Duplicate Photos from Photo Library on External Drive

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Duplicate Photos from Photo Library on External Drive

I have a bunch of duplicate photos on a photo library that is located on my external drive. I want to get rid of the duplicates but on the duplicates tab it states “Photos scans your library to find duplicates. Scanning will continue when you’re not using the app and your Mac is connected to power.” When it says “not using the app” do I have to leave it open and idle, or close the photo app? Either way I have tried, none of the duplicates have appeared in that tab. I have googled everything under the sun but it has been a struggle. If you recommend a software, I own disk drill. Again, it’s a photo library that is stored on an external hard drive. Any advice would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Feb 18, 2024 4:56 PM

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Answer 1

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Richard.Taylor

Level 6

19,943 points

Feb 19, 2024 7:18 AM in response to ffbogijr

You don't mention which OS version you have.

How is your external drive formatted? APSF or what? Does it have Time Machine?

Duplicate finding seems a little awkward, sometimes, and it can take weeks. Are you seeing a Duplicates folder on the sidebar? That only appears when Photos has actually found duplicates. What do you see?

For background operations, most of us keep Photos open but in the background-- maybe a Finder window on top. If it's a laptop, it needs to be plugged in. I leave mine on overnight when I want it to do background stuff like faces, duplicates, or iCloud syncing.

As for other programs-- don't use them with Photos! Very few 3rd party apps can interact with Photos without messing up the database. I mean bad. A safe program that can be used with Photos is PowerPhotos ($30) -- many of us here use it for helping with Photos tasks. It has a good Duplicates finder that I sometimes use in addition to Photos own.

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Duplicate Photos from Photo Library on External Drive

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