Moving iPhoto files to external drive

fraelburtus wrote:

1. I think I may have over-complicated the problem.

Can I move an iPhoto Library to an external drive and then

2. Open that moved iPhoto Library (on the external drive) with Photos to migrate it to Photos and

3. will the original iPhoto Library on the external drive and the Photos migrated library on the external drive both be correctly linked on the external drive. And then

4. can I delete the iPhoto Library from the original Pictures folder that is at users/Pictures/original iPhoto Library on the MacIntosh HD.

#1 - Yes. Make sure the drive is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) or APFS.

#2 - Yes if you're NOT RUNNING VENTURA but an earlier system. i.e. Monterey or earlier. If you're running Ventura you can only import an iPhoto library into an existing Photos library - not convert an iPhoto library to a Photos library.

#3 - Yes, a library is linked to the drive/volume it's on automatically.

#4 - Yes as long as you're sure the new library has all of the photos and videos from the iPhoto library.

Are these really iPhoto libraries you want to merge into a single Photos library?

Are you running Ventura?

Where is your Photos library located? Is it on a volume that has enough room for all of the iPhoto library together in the Photos library? If not, copy it to a volume with sufficient space.

Then open the Photos library and go to the File menu and select Import. Navigate to the first iPhoto library to be imported and import. Check the import before deleting the iPhoto library to make sure all photos and videos were successfully imported. Then do the next iPhoto library.

If you've put a lot of organizational effort into the iPhoto libraries, i.e. folders, albums, etc., you may want to use the paid version of PowerPhotos to merge the iPhoto libraries into the Photos library. The following is a comparison between Photos and PowerPhotos regarding merging libraries.

PowerPhotos: Photos:

Albums -----------

Smart Albums (as regular albums). -----------

Folders -----------

Captions Captions

Titles Titles

Original images Original images

Edited images Edited images

Locations Locations

Favorites Favorites

Can detect and exclude Duplicates detected after import

duplicates (or not) during import

Neither method included projects.

Both methods could import older iPhoto libraries into a Photos library when the iPhoto library couldn't be migrated into a Photos library.

I'm sure Old Toad will get back with you soon, but in the mean time you should see this:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

To get full functionality (and to avoid damaging the Photos Library) an external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted. Be sure the "Ignore Ownership" box is checked on the external drive.

If that's all OK, then here is no problem having a Photos Library on an external drive. If it's synced to iCloud, connecting it and disconnecting it may cause some stuttering in its function.

Well, I see OT got back to you before me...

fraelburtus wrote:

#1 - You say copy the Pictures folder to the external drive? That will copy all iPhoto and Photos libraries to the external drive. That's fine. But then you say import in Photos the iPhoto library. Does that migrate the iPhoto library?

To help understand. I have about 20 IPhoto Libraries that I want to keep intact as Photos libraries. They contain numerous pictures of individual pages of business journals from the 1900's. The structure is simple they all have folders and albums, but nothing else like smart albums, or projects. As an example, one Library has 1500 photos organized in 16 albums.

Thanks again.

Mike

#1 - I didn't say copy the Pictures folder to the EHD but copy the Photos library that you want to merge into to the EHD.

I thought you wanted to merge all libraries into one. If not then just merge those libraries you want into the destination Photos library. However, make sure there's enough room on the volume it's in to handle the size.