User profile for user: Bob Covell
Bob Covell Author
User level: Level 1
76 points

Trouble Moving Photo Library

A friend has two Apple laptops. The 'small' one has 4k pics in it's library and is running out of space. She wants to move the entire library to her 'big' laptop with plenty of space on the internal HD.


We looked at an Apple tutorial but couldn't get it to work as there didn't seem to be a connection between the two machines.


I was able to download the 4k Photo library to an external HD. But, when we plug in the EHD to the 'big' computer and it shows up on the desktop, we can't drag it to the Photo library. We do get a window listing 87 items that are not compatible, but, no way to import otherwise. We've tried the import function under File with no luck.


Any ideas what we're doing wrong?


Bob.

Posted on Oct 23, 2024 9:21 AM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7
23,102 points

Posted on Oct 23, 2024 10:09 AM

The pictures are stored in the Photos Library, usually a "package" called "Photos Library.photoslibrary" that is normally stored in the Pictures folder. To avoid dealing with conflicting names, you can change the name of the package to "Small Mac.photoslibrary" if you like.


I wouldn't open the Photos Library package or mess around inside for fear of damaging the database and data.


If the operating system of the Big Computer is older than that on the Small Mac, then the Library will be incompatible. The database for a newer version has stuff that can't be understood by an older OS. The only way around this is to use iCloud Photos.


If the operating system of the Big Computer is NEWER than that on the Small Mac, then Photos will upgrade the Library to work with the new OS.


To transfer the Library, you would drag "Small Mac.photoslibrary" to the external hard drive, and then drag it to the Pictures folder on the big computer. Double clicking on the "Small Mac.photoslibrary" package icon should open it in the Photos app. It's OK to have two Libraries and to go back and forth. Or you can merge them.


---- once again, muguy and I are typing at the same time…





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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7
23,102 points

Oct 23, 2024 10:09 AM in response to Bob Covell

The pictures are stored in the Photos Library, usually a "package" called "Photos Library.photoslibrary" that is normally stored in the Pictures folder. To avoid dealing with conflicting names, you can change the name of the package to "Small Mac.photoslibrary" if you like.


I wouldn't open the Photos Library package or mess around inside for fear of damaging the database and data.


If the operating system of the Big Computer is older than that on the Small Mac, then the Library will be incompatible. The database for a newer version has stuff that can't be understood by an older OS. The only way around this is to use iCloud Photos.


If the operating system of the Big Computer is NEWER than that on the Small Mac, then Photos will upgrade the Library to work with the new OS.


To transfer the Library, you would drag "Small Mac.photoslibrary" to the external hard drive, and then drag it to the Pictures folder on the big computer. Double clicking on the "Small Mac.photoslibrary" package icon should open it in the Photos app. It's OK to have two Libraries and to go back and forth. Or you can merge them.


---- once again, muguy and I are typing at the same time…





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User profile for user: muguy
muguy
User level: Level 10
94,338 points

Oct 23, 2024 10:00 AM in response to Bob Covell

That depends. on. what. you're trying to do. If there are no photos on the "big" computer, just copy the .photolibrary file from the. "small" Mac onto the hard drive. Then replace the photo library on the "big" Mac.


If there are photos in both, it may be easier to use iCloud photos too. sync the devices In Photos. Photos > Settings > iCloud. Depending on the size of the libraries it can take some time to sync. They can then turn off iCloud sync if wished to remove the photos from the "small" Mac or turn on optimization on that Mac to keep lower-res files on the small Mac too.

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User profile for user: Bob Covell
Bob Covell Author
User level: Level 1
76 points

Oct 31, 2024 12:48 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Here's what we did. Using the external HD where were able to transfer the small computer pics to, we connected it to the big computer and were able to drag the library to Applications>photos and they copied to the big computer.


But, we can't find the pictures that were already on the big computer. We tried holding the option key while opening the Photos app, but, we just got all the 'new' pics.


What's the process for either merging the two libraries or at least being able to choose between them?


Thanks, Bob.

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Trouble Moving Photo Library

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