nelcor

Q: What to do with old iPhoto library after migration to Photos

After migration to Photos my hard drive is maxed out. I want to move the 15gigs old iPhoto library to an external drive to free some space as some have suggested. Others here have said you can just trash the old library. There must be a reason 10.10.3  was designed to retain the iPhoto library. Trash it--really? Another suggestion was to put my 15 gigs on a flash drive. So the question is: does Photos need to be able to see the iPhoto library as it would if on an external drive connected to my Time Machine?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), mid 2011/ early 2014 both 128 /TM ac

Posted on Apr 19, 2015 5:47 PM

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Q: What to do with old iPhoto library after migration to Photos

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  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Apr 19, 2015 6:00 PM in response to nelcor
    Level 7 (20,800 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 19, 2015 6:00 PM in response to nelcor

    After migration, the iPhoto Library is not needed and may be deleted, or copied to an external drive.

     

    This, however, will not regain you 15 GB of free space. The reason is that both Libraries link to the same files on your drive. Photos did not duplicate your images when it migrated the iPhoto Library. That's why most people advise to leave it as is for the time being, "just in case." You can then always go back and open it in iPhoto again, if needed.

  • by nelcor,

    nelcor nelcor Apr 19, 2015 7:31 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 19, 2015 7:31 PM in response to Rysz

    Thanks for your reply but I'm still confused as to how I lost over 10Gigs of HD space after the migration. I understand the conversion is supposed to create more space, not less.  When I look in the pictures folder in Finder, I see 2 LIbrarys, iPhoto and Photos, each of them approx 15 Gbs. according to the Get Info menu.  I guess what I don't understand is if the iPhotos Library is not needed and is moved to an external drive why that wouldn't free that amount of space.

    Also, if "optimization" is supposed to move "some" high res images to the cloud to make room on the HD, how is it that I find myself with only 1gb left on my HD? What is the criteria that triggers "optimization" and how much room can we expect it to shoot for? There seems to be a variety of answers on this subject, many of them sound like guesses. Apple's explanation is vague about how it works, so hopefully someone has the accurate, in depth scoop on this.

  • by CaptainKarma,

    CaptainKarma CaptainKarma Feb 19, 2016 7:07 PM in response to nelcor
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 7:07 PM in response to nelcor

    Just to be sure the file which is "migrated photo library" is what was the original library that was imported into Photos?

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Feb 19, 2016 7:12 PM in response to nelcor
    Level 10 (85,032 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 19, 2016 7:12 PM in response to nelcor

    Very simple - both libraries use hard links to the same originals adn previews so deleting or moving one save only the space used by the database and service files - he photos are still there used by the other library

     

    Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    LN