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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Consolidating two iLife users into one

bughunter - Mar 1, 2007 - 6:54 pm

My wife and I have separate OS X accounts, and separate iPhoto and iTunes libraries. I want to consolidate these libraries into one library (for each app) that can be accessed by a third "household" user account.

I recently purchased a very large RAID0 Firewire Drive that I would like to use as our media volume, however just copying over the files to the new volume and changing the preferences to point to the destination volume isn't working.

Before I invest a whole bunch of time in struggling with this, can you help me with the theory behind how iTunes and iPhoto keep track of the files? The objects displayed in those programs' library listings don't appear to be representative of actual files, but more a virtual listing. It is making this whole affair very confusing, even for an engineer. (Albeit a hardware engineer.)

Thanks!

cybiko123 - Mar 3, 2007 - 4:02 pm

Let's try this:

1. Log into your account.
2. Create the new household user.
3. Open iPhoto.
4. Select all the items in your library.
5. Open your Public folder in a new finder window.
6. Drag the selected photos to the Public folder (this will only copy them).
7. Do the same for your wife (you'll need to log in as her).
8. Open iTunes.
9. Drag the songs to the public folder (it will only copy them).
10. Do the same for your wife (you'll need to log in as her).
11. Move the user's Pictures folder to the external HD.
12. Create an alias to it in the new user's Home folder.
13. Do the same for the Music folder.
14. Log into your new household account.
15. Open iPhoto and iTunes.
16. Copy the files from your and your wife's Public folders to iPhoto and iTunes (just drag them onto the library).

Note: You'll need to recreate your albums and playlists.

I hope this helped. Let me know if you have any more questions.

bughunter - Mar 4, 2007 - 7:59 pm

I will try that but it may take some time - and I'm going on vacation this week.

Give me until at least the 12th of March - thx.

TechSupport - Mar 8, 2007 - 12:20 pm

We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.

Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:

http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292387

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