I am a novice, so forgive me if I use the wrong terms. Just looking for some guidance I am using version 6 on PC and want to switch to mac. My database structure includes links to 20,000 photos that are not "imbedded" in the filemaker, but are in a folder on my PC....if I copy my data and photos to Mac is there any way to retain the links? or do I have to manually re-link all those photos?

Have you considered upgrading? Because FileMaker 6 is not real smart about images. It can show them, but it seems to easily lose the path. Whereas later versions hold on to the path better, even if the image file is missing. If you converted to file to 7-9, you would be about set the path into a text field. Then, no matter what, you'd be able to reconstruct it on the Mac, and re-Insert the images. This could all be automated, either via AppleScript, or, with FileMaker 8+ using native FileMaker.

But even AppleScript has trouble with FileMaker 6. If you even move the image file, AppleScript can't get the path from FileMaker any more.

Alternatively, if your image files' names can be exactly matched by a value in a FileMaker field, then you could use Import folder, even in FileMaker 6, with the [x] Matching records option, and bring them all in again. Is that the case, do you have the file names in FileMaker? If so, are they unique?

Out of curiosity, what are you doing with Filemaker and the photos? Is this a photo management/retrieval system for your / your company use? For resale?

Not to detract from Filemaker's superb capabilities, but for individual use, iPhoto is an amazingly powerful tool for managing photos. I have over 13,000 in iPhoto, and the tags (classification), ratings (quality), album structures (client groupings), smart (rules based) albums, image/camera data storage, and event based views make photo management, as well as a pretty sophisticated degree of single photo cleanup editing (no compositing or content edits - leave that to Photoshop/GIMP/Pixelmator) make iPhoto an excellent solution - and it is part of iLife that came free with the Mac.

Not being FM6 literate (I jumped from 5 to 9), I probably am not going to be a big help in your specific FM migration issues.