the same issue

Hi there - Thanks for the reply, sorry that I wasn't specific.

I know that the iPhoto meta data is only of use to a mac, but I want the drive to be accessible to a PC so I can transfer files from any computer. It is a 2T drive that will mainly stay connected to my home computer, I may on occasion want to transfer files to or from a pc....

The transfer rate (or more specifically the differing transfer rate) is the reason for my question.

I would also have expected around 2 hrs for 80 Gig, but there is a folder in the iPhoto library that is holding up proceedings.

What I have done so far:

1: Tried to copy the whole iPhoto library, but aborted after 2 hrs when the estimated time had climbed to in excess of 1500 hrs
2: Showed package contents of the library, and copied the folder titled "originals" - 63 gigs and 25000(typo above..?) files to the HD - this process took just under 2 hours and was completed successfully
3: Am copying a folder named "Data.noindex" at present - 2,3Gigs and 60000 files - this has been in process now overnight, so around 12 hours, and is still showing estimated time - 23hrs!!

Nr 3 is the one that is confusing me - I am not sure what would cause this folder to copy so slowly???

The HD is brand new and formatted
Both HD and MacBook are connected to the mains
Copying of other files and folders can be done no problem and in expected times.

I am wondering why the contents of the "data.noindex" folder are copying so slowly. I have drilled down into the sub-folders and the contents seem to be jpegs that have something to do with the user interface with iPhoto - one for example has a file name "faces003.jpeg", and when opened, is a cropped picture of a face from one of my original photos - the files are not restricted to faces though. I just don't see what it is about this set of data that is forcing the Mac to "concentrate" so hard.

I wonder if the problem isn't with the way the library is organized / or disorganized? This library has been going since 2006, and has been moved across macs and through osx and software upgrades, and I'm thinking that the whole library might just be a bit jumbled.....

Is there any way that one can do a "clean-up" of the library from within iPhoto itself?

I'll be very interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts as to how to fix the problem - as I don't really want to just back up the library, but also to make it easier to back up......

Many thanks
Mark

Open Disk Utility and run Repair Permissions

Once complete try the copy again

Similar issues

Hi,

Did you get any resolution with this? I am having exactly the same problem.

After spending two weeks on this and buying my third external hard drive am still seeing a 184 hour copy wait time.

Hi there.....

I found a "work around" solution... It is not ideal, but reduced the copy time to over night.

I think the problem is not so much the size of the data in GIGs, but more the extreme number of tiny reference files - one folder had in excess 160 000 files - i think the folder was called "Data.noindex"

What I did.
I opened the contents of the iPhoto library folder, and copied each item across 1 by 1, and then copied a basically empty iPhoto library across, and moved everything back into it.

1: Go to your IPhoto Library, and right click and select "show contents of Folder" (This will show the internal files and folders of the library)
2: Open your HDD in a separate window and create an empty folder for your iPhoto Files - called "iPhoto files" for example
3: open this folder
4: Drag each item of the iPhoto library into this folder.... 1 at a time!!! - don't create a queue do it one at a time. Some items will be quick to copy, others will take a while.
5: LEAVE 1 SMALL FILE IN THE ORIGINAL IPHOTO LIBRARY - ANY FILE, WILL DO
6: Once you have copied all but 1 across, close the iPhoto library - it should revert to its icon in finder - now when you show contents of folder, it will show you the item you left there. Revert back to icon.
7 Now Copy your iPhoto library to where all its files are on your HD - once all the files are in the same place, you can once again "show folder contents" and drag all the associated files back into the library, As this is not a copy process, just a move it is quick.
8: Close the iPhoto folder, and now you should have just the iPhoto library icon in the "iPhoto files" folder. Double clicking on this should open iPhoto and you should see all your photos as they were in their original location.

NOTE: I did seem to loose the links to my video clips that were in my original library - the files are still there, just the links - i.e. - under "events" there are a couple of items missing which are where these video clips used to be...

Hope this helps