Can't empty iPhoto trash

Question

Level 1

9 points

Can't empty iPhoto trash

I've seen a couple of postings on this but it doesn't solve my basic problem.

I recently bought a new Macbook and tried to transfer photos from my old computer to my new one. I'm not sure what I did as I started the transfer before going to bed one night, but it ended up tranferring (or creating, via duplicates) over 100K photos into my new iPhoto. This was obviously a mistake so I decided to delete everything and start over (all of my photos are safely in iPhoto on my old computer). However, even though I have "deleted" all of the photos, they are still on my computer hogging up space...because I can't empty the trash folder in iPhoto.

How do I recitfy this? Do I just delete iPhoto altogether and reinstall it? Is there any other way I can get to these "hidden" files and delete them permanently from the hard drive? They are also slowing down my computer - when I open it up in the morning, the screen is "greyed out" - I have to wait for a status bar to complete to get the screen back to normal. Then I have to wait at least a minute before I can even move the cursor (the wireless will disconnect and reconnect during this process).

MacBook, iOS 6.1.2

Posted on Mar 12, 2013 12:38 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Mar 12, 2013 1:16 AM in response to John Bolsar

It sounds like you imported one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.

So... trash that entire iPhoto Library - go to your Pictures Folder and drag it from there to the trash. and empty it.

To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:

Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...

But however you do choose to link the two machines...

Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.

Then launch iPhoto. That's it.

This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.

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Answer 2

John Bolsar Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 12, 2013 12:02 PM in response to Yer_Man

Thanks, this is very helpful and explained what happened in the first place - now I know!

However, I still have one main problem to solve: I already selected all of these photos in iPhoto and deleted them. However, as you know, they aren't really "gone" until I empty the iPhoto trash folder. The program isn't allowing me to do that; I'm guessing because there are over 100K photos in the iPhoto trash. Whenever I select "Empty iPhoto trash" from the program, I get the beachball for a few minutes and then iPhoto closes unexpectedly. If I re-open iPhoto and try to empty the trash again, it still says "Do you want to delete all 100,000 photos?"

So, I need to find another way to empty out this trash.

Or, do I just delete iPhoto altogether and reload it somehow?

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Mar 12, 2013 12:07 PM in response to John Bolsar

Assuming tha tyou have the old library still available just follow TDs instructions as he posted them

So... trash that entire iPhoto Library - go to your Pictures Folder and drag it from there to the trash. and empty it.

To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:

Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...

But however you do choose to link the two machines...

Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.

Then launch iPhoto. That's it.

This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.

LN

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

215,736 points

Mar 12, 2013 12:18 PM in response to John Bolsar

iiPhoto is known to lock up if you try to delete a large number of photos at a time. Here are a couple of ways to get out of the predicament you're in:

1 - go into iPhoto's General preference pane and uncheck the Show item counts checkbox:

and then try emptying the iPhoto Trash bin again. This method is iffy and doesn't work for everyone.

2 - If that fails and you don't use the Rating stars you can do the following: select all of the photos in the trash and Control-click to bringup the contextual menu. There will be the 5 stars for the ratings. Select either 5 or 1 to apply that rating to the photos.

Next create a smart album with the criteria:

selecting the number of start you applied to those in the Trash bin.

Move the photos from the Trash bin to the Library and the Smart Album will immediately be populated with those photos.

You can now select about 100 photos or so at a time and use the Command+Option+Delete key combination to move them back to the Trash bin and empty it. Repeat with groups of about 100 or so photos till they are all deleted. Then delete the Trash bin in the Dock to completely remove them from your hard drive.

OT

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