Seeking Ninja Mac iPhoto Original Photo Extract to Another PC

Question

Seeking Ninja Mac iPhoto Original Photo Extract to Another PC

Hi Folks - Information seems a bit scant and somewhat ambiguous when I search for the above subject on Google. I've got a 11 year old iMac, hasn't had the OS updated in probably 4-5 years, and I'm looking to do two things:

1- Copy all original images that I imported into iPhoto to another PC. I'm getting ready to dispose of this old iMac and want to ensure that I am able to copy off all of my images both stored in iPhoto and outside of it. I can handle the stuff no problem outside of iPhoto. I'm not going to migrate to a new Mac but am going to consolidate the photos to a different machine altogether. How would I go about ensuring that I can see and copy all photos stored in iPhoto. FYI, I see a couple of folders on the Mac talking about recovered or reindexed. I'm guessing that is purely for the iPhoto database and doesn't actually move the original imported images around.

2- Need to do the same thing with iMovie. Copy all originally imported videos to another machine. What I'm reading online is that the original imported movie is not in one place and it was chopped up by iMovie and imported via clips. Thoughts, reality? Is there a way :-)

Thank you in advance!

Best, Mitch

iMac, OS X 10.10

Posted on Apr 27, 2020 8:18 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Keith Barkley

Level 6

19,892 points

Apr 27, 2020 8:44 AM in response to TheMitchmanCO

#1

Open iPhoto and use the file->export function to get copies of all your unmodified originals.

If you did extensive editing, you can get your edited copy, too.

There is a script that will output your files in a folder structure based on your albums.

Reply

Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

207,829 points

Apr 27, 2020 10:43 AM in response to TheMitchmanCO

If your iPhoto version is V7 or earlier download and run iPhoto Library Upgrader 1.1 on the library. Then run the iPhoto First Aid on the library and do the following: Repair Permissions, Rebuild Thumbnails and Rebuild Database. That will require 3 separate launches with the Option + Command keys held down.

Now you are ready to move the library to the new Mac either with Migration Assistant or manually.

When you launch the new Photos app on the new Mac it will open your older iPhoto library and migrate it to the new format. Then you just have to import the loose image files you've copied over to the new Mac.

This will keep the metadata you've added to the photos intact and keep the albums and other organizational efforts you've made.

As always, be sure to have a backup of the library before running any of the First Aid or other processes.

Reply

Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,829 points

Apr 27, 2020 11:41 AM in response to TheMitchmanCO

Not particularly. You can Control (right) - click on the library package and select Show Package Contents for the Contextual menu. Then look in the Originals or Masters folder to see how the subfolders are organized. If it works for you you can just copy the sub folders to an EHD for transfer. Be sure to copy because if it doesn't work out you can then go back and do an export of originals.

HOWEVER, see if your iPhoto version has the option to export with a subfolder format of Event Name. If so then select all of the photos in the library and export with the following settings:

That will give you all of your photos in folders according to the Events they were in in your library.

If you have albums that you're rather have the photos organized in you can select the photos in that album, use the Event ➙ Create New Event menu option and then rename the event to whatever you'd like.

If the script that Keith found works it might be easier than the above. Just some food for thought.

Reply

Answer 4

Apr 27, 2020 10:44 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Hi Keith - Thank you, I was trying to dig down into the folder structure of hidden images to copy folder by folder. I'll try to use the Export option, will that export everything at once? Or will I have to choose specific folders? What is the script you mention as well?

Thanks - Mitch

Reply

Answer 5

Apr 27, 2020 10:46 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi Old Toad - Would this be a good process to perform generally? I'm going to export this to a Windows 10 PC, not going to migrate to a new Mac. Keith suggested the Export option in iPhoto. Is that the process you would suggest too to capture all the originals and export/copy them to a Windows 10 system? Thanks!

Mitch

Reply

Answer 6

Apr 27, 2020 11:17 AM in response to TheMitchmanCO

The script I had was for Photos, you may be able to find a version for iPhoto. If you use the script it will do everything for you.

Reply

Answer 7

Apr 27, 2020 11:19 AM in response to TheMitchmanCO

A minute of googling found this:

https://github.com/BMorearty/exportiphoto

Reply

Seeking Ninja Mac iPhoto Original Photo Extract to Another PC

Similar questions