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iPhoto Migration to Photos

I'm trying to free up space on my hard drive. I currently have a 200GB iphoto library that's already been migrated to Photos. If I delete this iPhoto library after the migration, I won't lose the files in that library will I? They will essentially already be saved in the Photos application migration correct?

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 15, 2019 9:38 AM

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Posted on Nov 15, 2019 11:00 AM

No, you can delete the iPhoto Library. However, done expect to see a recovery of the entire size of the library. That's because the Photos library is sharing the same files on the hard drive thru hard links as the iPhoto library. You will regain some space but not as much as you'd like.


Here's more info on hard links: 





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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 15, 2019 11:00 AM in response to Sarah-SustainEdge

No, you can delete the iPhoto Library. However, done expect to see a recovery of the entire size of the library. That's because the Photos library is sharing the same files on the hard drive thru hard links as the iPhoto library. You will regain some space but not as much as you'd like.


Here's more info on hard links: 





Nov 15, 2019 11:06 AM in response to Sarah-SustainEdge

I would keep a backup copy of the original iPhoto Library on an external volume, just in case you should notice later, that you need to look up some metadata that have not been migrated correctly. The descriptions of the albums and events will be missing completely, some smart albums will look differently, to name just a few items you may want to be able to compare after the migration.


iPhoto Migration to Photos

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