iLife forum: Backing up iPhoto - not with Time Machine

Thanks, Old Toad, that is exactly what I need. I will check into that software and similar. Thanks very much!

Your suggestion of using Lightroom is a great idea. I love iPhoto from the standpoint of the events. I love the way it automatically sorts into events that are then easily split, named, and organized. That is the reason I loved iPhoto from the start. However, I don't like that you have to export photos in order to be able to share them and even in order to back them up if you want the backup copy to be used anywhere than on a Mac. I have been so in love with the easy organization of iPhoto that I haven't really thought about using another program, and that is probably a very good idea. Does LR have anything similar to the events organization in iPhoto? I don't if any other programs are really set up like that. While I would love to still have that style and ease of organization, I may have to let that go. You have made a very good point to go with another program for photos and I will definitely look at LR. I took just a brief look and see one can still purchase the prior version (I think it's 3 but don't remember). Since I don't need a lot of fancy editing tools, that would likely serve my purpose well. Thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate it.

You can download a full blown copy of LR 4 and experiment with it for a month for free, if you wish. You'll get comfortable with it in a couple of weeks. I would also suggest Lightroom 4 book for digital photographers, by Scott Kelby. I'm using LR3 and, by coincidence, am about to upgrade to LR4, because the RAW converter has been improved. LR, at least up to LR3, doesn't do HDR; I use a plugin called LR Enfuse - search Google - which does what I need. LR3, as far as I know, doesn't do events (I recall it was something new with iPhoto when I dropped it way back) but you will be tagging your photos and you can organize them in folders (I use folders with the year as names and then sub-folders with the themes that interest me which could be your events, for instance). Clone your LR photo folder, or your Pictures folder, to an external drive and you can carry wherever you want to or as a backup.

I didn't like iPhoto file structure at all after a while. It created JPEG files from you RAW files everytime you did a little edit on the original RAW files, it was just too limited and, in the end, it was just a big waste of time in my opinion. As I said, you won't regret leaving iPhoto I believe.

Finally, and back to the backing up business, do note that, if you use Time Machine for your backups, in case your internal HD goes bad you will not be able to boot from the TM backups, at least directly. I much prefer to clone to an portable external HD my whole internal HD, and I do that at the end of every day with CCC. That way when I travel I just carry with me this portable clone drive; if my Mac's HD goes bezerk, all I have to do is connect my portable HD to the Mac and boot from it after powering the laptop up and continue to work. I don't have to have, for instance, my 3 TB Time Capsule with me, which wouldn't be practical and nor could I use it for booting anyway. Something for you to think about. Good luck.