Backing up iPhoto pictures and folders from the command-line

Question

I'd like to install a new OS X on a MacBook and I'd like to know what needs to be done to backup only the iPhoto pictures. I definitely do not want to backup the entire /Users/Cedric/ directory. All I need is my iPhoto pictures and all the iPhoto "folders".

Ideally I'd like to do this over the network using ssh / scp.

Answer 1

Your whole iPhoto library is stored in ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library. If you look at it in the Finder it appears as a single file but it's actually a package (aka directory structure). So in order to back it up over ssh/scp you can use one of

• scp -r ~/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library user@remote_host:
• rsync -a -e ssh ~/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library remote_host: