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How to consolidate multiple Photos and iPhoto libraries into one Photos library in OS Big Sur

Somehow I have managed to create multiple Photos and iPhoto libraries on 3 different disks (see attached screen shots).

I have read the Apple Support document on consolidating Photos libraries, but I have a mixture of iPhoto and Photo libraries of different sizes and I want to be sure all of their pictures are contained in my ultimate single library, which will be on an external drive and regularly backed up to another drive.


I do not want to put my photos in iCloud and I do not want any of them on my iMac's internal HD (Emlagh).

Thanks for any assistance

GerriG

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Feb 26, 2021 11:06 AM

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Posted on Feb 26, 2021 11:18 AM

The best way if you don't want to use iCloud temporarily is to do the following;


1 - convert all iPhoto libraries to Photos libraries.

2 - user the paid version of PowerPhotos to merger the various Photos libraries into one comprehensive library. This PowerPhotos help site describes how: Merging libraries. You can put the library wherever you want. Do all of the merging on the EHD and make sure it's formatted as shown in this screenshot:


and connected by cable directly to your Mac.


PowerPhotos will not include duplicate photos in the merge.



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 26, 2021 11:18 AM in response to ggcavecreek

The best way if you don't want to use iCloud temporarily is to do the following;


1 - convert all iPhoto libraries to Photos libraries.

2 - user the paid version of PowerPhotos to merger the various Photos libraries into one comprehensive library. This PowerPhotos help site describes how: Merging libraries. You can put the library wherever you want. Do all of the merging on the EHD and make sure it's formatted as shown in this screenshot:


and connected by cable directly to your Mac.


PowerPhotos will not include duplicate photos in the merge.



Feb 26, 2021 11:29 AM in response to ggcavecreek

The procedure from Apple's support document (Combine libraries in Photos - Apple Support) will currently not work on macOS 11 Big Sur, if you want to export edited versions as JPEGs. Because of a bug in Photos 6 the metadata will be missing from the exported JPEGs. The merging with the full, paid version of PowerPhotos, as described by OT, will give a very good result, unless your main library is syncing with iCloud Photos and "Optimise Mac Storage" is enabled.

If you are using iCloud Photos, I would merge the libraries directly in iCloud, as described here: Notes on Merging Photos Libraries, 2019 V… - Apple Community


Feb 27, 2021 9:17 AM in response to ggcavecreek

If you hold down the option key while starting photos you get the choice to open other libraries - either from the list provided, or by clicking "other library" if it is not listed. If you open an iPhoto library, photos will convert it to a format it can open.


It is a good idea to make sure you have backups of the iPhoto libraries first, as this process can (rarely) go wrong.


Feb 27, 2021 1:23 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks to all and to PowerPhotos I now have one single complete Photos Library on an external HD attached to my Big Sur iMac!

When I tried to do the "drag and drop" to the Photos icon of my libraries labelled "iPhoto Library", Photos told me they had already been converted to Photos Library.

So instead I opened PowerPhotos and did the Merge using only the 4 Photo libraries on the external drives as source and a New Library on my newly APFS formatted external HD.

The Merge was successful and there were no duplicates and nothing was lost.

I appreciate the help from this forum.

GerriG

How to consolidate multiple Photos and iPhoto libraries into one Photos library in OS Big Sur

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