Compare two photolibraries and q about recognition of faces

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Level 1

7 points

Compare two photolibraries and q about recognition of faces

On one external drive I have two photo libraries. One old and new (current). Is there anyway to search both libraries, but instead of showing duplicates (which will be thousands), is there a way to show the photos that are missing in the NEW (current) library? When I know all the photos that are missing from NEW, I will know that I can copy these to the library and have one complete photo library and therefore delete the old one.

I also have a second question relating to faces. Some have been recognised and some very obvious ones have not. Does it make a difference as to whether the photo/file is referenced or unreferenced? The ability to recognise seems to have completely stopped working.

Finally, if anyone at Apple reads these comments, given the fact that the company positively encourage you to take numerous photos, could they please provide brilliant software to manage these properly. Just saying.

Also, if there is a really good resource to read about the best way to manage photos/libraries/albums and all the little tricks and tips and things you really should know, I would be grateful to be pointed in the right direction of this little gem!

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

pS I am using Catalina 10.15.4

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 3, 2020 2:17 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

202,717 points

May 3, 2020 2:45 AM in response to computermum

The Photos.app has no tool to compare photo libraries. You can switch between libraries and browse them in turn.

To merge two libraries and to avoid duplicates you can use iCloud Photos. Make both libraries your iCloud Photos libraries, one after the other. Let first the older library upload to iCloud, then the newer one. The merged library will download to your new library.

Alternately you can use the full, paid version of PowerPhotos to merge the libraries. The free trial version will allow you to open your Photos Libraries in a second browser, which is very useful, but only the full version allows you to scan for duplicates or to merge libraries and move albums between libraries. (Notes on Merging Photos Libraries, 2019 Version)

Referenced photos are not supported well in Photos for mac. You cannot use them with iCloud Photos, and they are having severe bugs in Photos 5 on Catalina. Referenced photos are not show on the Places map. There may be a bug with the faces scan as well. i have not finished testing this. Reconnecting referenced photos does not work well. I would not use a referenced library with the Photos.app, and especially not in Photos 5, until the bugs have been fixed.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

202,717 points

May 5, 2020 3:22 AM in response to computermum

Have you been using iCloud Photos? If PowerPhotos is showing missing files, it is frequently caused by using an iCloud Photos Library - if Photos has been removing originals and replaced them by optimised versions. You can also have missing files, if you have been using a referenced library and the originals are missing.Or if a "cleaning" apppication to remove duplicates has damaged the library.

"Having looked at how complicated the container files look,"

What do you mean by the "container files"? Do you mean the library contents, when you open a Photos Library in the Finder and look inside with "Show Package Contents"?

It is nearly impossible to reconstruct a Photos 5 library from the package contents, because Photos is renaming the files. To join the two libraries and preserve the albums, export the photos from each album separately into a separate folder. Then import the photos from the folder into the other library, directly into a a new album. You will have to do this manually - it is a lot of work, if you do not want to do it automatically with PowerPhotos or iCloud Photos Library.

No magic can bring missing photos back, if the originals have really been removed. You will need an older backup from the time before the originals vanished.

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Answer 3

computermum Author

Level 1

7 points

May 5, 2020 12:26 AM in response to léonie

Hi Leoni,

Thank you so much for the very useful information. I considered the iTunes route, but didn't really want to do that as I felt I was less in control. I also downloaded the free trial version of Power Photos. This highlighted to me that my current library is in a real mess with photos missing, and this I put down to my inexperience with Photos when setting up my library initially, and also where I have been trying to delete duplicates. Because of this I decided not to purchase the software, but to set about creating a new library as I felt merging would only carry my problems over to the new set up.

Perhaps you would be able to give me a bit of advice. I am very happy with the way my albums are set up, and didn't really want to go and have to recreate them all. I thought that perhaps if I took all the photos from the new copy of the library the albums would remain in place and all I would have to do would be to copy over my original photos, to the library, ensuring that 'copy to library' is ticked.

However, after a few attempts to see what would happen whilst removing photos, checking the albums, reimporting the photos, it dawned on me (as I was seeing the message the photo would be duplicated) that they would still be in the 'container' (senior moment!).

Having looked at how complicated the container files look, what is the best way to remove the photos to stop duplicates and errors transferring over? ie. start from scratch but with the album hierarchy in place. Also, if I copied the file folders to the Photo library, would they automatically be sorted into the albums or is this just wishful thinking on my part?!

Hope this makes sense, and thank you again for all the information you have given me.

JR

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Answer 4

computermum Author

Level 1

7 points

May 12, 2020 10:27 PM in response to léonie

Hi Leoni, Thank you for all the advice. At the end of the day I went with increasing my Apple subscription and uploading both libraries to iCloud. I don't want to mess up all my good work, so I thought I'd just run this by you.

The first Photolibrary I uploaded was the smaller one, but it contains the albums I require.

The second Photolibrary I uploaded was the larger one, but not set out the way I want in terms of albums.

My question is, if I open the library that contains the albums and structure I want (the first upload), will the photos automatically sync to those albums? [My feeling is they will?]

Do I need to do anything else or will all the syncing go on behind the scenes and create an updated library for me?

I am not in a position to pay a storage subscription, so what happens to the photos when I cancel? Having uploaded, I presume I don't need to now download them?

Sorry to have so many questions on this. I am also happy to rename faces at a the end of all this - that seems like quite a minor task now!

Thanks again

JR

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Compare two photolibraries and q about recognition of faces

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