Transferring iPhoto Library from 10.3 to 10.8

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Transferring iPhoto Library from 10.3 to 10.8

My folks recently upgraded from an eMac running 10.3 / Whatever Cat to an iMac running 10.8 / Mountain Lion. I have transferred the old iPhoto Library to the new computer, and renamed it slightly (but did not replace or throw away the new iPhoto Library that came with the iMac.) That new library has nothing in it. I have downloaded and used the iPhoto Upgrader but have not yet done the part where it updates the photos for hours when you open the library with iPhoto itself.

Apparently in iPhoto 11 you could just keep two libraries forever, but this is not desirable in my parents' case. So my questions are:

1) do I want to import the old library or simply replace / throw away the new library by putting the old one in the Pictures folder? (It used to be that importing an old library folder was a bad idea, is that still the case?)

B) if I replace the new iPhoto Library folder, will iPhoto store photos in a slightly odd way? For example, when I upgraded to a small MBP after my first Macbook died I transferred my old iTunes library. But because of that, all my music is actually stored in the "Music" file under "iTunes Media" and nothing is actually in the "iTunes Music" folder. Not a problem really, but not all that clean either.

3) in either case, will the dates of the photos remain as they are?

I'm know other people have similar questions, but most of the time they're transferring from a more recent version of iPhoto, so I just want to be sure before trying anything. The photos are backed up elsewhere, so no pressure.

I appreciate the advice.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Feb 7, 2013 7:00 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Feb 7, 2013 10:58 PM in response to Maxwell Barton

1. Throw away the new empty Library and put the transferred one into the PIctures Folder. Then Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'

NOTE: there is no importing involved here. Just moving into place and starting iPhoto.

2. What does "slightly odd" mean? Note that there are changes between iPhoto 08 and later, and iPhoto 1 and 6, in particular how the files are accessed. For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491

3. Yes.

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Answer 2

Feb 8, 2013 3:01 PM in response to Yer_Man

Thanks Terence,

I tried to get at what I meant by "slightly odd" in question B with the iTunes example: when I dragged old music to my mac when it was new, my old files were stored in an "iTunes Music" folder but because iTunes had been updated, I ended up having to put them im the "Music" folder inside "iTunes Media".

Likewise I was wondering if it would need to sort the photos in iPhoto in a different manner that would require something of me. But I was thinking of the older iPhoto libraries that actually let you see individual folders for each year if you double-clicked on "IPhoto Library" in the Pictures folder.

These days I guess if you double click on the iPhoto Library it just opens the application, so it doesn't matter.

Thanks!

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