mystwillow

Q: Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration

Does anyone know if it is ok to delete the new Photos library from the Pictures folder after you've migrated your iPhoto library to Photos? This is the situation I'm in - I migrated my library to Photos but I HATE it. I am very invested in Events and being able to review each new batch of photos before categorizing them into the appropriate events, and with this new app it's like everything is in a giant shoebox, it seems to include all my Photo Stream pictures in my library before I'm ready (I typically delete a lot of dud pictures every time I import, now they are all mixed in automatically and I have to remember how far back I've gone through and culled), and there's no way to tell which pictures haven't been categorized into an event yet. Worst of all, there's no way to hide photos from all views. Not only are hidden albums/events not even a thing anymore, Photos "conveniently" makes a whole new album of all the pictures I didn't want anyone to see. So now instead of me being the only one who would know where to look for hidden photos/Events in my library when they were unhidden, they're all collected in one place at the top level of my albums view. Why anyone would want an automatic, top-level album of all photos in an entire library that were meant not to be see, I don't know. Seems to defeat the entire privacy/security purpose of the Hide feature. Not to mention, anyone can still see all hidden photos when scrolling through the Albums view.

 

Long story short, I am RUNNING back to iPhoto for as long as Apple allows it to be used. Now, I know that any changes I make to the iPhoto library won't carry over automatically to Photos. I'm fine with that as I don't intend to use Photos until I'm forced to. However, I know that at some point I will be forced to use it, and at that point its library will be (hopefully) several years out of date. Since Photos creates symbolic links to the photo files, I know I could easily have deleted the iPhoto library when I migrated to Photos, but does that work both ways? I guess my question is, can I delete the Photos library I have now, keep working with my iPhoto library until iPhoto is killed completely, and then re-import the entire library back into Photos? Or do my photo files actually now live in the Photos library package instead of the iPhoto library package and deleting the Photos library will delete all my photos?

 

Any clarification on my options would be appreciated.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Apr 9, 2015 6:29 PM

Close

Q: Reverting to iPhoto after Photos migration

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 28 of 31 last Next
  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Sep 19, 2015 9:46 PM in response to Astro Cancer
    Level 7 (26,299 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 19, 2015 9:46 PM in response to Astro Cancer

    You do one of two things:

     

    1.     Import your iPhoto Library to Photos manually by holding down the Option key when you open Photos. It will display a window that will list your photo libraries that should include a library called iPhoto Library.photolibrary. Click on that to import your iPhoto photos to the Photos app

     

    2.     You can see if you can download a compatible version of iPhoto so you can access your iPhoto Library from that app directly: Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS... | Apple Support Communities

     

    Best of luck!

     

    GB

  • by Mara Jade's Father,

    Mara Jade's Father Mara Jade's Father Oct 29, 2015 7:00 AM in response to gail from maine
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2015 7:00 AM in response to gail from maine

    Ok.  I dealt with this issue back when it first started.  If I remember it was just simply clicking on iPhoto app that was still on the computer.

     

    However, i seem to have a new problem related to this situation.

     

    I just set up an iCloud account for my son on my laptop.  In doing so, i wanted to see if he had access to the my photos as it is a shared file.  When I did it, it did a repair and also migrated the images.  He now has access to the photos.

     

    But...

     

    When I had on to my account on the computer.  Photos is now active but it only shows images from other iCloud albums I share with family but the main library is gone.  When I go to iPhoto, it asks me what library I want to access.  it shows only one, a migrated library.  However when I select it, it tells me I do not have permissions to share.

     

    What can i do to get things back so I can use iPhotos and have access to my images again?

  • by Mara Jade's Father,

    Mara Jade's Father Mara Jade's Father Oct 30, 2015 8:17 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 8:17 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father

    Additionally.

     

    I cannot get access to my library.  I have tried to go into the shared folder and change read/write permissions, even made myself the owner.  Still being told I do not have permissions.

     

    The only way to see the library is to go to the user login of my Son's.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Oct 30, 2015 12:15 PM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    Level 10 (139,572 points)
    iLife
    Oct 30, 2015 12:15 PM in response to Mara Jade's Father

    If you want to share the Library it needs to be on an external disk that is directly connected to the Mac (not networked) and is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and set to ignore ownership and permissions.

  • by Mara Jade's Father,

    Mara Jade's Father Mara Jade's Father Oct 30, 2015 5:09 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 5:09 PM in response to Terence Devlin

    Ok, good to know.

     

    Previously each user on my laptop could access the iPhoto library located on the laptop.

     

    However,

     

    I still want to know how to get access to my photos (which have been migrated to my Son's user login) and to do it utilizing iPhoto.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Oct 31, 2015 12:37 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    Level 10 (139,572 points)
    iLife
    Oct 31, 2015 12:37 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father

    To correct permissions on an iPhoto library: Hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to check and repair Library permissions.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 31, 2015 12:54 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 31, 2015 12:54 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father

    I still want to know how to get access to my photos (which have been migrated to my Son's user login) and to do it utilizing iPhoto.

    If your iPhoto Library has been opened by your son and is in a local folder on your Mac, you cannot open it directly in iPhoto. for browsing. Opening the library from a different user account changes the file ownership of files inside the library. Before you can open it again, you need to repair the permissions of the library with iPhoto's first aid tools. First move the iPhoto Library back to a place that you can access, your own Pictures folder or an external drive: How to prepare a drive is described here:  iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

     

    Once you moved the library to your Pictures folder or an external drive, lauch iPhoto while holding down the key combination ⌥⌘   (option-command). keep holding down these keys firmly, until the First aid panel appears.  select "Repair Permissions".


    ScreenShot2015-10-17at11.18.54GMT.png

     

    If the iPhoto library remains in a local folder on your mac, you will have to repair the permissions of the library every time you switch the user when opening it.  Photos is a single user appplication and opening the library from a different user account makes it unreadable for the original owner.  Keepin g the library on an external drive with the "Ignore ownership" flag enabled as described by TD is the only way to avoid this permission and ownership problem.

  • by Mara Jade's Father,

    Mara Jade's Father Mara Jade's Father Oct 31, 2015 7:56 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2015 7:56 AM in response to léonie

    Okay guys, I now have access to my entire library.  Thank you.

     

    Not only do I have access via iPhotos, but now I have access to my library using Photos.   I did not have that prior when the change first came about so that is why I reverted back the first time.   Now that is no longer an issue, I am willing to change over Photos to my primary image app. 

     

    With that being said...

     

    I now have two extremely large image libraries, iPhoto and Photo.  If I am not going to only use Photo, can I delete the iPhoto library and also the app itself.  As it stands right now, my laptop is at its storage limits.  I do plan to get a cloud for the house but right now I need the room.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 31, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 31, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father

    You can delete the iPhoto Library and the iPhoto application. Photos does not need these items.

    But do yourself a favor and keep a backup copy of both items on an external drive. You may need them to be able to repeat the migration of the library, if you should discover problems in the library, that can only be fixed in iPhoto.

     

    Deleting the iPhoto library and the iPhoto application will not free much storage, btw. Most of the storage for photos is shared by the Photos library. The photos i the Photos Library are hard links to the photos in your iPhoto Library. See this link.   Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

  • by Mara Jade's Father,

    Mara Jade's Father Mara Jade's Father Oct 31, 2015 8:21 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2015 8:21 AM in response to léonie

    Good advice.

     

    My iPhoto library is over 16GB.  Like I said, my laptop has been giving my messages about not enough space so i have been deleting anything i do not need, just to be able to keep adding images.  So every little bit helps at this point.

     

    One last question and I think I will be done.

     

    I want my library to be able to be seen by all laptop users.  Right now the library is in my user picture folder.  When I go to "get info" it shows that "everyone has read permissions.  Which makes me think they could view the library, just not make changes.. which is fine.  However in dealing with this situation, such permission changes did not help me view the library when it was I the laptop's shared folder.  Was that just because I needed repair issues?  Or should I move the files back to Shared or some both place or some other configuration?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 31, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    Level 10 (107,827 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 31, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Mara Jade's Father
    I want my library to be able to be seen by all laptop users.

    That is only possible, if the library is on an external drive, not if it is stored on the system drive.  Photos cannot open the library without being able to write to it. It will try to write to the library, as soon as you open the library. Everytime another user opens the library for browsing you will have to run a repair on the library, because opening will change the file ownership for some files.  You can only avoid this by keeping the library on an external drive, where you can enable the "ignore ownership on this volume" flag. That is not possible on the system drive, because there the ownership cannot be ignored.

    See this guide - the same will work for Photos libraries:  iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

  • by Mara Jade's Father,

    Mara Jade's Father Mara Jade's Father Oct 31, 2015 6:59 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2015 6:59 PM in response to léonie

    Thank you.

  • by dnh1969,

    dnh1969 dnh1969 Nov 1, 2015 7:55 AM in response to mystwillow
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2015 7:55 AM in response to mystwillow

    I am so mad that I was forced to change my operating system to Yosemite and thus to Photos from iPhoto.  I couldn't get a book uploaded to print and they told me this was the only way to get my book printed.  I got the book but a whole lot of problems that I didn't want.  I miss the ease of using iPhoto and like so many others I miss Events and being able to organize my photos and edit them so much easier.  Everything was better!!  I cuss at Photos every time I have to use it. Why do they have to keep changing things that work?!

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Nov 1, 2015 8:24 AM in response to dnh1969
    Level 9 (50,801 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 1, 2015 8:24 AM in response to dnh1969

    I don't understand, who forced you?

     

    You still have iPhoto, why not continue to use it?

  • by dnh1969,

    dnh1969 dnh1969 Nov 2, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 2, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Csound1

    Well, I wasn't FORCED!  I just had to change my operating system to Yosimite and use Photos to get my book to upload into the store for printing. I talked to many guys in Apple support who said there was a problem with that issue in iPhoto and changing was the only way to go.  I am not a savvy computer person and I'm afraid to try the suggested fixes for using iPhoto now.  I just wish they had left it alone. It was so easy!!

first Previous Page 28 of 31 last Next