Changing iPhoto Folder?

[Mhaddy]

Is it possible to change the folder that iPhoto stores photos in? Perhaps that's not the correct way of phrasing it, but here's my situation. I have a separate Multimedia HDD that stores all of my media (photos, videos, music, etc.) and when I start up iPhoto, I'd like it to use the "Pictures" folder on my Multimedia HDD instead of the default pictures directory that is currently assigned. Is this possible?

I know I can import photos, but that actually copies them FROM my Multimedia HDD to iPhoto's directory... and I don't want that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[varmit]

Is it possible to change the folder that iPhoto stores photos in? Perhaps that's not the correct way of phrasing it, but here's my situation. I have a separate Multimedia HDD that stores all of my media (photos, videos, music, etc.) and when I start up iPhoto, I'd like it to use the "Pictures" folder on my Multimedia HDD instead of the default pictures directory that is currently assigned. Is this possible?

I know I can import photos, but that actually copies them FROM my Multimedia HDD to iPhoto's directory... and I don't want that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Wow, I didn't know you couldn't change the storage from the default folder. Apple sure missed something, because you can store your Movies and Music in different places, why not photos.

 

[Mhaddy]

Wow, I didn't know you couldn't change the storage from the default folder. Apple sure missed something, because you can store your Movies and Music in different places, why not photos.

I appreciate the cute remark, but I was asking a serious [though very n00bish] question. When I open up iPhoto, how do I get it to display pictures from another dir / HDD (w/o importing which copies the pictures from location B to A)?

Edit: nm, I figured it out.

 

[SummerBreeze]

I've heard that iPhotoLibrarian can use a different library. I've never used this program before but it looks like it should work.

 

[Clix Pix]

I did not want to use iPhoto at all because of the way it arranges the images, so when the time came to transfer images from my old PC's "My Documents/My Pictures" folder, I simply transferred them all into the "Pictures" folder on my iMac and PB rather than into iPhoto at all. It's a bit annoying that now I cannot see thumbnails but I can go into Adobe Bridge and see them that way. I'm waiting for Aperture to become available so that I can see if I want to use that for my image cataloging system.

OTB

 

[iMeowbot]

Is it possible to change the folder that iPhoto stores photos in? Perhaps that's not the correct way of phrasing it, but here's my situation. I have a separate Multimedia HDD that stores all of my media (photos, videos, music, etc.) and when I start up iPhoto, I'd like it to use the "Pictures" folder on my Multimedia HDD instead of the default pictures directory that is currently assigned. Is this possible?

Not really. There are futilities like iPhoto Buddy that will let you have more than one iPhoto library, but those libraries still involve importing and making copies of your files.

Adobe Bridge works well, but it's sssssslllloooowwwwwww. In its favor, it isn't limited to images.

One really nice image browser is built into recent versions of GraphicConverter. It's reasonably fast and has lots of batch functionality, filters and gross adjustments like cropping and straightening built in. GC's retouching abilities, unfortunately, are poor; it's more like an old fashioned paint program in that department. You can always use it with an external editor like PS or whatever you like, though.

 

[phd]

To change the default file store location, go to terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.iPhoto RootDirectory /path/to/desired/location

To remove the change default:
defaults remove com.apple.iPhoto RootDirectory