iLife '04: The Missing Manual

Where iPhoto Keeps Your Files

Whenever you import pictures into iPhoto, the program makes copies of your photos, always leaving your original files untouched.

• When you import from a camera, iPhoto leaves the photos right where they are on its memory card (unless you use the “Erase” option).

• When you import from the hard drive, iPhoto leaves the originals in whichever folders they’re in. As a result, transferring photos from your hard drive into iPhoto more than doubles the amount of disk space they take up. In other words, importing 1 GB of photos requires an additional 1 GB of disk space, because you’ll end up with two copies of each file—the original, and iPhoto’s copy of the photo. In addition, iPhoto creates a separate thumbnail version of each picture, consuming about another 10 K to 20 K per photo.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONMoving the iPhoto Library

Do I have to keep my photos in the iPhoto Library folder? What if I want them stored somewhere else?

No problemo! iPhoto has come a long way since the days when it could keep track of photos only if they were in its own folder structure within the iPhoto Library folder.

Just quit iPhoto. Then move the whole iPhoto Library folder (currently in your Home → Pictures folder) to another location—even onto another hard drive.

Then open iPhoto again. It will proclaim that it can’t find your iPhoto Library folder. Click the Find Library button to show the program where you put the folder. Done deal!

iPhoto stores its copies of your pictures in ...