HJDS

Q: Where are my iphotos stored on my iMac?

I have iphoto 8.1.2 running on an imac with OSX 10.9. I am looking for where my photos and videos in iphoto are stored on my computer.  Finder doesn't find them unless they are also saved in the "documents", "downloads" or "pictures" folders.

 

Other threads say to click in iphoto on "file" and then on "reveal location", but it doesn't appear in my dropdown. Any advice?

 

HJDS

iPhoto '08, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Dec 13, 2013 12:17 PM

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Q: Where are my iphotos stored on my iMac?

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 5, 2014 7:29 PM in response to dttd
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 5, 2014 7:29 PM in response to dttd

    and you seriously believe that the typical iPhoto user can safely do this?

     

    bad idea - bad post

     

    LN

  • by dttd,

    dttd dttd Aug 5, 2014 8:34 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2014 8:34 PM in response to LarryHN

    Yeah, why not?  Providing knowledge is power, how is it bad? Nor is it off topic so I don't see why this is a bad post...

     

    Look at XDA Forums.  They do not suggest that you hide in the corner and suggest that people avoid this.  Maybe this is the whole problem with the certain folks and the Mac mentality. The original poster wanted to know a simple question:

    Where are my iphotos stored on my iMac?

    So why not tell them? In fact I think I will...


    In a general case your files are located in: 

    /Users/[USER]/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library/Masters

    with the caveat that they *may* not be in Pictures, but wherever you iPhoto is stored.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 5, 2014 8:47 PM in response to dttd
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 5, 2014 8:47 PM in response to dttd

    Maybe you should read the answers

     

    first answer

     

    By default, they are stored in your iPhoto Library, and that will be in your Pictures Folder, unless you moved it.

    However it is also critical for users to know that they have no need to use that information and accessing the photos that way can cause major problems including losing their photos

    In short - it is NOT supported and should not be used except by experts - as later stated


    LN

  • by dttd,

    dttd dttd Aug 5, 2014 8:55 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2014 8:55 PM in response to LarryHN

    I have read the answers, and if I were to post the question I would laugh that off as a ridiculous answer and ask you to try again. 

     

    In a sense you have answered the question, but not really. Once you get into the iPhoto Library there are a lot of sub-directories. Pointing them to the root of that directory is useless.  You may as well just said its located in /Users/ for all the good you have provided. 

     

    Maybe people want to be more informed on where their data is stored. Maybe they want to search for a file after something has happened with iPhoto. Just maybe they are curious and want to better themselves...

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Aug 6, 2014 12:28 AM in response to dttd
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Aug 6, 2014 12:28 AM in response to dttd

    It's always lovely when someone new comes along to offer support to fellow users, especially when they do so my re-opening old thread from months ago, and then take the time to offer advice to other helpers. As we're sharing please allow me to offer just some of my experience on these forums:

     

    The original poster wanted to know a simple question:

    Where are my iphotos stored on my iMac?

     

    1. In most cases - like really, really most cases - when folks ask 'where are my photos?' they don't actually want to know where they are. What they want to know is how do I add them to an email or a word processing document. That's why I answer the way I do.

     

    2. If a person wants to specifically know the layout of the iPhoto Library and how it works, they will generally explain this in the question or in a follow up. Some do. About once or twice a year, in my experience.

     

    3. Again, just on the basis of my experience, once you mention the word 'Terminal' you've already lost a very large percentage of the folks who read these forums. A very large percentage indeed.

     

    4. Again, based only on my subjective experience this:

     

    /Users/[USER]/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library/Masters

     

    would read like sanskrit to a significant number of the readers of this forum.

     

    When I reply I make a guess, often based on the way a question is asked, as to what information the person is seeking. Not all questions are phrased well, not all questions are clear an unambiguous. Sometimes I get it wrong and give back the wrong information, or I overestimate or underestimate the knowledge of the poster. That's exactly the sort of thing that follow-up queries can sort out. But in my experience on this board:

     

    Maybe people want to be more informed on where their data is stored.

     

    Most don't.

     

    Maybe they want to search for a file after something has happened with iPhoto.

     

    Most don't. And if they have a problem with iPhoto we can usually steer them in another direction. Apps with a GUI, like Find Any File, for instance, are easier for most folks to use.

     

    Just maybe they are curious and want to better themselves...

     

    Well I won't explore the implicit value system implied by the use of the word "better" there, but if they do, then the subsequent questions will demonstrate that.

     

    I look forward to seeing you offering to help around here more. Especially with actual on the go issues rather than ones from months and years ago.

  • by dttd,

    dttd dttd Aug 6, 2014 12:51 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 6, 2014 12:51 PM in response to Terence Devlin

    Thanks Terence Devlin for you answer and I completely respect your opinion on this!  Your reasoning makes sense and is clear. 

     

    The original reason I replied, and joined for that matter, was because I had this same question. I did research and found the answer on my own. I read through the answers and liked to offer more information, which I did.  Yes, when I mention 'Terminal' eyes start to glaze over, lines appear across their face from a notebook they didn't know they had, etc.  Those Users are finished and will revert back to the other answers mentioned which is fair and fine with me. 

     

    The purpose of a Forum is to empower the User (actually its to keep people from calling Support and costing a company money, but empower is the better way of putting it).  I'm providing information for the few Users that may view this post. Its obviously popular and the more complete answer that we can be given is better, right? 

     

    In all fairness my post was not a complete answer either and did not provide 100% complete instructions. I'll continue with that if it is requested as it is technical and may be too much for this topic.

     

    I just did not appreciate the mentality of keeping people from doing something like its a plague. It is more technical yes, but is an answer. I'll jump of my Forum soapbox.  

  • by Hasse Hüttel,

    Hasse Hüttel Hasse Hüttel Aug 9, 2014 5:57 AM in response to dttd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2014 5:57 AM in response to dttd

    Well I've read most of this thread to learn how to be able to use the same program to manage pictures from several sources - I like Canon's Imagebrowser which could not see the photos imported from my wife's iPhone 4 with iPhoto. Well I made iPhoto export all 1446 pictures as jpeg's and that's it !.

    And then I of course delete them in iPhoto. Somewhat awkward, but that's one of the disadvantages of being an Apple-fan but not a "leave everything to Apple" fan.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Aug 9, 2014 6:53 AM in response to Hasse Hüttel
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Aug 9, 2014 6:53 AM in response to Hasse Hüttel
    to learn how to be able to use the same program to manage pictures from several sources

     

    iPhoto can do that effortlessly. If you don't want to use iPhoto then you can move images from the phone to wherever you want with Image Capture (in the Applications Folder)

  • by Hasse Hüttel,

    Hasse Hüttel Hasse Hüttel Aug 12, 2014 1:56 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 12, 2014 1:56 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    Thats nice, Terence - thank you for that information

  • by Seb Palmer,

    Seb Palmer Seb Palmer Sep 8, 2014 5:43 AM in response to HJDS
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 8, 2014 5:43 AM in response to HJDS

    Hello all.

     

    I've decided to enter the fray on this one. Before getting to the main point, I feel I ought to fill in some contextual detail. So, please forgive what may appear to be digressions.

     

    The first thing I feel I should say is that, whilst I do, to some degree, like Apple/all-things-Mac - like so much in modern computing they facilitate a lot of possibilities - I also loathe many aspects of the Apple approach to their customers. This can be embodied in what a friend of mine described in British vernacular as (I don't know if this phrase is familiar outside of the UK, but I'm sure it's meaning will probably be clear) 'my way or the highway'. I.e. Apple want to control their users behaviour to make it more easily manageable for their own benefit.

     

    My total reliance on Apple gear is a result of having become, as they no doubt intend users to be, 'locked-in'. Why make it easy for users to hop between platforms, when, by obscuring the 'back-room' stuff you lock them into your own products? I won't go into politics and beyond here, but capitalism as most normally practised is hypocritical: we're sold the idea of consumer driven choice, but in truth we're locked in, more often than not, to pathways defined by our suppliers. Energy suppliers here in the UK are a good current example. There are simply no viable 'opt out' choices for the average consumer.

     

    Right-ho, back on track. I'm all Mac'd up: iPods galore, iPad, iBook, iMac, etc., but I must point out that this more a consequence of an extended history of using their products professionally, for about 20 years now (in illustration/graphics/music), than because of any 'groupie love' for Apple wares. I'm certainly not one of the growing hordes of Apple fashionistas that clog their stores up wanting to look trendy. My father, who was an IT guy before his recent retirement, regularly bemoans the apparently user-hostile nature of Apple stuff. And, as the years pass, I can increasingly see his point.

     

    I'm not going to go into why here, but I am, at present, not keen on using either the 'cloud', nor Apple's 'Time Machine' for backing up my stuff. Neither of them can be managed, in my experience so far, in ways that suit my wants and desires. Consequently, I most definitely am one of those rare users, according to Terence Devlin, who does want access to the actual photos. It's true that all that 'terminal' business is practically Sanskrit to me, but I'm not going down that rabbit hole, discussion wise. Suffice it to say I have been forced to use it in the past, sometimes shepherded by more experienced users (some official Apple people, some not), and sometimes under my own steam.

     

    Anyway, to get back to the origins of this thread I'll say why I found it of interest in the first place: since I don't back up using either 'cloud'-based means or Time Machine, I need a way of being sure all my photos, ideally inc. associated metadata, are being backed-up somewhere. In this scenario, what I do not want is the equivalent of an 'alias', which iPhoto appears to be, albeit a more complex one. I do not want what is effectively simply a sign-post, nor even, more accurately, a mysteriously coded treasure map, pointing (and not pointing me either, but rather my computer proxy) to wherever my files might actually be.

     

    I want easy access to the image files themselves, so I can duplicate them (and their metadata, although I suspect this is where levels of complication might arise, if the latter and the former are not stored together) to a back-up location of my own choosing. There's no point my simply copying the iPhoto Library, because if the original data, wherever that may be, is lost, then this newly copied iPhoto Library, which I'm going to refer to as a glorified alias, will, I'm assuming, simply be pointing at nothing.

     

    So, although I expect the answer to this is no ('my way or the highway', booms the voice of Apple from on high): is there a way for me to achieve my desired goal, i.e. create my own back-up folder of all the photos (pref. with associated metadata), without relying on the glorified alias that is iPhoto? If I simply drag and drop the images themselves, I suspect - and I think I tried this before, ages ago - that I'll lose the metadata.

     

    Any help much appreciated.

     

    Regards

     

    Sebastian Palmer

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Sep 8, 2014 7:01 AM in response to Seb Palmer
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Sep 8, 2014 7:01 AM in response to Seb Palmer
    This can be embodied in what a friend of mine described in British vernacular as (I don't know if this phrase is familiar outside of the UK, but I'm sure it's meaning will probably be clear) 'my way or the highway'. I.e. Apple want to control their users behaviour to make it more easily manageable for their own benefit.

     

    You get that a lot from people who don't actually know how Macs work.

     

    My total reliance on Apple gear is a result of having become, as they no doubt intend users to be, 'locked-in'.

     

    Not at all. Any data on your Mac can be got out and used on any other computer you may have. There is no lock in of any kind. There is no requirement on any app to use the Cloud, there is no requirement to use Time Machine. You can not use iCloud, you can use other cloud suppliers instead or just not use the cloud at all. Ditto with Time Machine. There have to be maybe a hundred of more back up utilities for the Mac.

     

    I want easy access to the image files themselves, so I can duplicate them (and their metadata, although I suspect this is where levels of complication might arise, if the latter and the former are not stored together) to a back-up location of my own choosing.

     

    took you a long time and an awful lot of misunderstanding to ask that question. Simple

     

    File -> Export

     

    This User Tip

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921

     

    has details of the options in the Export dialogue.

     

    That's how you do it if you want to back up your photos outside iPhoto. That gets you whatever you want, including all the metadata.

     

    There's no point my simply copying the iPhoto Library, because if the original data, wherever that may be, is lost, then this newly copied iPhoto Library, which I'm going to refer to as a glorified alias, will, I'm assuming, simply be pointing at nothing.

     

    Wha? That sentence simple makes no sense. If you back up the iPhoto Library - which contains (by default, you can change it - see? No lock in) the original data - then you get that and everything else too. I have no idea what you mean by "glorified alias" but it has nothing to do with iPhoto.

     

    Remember you don't have to use iPhoto, and given your level of understanding of the Mac and the App you might prefer not to.

  • by mazdamx594,

    mazdamx594 mazdamx594 Sep 13, 2014 8:27 PM in response to HJDS
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 13, 2014 8:27 PM in response to HJDS

    I didn't see any replies that did not involve the terminal, but if I missed one I apologize.  To answer the OP's original question, go to photos, iPhoto library, right click, show package contents.  As others have already said, proceed with caution, if you mess with the files it can cause issues when iPhoto goes to talk to the directory.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 13, 2014 9:26 PM in response to mazdamx594
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 13, 2014 9:26 PM in response to mazdamx594

    1 - your answer is very dangerous, unsupported and will give unpredictable results

     

    2 - did you read the very first answer which gives all of the information in answer to the original question

     

    By default, they are stored in your iPhoto Library, and that will be in your Pictures Folder, unless you moved it.

     

    Some FYI:

     

    For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491

     

    Most Simple Back Up:

    Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.

     

    Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.

     

    Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

     

    For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361

     

    As you're using iPhoto 08 the Reveal command is on the Contextual Menu.

    3 - it is a very bad idea to every go directly into the contents of the iPhoto library useless specifically directed to do so by an expert - there NEVER is any reason to go into the iPhoto Library

     

    LN

  • by PetroPete,

    PetroPete PetroPete Oct 1, 2014 10:01 AM in response to dttd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2014 10:01 AM in response to dttd

    Exactly. Larry isn't answering the original question correctly but making it so you have to go through iPhoto to access your files. Which is exactly what so many Mac users do not want to do.

     

    This is how I access the folders that the files are stored in, as ridiculous as this is:

    Go to:

    Macintosh HD / Users / YourName / Pictures / iPhoto Library / Masters / …

    Right Click to "Show Package Contents"

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 1, 2014 10:05 AM in response to PetroPete
    Level 10 (105,685 points)
    iLife
    Oct 1, 2014 10:05 AM in response to PetroPete

    This will not let you access your edited photos, only the original files. It is risky, because you can easily corrupt the iPhoto library this way. This should only be done in an emergency, when your library is broken beyond repair.

    The library has been built by iPhoto and should be browsed using iPhoto, In iPhoto you can access your events, albums, smart albums and search by keywords, faces, places. all that is lost, when you access the originals using the Finder.

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