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Q: Are my photo files stored twice when iPhoto imports?

I have many photos that I copied on to my Mac (OS X 10.8.3 - Mountain Lion).  Most of them are stored in my Pictures folder.  When I opened iPhoto all of them were imported into my iPhoto library.  Does this mean that the files exist in my Pictures folder AND my iPhoto library effectively taking up twice as much room on my hard drive?  If I delete all of my photo files after they have been imported into my iPhoto library is this safe?

 

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can offer.

 

Tom

iPhoto '11, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 2,2 GHz Intel Processor; 4 GB Ram

Posted on May 3, 2013 4:54 PM

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Q: Are my photo files stored twice when iPhoto imports?

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  • by GoodForm,

    GoodForm GoodForm May 3, 2013 5:28 PM in response to GoodForm
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2013 5:28 PM in response to GoodForm

    I've been experimenting and what I'm noticing is that if I do a search in iPhoto for a file that is in my Pictures folder I can find it and when I do a "Reveal in Finder" the file is in a different location than the picture file in my Pictures folder.  I've checked this now on 3 files and in every case I have a file in my Pictures file and another in my iPhoto Library.  So I am doubling up on space.

     

    So now I'm wondering, how do I know that all of my photos have been imported?  I just don't feel comfortable deleting all of the photos outside of my iPhoto Library.  I probably will burn everything to DVD's just to be safe.

  • by Old Toad,Solvedanswer

    Old Toad Old Toad May 3, 2013 6:03 PM in response to GoodForm
    Level 10 (141,085 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 3, 2013 6:03 PM in response to GoodForm

    Yes.  If you have iPhoto's preferences set to copy photos into the library durning import ("managed library")

     

    iP11advprefs.png

     

    then you will have two copies, one in iPhoto and the one that was in the Pictures folder or where it was imported from.   A better way to backup your photos is to use an external HD and use Time Machine to backup your entire boot drive.  That gives you  a recovery method for any file that you need to get back.

     

    OT