If I use iPhoto on the Mini to organize albums based on photos on the network fileshare, will it insist on writing back changes to those files, or will it clutter that remote directory with database/cache files and folders? Or will it leave the original files alone and keep its dirty little database and cache to itself?
Well, think of iPhoto and it's "dirty database" like the empeg. Your going to open iPhoto, drag in your folders of photos, and it's going to import them locally, into it's own directory structure and naming scheme, and create the database. The files on your desktop will not be touched, and won't even be referenced again.
There is another way too if you don't want the Mini storing copies. Open iPhoto, and go to Preferences. Untick "Copy items to the iPhoto Library" under Advanced, and iPhoto will just make links to all the files on your desktop computer. If you edit a photo in iPhoto, it leaves the original alone, and saves the edited copy locally inside the library. Move a file on the remote system, and the link will break, so keep that in mind. Database and cache files are all still kept on the Mac.
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