Archive your photos digitally for easy retrieval.
Use iPhoto to organize, edit and share your photos on your Mac computer. It's a good idea to back up your iPhoto library just in case something happens to your hard drive. If you have a large photo collection, you may want to use an external drive to archive them. Once you've stored them on the drive, if your original library becomes corrupted, you can just transfer the photos to your new iPhoto installation.
Instructions
1. Exit iPhoto. If you have iPhoto running, exit the program by clicking the iPhoto menu and choosing "Exit."
2. Plug in your external drive. It should appear on your desktop as an icon once it's recognized by your computer.
3. Open two Finder windows. Click the Finder icon on the dock and from the Finder menu, choose "New Finder Window."
4. Open your Pictures folder. In the first Finder window, click the Home listing in the left sidebar and then choose "Pictures."
5. Drag the Pictures folder to the icon of your external drive either on the desktop or in the second Finder window. Wait for all of the files to be copied.
6. Drag the files back. When you want to restore your photo library to another computer or new installation of iPhoto, just plug in the drive, locate the Pictures folder and drag it back to the Pictures folder listed under Home on the computer.
Tags: Pictures folder, external drive, photos your, your computer, your external