HT204655: Updating from iPhoto to Photos for OS X

Learn about Updating from iPhoto to Photos for OS X
rafael246

Q: i have the time machine backing up my information. I am checkin my backup HD. my photos appear under the folder pictures as iPhoto library and photos library. how do i know that my photos will transfer to a new mac without issues.

I am backing all my information via the Time Machine to an external Hard Drive.

I am concerned about the photos on my HD. Will I be able to open them on a new mac in the immediate future.

Posted on Jul 31, 2016 11:14 AM

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Q: i have the time machine backing up my information. I am checkin my backup HD. my photos appear under the folder pictures as iPhoto ... more

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  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Jul 31, 2016 12:01 PM in response to rafael246
    Level 7 (22,894 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 31, 2016 12:01 PM in response to rafael246

    Will I be able to open them on a new mac in the immediate future.

     

    Yes.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 31, 2016 12:53 PM in response to rafael246
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Jul 31, 2016 12:53 PM in response to rafael246

    I am concerned about the photos on my HD. Will I be able to open them on a new mac in the immediate future.

    What kind of Photos Library do you have?  Is it an iCloud Photo Library, if yes, are you using "Optimize Storage"?

    Is your Photos library referenced or managed?  Meaning, did you disable the default preference "Photos > General > Importing: Copy items to the Photos Library".

     

    • If your library is an iCloud Photo Library with "Optimize Storage" enabled, the original imagefiles will only be in iCloud and not backed up by Time Machine. In that case make a separate backup of your original files on an external drive. You could export all originals from your Photos Library to a folder on another drive.
    • If you disabled "Photos > General > Importing: Copy items to the Photos Library", the connection to the referenced originals may be broken, after you restore your Photos Library  from Time Machine.  It will be easier, if you use the setup assistent, when you first set up the new Mac immediately, when the new Mac starts up to clone your old Mac from Time Machine.  That will ensure, that your new user account will be the same as the old user account. If you wait with migrating from Time Machine and use the Migration assistant, there ma ybe permission problems.

     

    A managed, non iCloud Library should be straight forward to restore, but I would occasinally make a test and try to restore the Photos Library from Time Machine to an external drive, just to make sure, your backup is working. It would be a very bad surprise, if you should discover that there is a problem with your Time Machine backup, when it is too lte and you really need your backup.