The end of the year is a good of time as any to tidy up, organize, and back up your iPhoto library. Even if you’re using Apple’s Time Machine to back up the contents of your Mac, your memorable photos are definitely files that you will want to preserve in more than one place.
Apple has made the process fairly easy, in that you can simply back up your entire iPhoto library on a disc or external hard drive. But if you want to preserve your photos for your grandchildren and beyond, you should consider other options for archiving photos similar to how your parents or grandparents kept boxes and albums of paper photos before the digital revolution.
Tidy Up Your Library
Before archiving your iPhoto library, it might be a good idea to tidy up its content – deleting poorly shot photos and duplicates, tagging and rating photo files, and creating smart albumsfor each member of the family, and special events like birthdays, holidays, and vacations. The better organized your library is, the easier it might be for others beyond yourself to make use of it in the future.
Back Up the Library
Your iPhoto library should be located in the Photos folder of your Mac, unless you have already moved it
