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heath82371

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2009
9
0
i am using a mac book i bought in jan 09. how do i backup all my iphoto pics onto my external hard drive?
 

heath82371

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2009
9
0
i don't know how to use time machine. i am totally new to having a Mac and can basically only surf the net and upload pics to iphoto. i want to be able to just 'copy and paste' my pics into my external hard drive (like you would if using a PC). i like to do it manually but haven't a clue how.....i have LOTS of pics of my newborn i need to backup....help!!!
 

OreoCookie

macrumors 68030
Apr 14, 2001
2,727
90
Sendai, Japan
i don't know how to use time machine.
And that's an excuse why? ;)
It's so simple:
(1) Get an external harddrive (it should be bigger than the drive you want to backup and it must be bigger than the data you want to backup).
(2) Launch the System Preferences and select Time Machine from the list.
(3) Select your external harddrive as backup drive and move the slider from Off to On.

There is nothing more that needs to be done, Time Machine does all the rest automatically.

Do not do it manually, because chances are, you'll forget to do it on a regular basis.
 

richard.mac

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2007
6,292
5
51.50024, -0.12662
Time Machine is excellent as it backs up your whole computer not just what you choose. so its automatic. but you need a big external hard drive bigger than your Mac's as OreoCookie said.

but if you want to do it manually just plug it in and drag the photos over!

it may not be in the format that Mac OS X can write to so if this is the case open Disk Utility (use Spotlight to search for it), select your external on the left (will have an orange icon), click the Erase tab and choose "Mac OS Extended" and then click Erase (WARNING this will format and erase everything on the drive).
 

heath82371

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2009
9
0
ok, so how do i open the pics? i mean i can access them to edit them in iphoto but how do i get a list of them (like on a PC) so i can copy and paste them? i have an external hard drive (sea gate) but cannot leave it plugged in all the time b/c i have a laptop so i don't think setting time machine to backup my stuff automatically would work? sorry i am soooo clueless....new baby=no time to learn how to operate new computer. thank you guys!
 

OreoCookie

macrumors 68030
Apr 14, 2001
2,727
90
Sendai, Japan
ok, so how do i open the pics? i mean i can access them to edit them in iphoto but how do i get a list of them (like on a PC) so i can copy and paste them?
You can drag and drop them directly from your iPhoto window to the folder on your external harddrive.
i have an external hard drive (sea gate) but cannot leave it plugged in all the time b/c i have a laptop so i don't think setting time machine to backup my stuff automatically would work?
Of course it would work. Obviously, it only makes hourly backups when your harddrive is connected.
 

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,354
2,040
And that's an excuse why? ;)
It's so simple:
(1) Get an external harddrive (it should be bigger than the drive you want to backup and it must be bigger than the data you want to backup).
(2) Launch the System Preferences and select Time Machine from the list.
(3) Select your external harddrive as backup drive and move the slider from Off to On.

There is nothing more that needs to be done, Time Machine does all the rest automatically.

Do not do it manually, because chances are, you'll forget to do it on a regular basis.

It's even simplier.

1) Get external drive, plug it in.
2) When ask if you want to use drive as Time Machine, select Yes.

Done.
 

SOLLERBOY

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2008
715
68
UK
Just plug your external HDD in, go to iphoto and select file ; export and you're all sorted.
 
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