[bdesj]

Hey, all. This is maybe a silly time to bring up my iPhoto questions since I`m within a week of switching from my Mac Mini to a Windows system, but that involves moving my stuff over somehow. The most pressing information I`m looking for is whether I need any specific kind of external hard drive for use as a moving vehicle. I think files are files, but not sure, so before I run out and spend $60 or so on a piece of equipment that won`t work for me, I`d better ask. And since I`m asking, would loading them all onto a portable hard drive, then onto the new computer really be a reasonable way of transfering? I`m thinking it might be a good idea to buy a backup drive anyway, so might as well pick one up now and use it for moving.

Not as urgent, I`ve wondered about and guessed at how iPhoto works, but really never knew for sure. It seems to me that the actual image files are stored somewhere else in the bowels of my computer, then pulled out and all my edits applied when I click to open one from iPhoto. The original remains intact and whatever I do to the coppies in iPhoto gets sort of catalogued in order to apply the changes again next time I open it. Do I have that right?

The main reason I want to know that now is that I like the results of how the system works even though I don`t get the mechanics of it. I`d like to set up a Windows computer in a similar way- be able to crop, rotate, resize, dink with exposures, etc without degrading the original or having to remember to make a copy every time. Is that reasonable? If so, what kind of storage program could I do it with?

Finally, when I transfer all my pictures to the new computer, will they be all lumped together or separated into the events they`re in now? Will they show up in edited form, or original? Or does that maybe depend on whether I export from iPhoto or the deep down storage library that I suspect exists somewhere? Recommendations on how to best go about it? If you got all the way through my long winded questions, thanks for your patience!