iPhoto and the Modified Folder

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iPhoto and the Modified Folder

Hello,

I do NOT modify any of original pictures and yet I have a whoppingly large (52 gb!) modified folder. I do use iPhoto to upload my pictures onto my facebook. Is iPhoto modifying the originals and uploading it into facebook, and thus creating items into my modified folder? Since it's so large of a file, I'd like to deleted the modified folder, but I don't want to lose said photos on Facebook. If I deleted it, would anything happen to my Facebook photos that I uploaded? I am using iPhoto '09 8.1.2 (424) and OS 10.6.8

Thanks!

Posted on Oct 17, 2011 11:57 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,260 points

Oct 18, 2011 12:37 AM in response to atomic8778

That does seem very large.

Usual reasons for unexpected images in the Modifieds folder include:

1. You're importing Raws. Iphoto creates a Jpeg preview of each Raw on import.

2. You're importing Jpegs with Exif tags such as Auto-Rotate. A camera does not actually rotate any pixels in the file, but instead flags it with an instruction: "Display me this way". This is a tag in the Exif metadata. When you import a file with this tag iPhoto creates a modified version. It does this because most of the apps that integrate with it - email clients, word processors etc - simply don't understand this Exif tag. So if you used the shot in a word processing doc, uploaded it to many Web site etc, the shot would come out sideways.

But unless you have a very large library, I can't see either/both of these accounting for 52 gigs.

Sort the Modifieds Folder on SIze. What's the largest item?

Regards

TD

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Answer 2

atomic8778 Author

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Oct 18, 2011 7:10 PM in response to Yer_Man

Thank for replying!

I will say that the modified folder is actually 34 GB. I was using a program to see why I was losing so much space and it showed it was my iPhoto library. 18GB for Original and 34 for Modified, hence 52 GB so I apologize for that mistake.

I do shoot a lot of photos so that would be one reason for the large size. My latest import was entirely JPEG and the modified folder has that import date too, so we can rule out the importing RAW and iPhoto duplicating with JPEG. I shoot entirely in JPEG as RAW hogs up way too much space and I don't modify my pictures anyway so RAW is unnecessary. As for the 2nd note, I am not rotating on the camera and importing it into iPhoto. I actually don't do anything to any of my photos except directly importing into iPhoto and immediately uploading to facebook. Basically for me it's: 1) Shoot picture, 2) Import to iPhoto, 3) Upload to Facebook.

I can't really sort the modified folder by size since they're all entirely folders of folder of folders of pictures so I cannot sort them out easily. A quick run through of the folder shows me that its basically entirely pictures.

I don't mind deleting my modified folder, but I don't want to lose them on Facebook. If I delete my modified folder, would I lost them on Facebook?

Thanks!

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Oct 18, 2011 7:19 PM in response to atomic8778

If you delete your modified folder you will destroy your iPhoto library and have to start over - NEVER make any chages of any sor tto the structure or content of the iPhoto library

LN

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Answer 4

atomic8778 Author

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Oct 18, 2011 9:43 PM in response to LarryHN

I've actually done it before. I moved my originals folder somewhere else and nothing happened to my library. I'm assuming that iPhoto was using the modified folder instead of my originals. I haven't modified my modified folder so I wouldn't know what would happen (as in I haven't moved it anywhere or altered it in anyway). It comes down to this: why am I getting a modified folder when I am not modifying ANY of my pictures itself.

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Answer 5

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Oct 18, 2011 10:19 PM in response to atomic8778

Usual reasons for unexpected images in the Modifieds folder include:

1. You're importing Raws. Iphoto creates a Jpeg preview of each Raw on import.

2. You're importing Jpegs with Exif tags such as Auto-Rotate. A camera does not actually rotate any pixels in the file, but instead flags it with an instruction: "Display me this way". This is a tag in the Exif metadata. When you import a file with this tag iPhoto creates a modified version. It does this because most of the apps that integrate with it - email clients, word processors etc - simply don't understand this Exif tag. So if you used the shot in a word processing doc, uploaded it to many Web site etc, the shot would come out sideways.

And

I've actually done it before. I moved my originals folder somewhere else and nothing happened to my library.

If you did that then your library is a mess and that may be part of the issue - you simply can not change the contents of the library withou causin gissues

LN

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Answer 6

atomic8778 Author

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Oct 19, 2011 5:15 PM in response to LarryHN

Well my library is very much intact. At any rate, my modified folder is still large. Incredibly large. The most recent import was fully JPEG, and without ANY modification whatsoever, and yet I still have an orginial AND modified folder for some reason.

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Answer 7

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,260 points

Oct 19, 2011 11:12 PM in response to atomic8778

Download Grand Perspective and scan the Modifieds folder with it. This will tell you what's using up all that spaace. I simply don't understand how 18 gigs of originals gives you 34 gigs of modifieds.

Regards

TD

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