Dropbox and iPhoto — The Better Way to Sync Across Macs
What follows is my experience using Dropbox to sync an iPhoto library across Macs, along with how to set it up on your own system. You may also be interested in tutorial on how to simply geotag photos using iPhoto ‘09 and an iPhone 3G or 3GS.
How do I sync my iPhoto library across multiple Macs? It’s been a question I’ve been asking for a very long time. I’ve tried programs like ChronoSync but nothing has really worked all that well. At one point I tried hosting the iPhoto library an AirPort Disk, but the transfer rate was so slow it wasn’t worth it. Then I came across Dropbox, the free cloud storage option.
I had actually been using Dropbox for quite some time to sync my 1Password keychain, Safari ad blocking style sheet, desktop wallpapers, and encrypted documents folder. Dropbox was perfect for these things. Then the other night while editing an html file for a website I accidentally uploaded an older version — I hadn’t used ChronoSync to merge the website’s folder across Macs in awhile. Oops. So I decided to have Dropbox start maintaining my Sites folder as well. Once Coda was directed to point to Dropbox rather then the Sites folder, I realized that Dropbox could do way more than just backup files.
The beauty of Dropbox is that even though the files are stored remotely in the cloud, it also maintains a cached copy on the local machine; which is why it’s perfect for syncing across systems. Once the file is saved on the local machine, it’s automatically uploaded to the cloud and then subsequently downloaded to the other machines. All of this is done nearly instantly and completely seamlessly. It’s fast and efficient and completely blows Apple’s iDisk out of the water. For this reason I figured the Dropbox would be perfect to host my iPhoto library.
Setting it up, however, was no small task. My iPhoto library is huge, roughly 25,000 files and nearly 13 GB in size. This, of course, required a Dropbox Pro account. Once I upgraded and my new massive storage drive was ready to go, I backed up the iPhoto library through Time Machine and then moved it into the Dropbox folder. It took a very long time to upload the massive library — about 68 hours.* Once it was completely uploaded from the iMac, it needed to be downloaded on the MacBook. Because Dropbox works on multiple machines at the same time, these times overlapped making the wait a little easier to bear. The MacBook was done about two hours after the iMac completed the upload.
Once the library was uploaded from the original host and downloaded onto the additional mac, there were a few different ways I could go about setting up iPhoto. One was to use the built in Library Manager to choose the location of the iPhoto library. Library Manger is run by holding down the Option key while opening iPhoto, or it will open automatically if iPhoto has not yet been set up or the default library has been deleted or moved from it’s original location. The other option was to use OS X’s alias system — which is the route I took. I created an alias to the iPhoto library stored in the Dropbox file, used the default “iPhoto Library” file name, and placed it in my user’s Pictures folder — the default iPhoto library location. When I fired up iPhoto it opened the Dropbox hosted library through the system alias. Whichever option you chose, both will work smoothly.
That’s really all there is too it. I can now add photos to the library or make changes to a photo or it’s metadata — including Faces and Places — from either machine and it’ll upload to Dropbox automatically and be synced across machines. A word of caution though. I wouldn’t have the same iPhoto library open on more than one machine at a time. Dropbox has a built-in conflict system that could correct any issues that may arise, but I personally wouldn’t want to take the chance with my photos. You might. What do I know.
Needless to say I’m pretty happy with Dropbox and it’s performance. Besides iPhoto and 1Password keychains, I’ve been moving just about every file I work on into Dropbox. Now, no matter where I am, I have access to everything. It’s really great. I would move my iTunes library into Dropbox as well, but it’s nearly 75 GB and not only does Dropbox not offer that much storage, I wouldn’t want to spend a month making the initial upload. (Dropbox now offers a Pro 100 account with 100 GB of storage for $19.99 a month.)
If you want to try Dropbox out, you can sign up for a free 2 GB account. Signing up using any of the Dropbox links in this post or anywhere else on my site will give each of us some bonus storage, so please use them. It’s a great service and I can’t say enough great stuff about it. (And if you work for Dropbox and are reading this and want to send some sweet stuff my way, I won’t mind at all.) I’m shameless, I know.
[Note: The total 13 GB upload slowed considerably after the first 16,000 files were complete. Interestingly enough, the remaining 6,500 files contained nearly 9 GB of the 13 GB total upload. I'm not sure if Dropbox throttles files so that the larger ones are pushed to the end of the queue or not, but the remaining files took nearly 48 hours to completely upload. The large amount of time could be due to a number of additional factors, including limited upload rates from my ISP and poor wireless reception for the iMac hosting the library. The MacBook, on the other hand, was able to download at nearly four to five times the iMac upload speed. Your milage will obviously very.]
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