transfer of photos between iPhoto

Question

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

transfer of photos between iPhoto

Whats the best way to transfer photos between my 2006 Mac Pro iPhoto and my new iMac

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2006 Mac Pro

Posted on Nov 14, 2014 7:26 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

FoxFifth

Level 10

468,819 points

Nov 14, 2014 8:52 AM in response to melsox

The following quote is from OS X: Manually migrating data from another Mac - Apple Support

Place your iPhoto library into the Photos folder on your new Mac. iPhoto should automatically recognize it when you open it. If not, you may need to upgrade your library first.

The following may also be of interest if you want to migrate everything: Move your data to a new Mac - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 14, 2014 10:30 AM in response to FoxFifth

Ok, thank you, but how about if I have started a photo library on the new iMac, and want to keep those, but add in the old ones. Is this still a good option for that? I would have done a migration, but I only wanted my iPhoto, iTunes, and iMovie files, not everything, and I jumped in and started using the new computer before I figured out what I should do on the migration of data.

Reply

Answer 3

FoxFifth

Level 10

468,819 points

Nov 14, 2014 10:42 AM in response to melsox

If you just have a few photos in the new library with no edits or any other work done, you could use the iPhoto File menu export command to export from the old library and then use the import command to bring them in to the new one. The following previous discussion has other alternatives if you have more work invested and may help: Combining iPhoto Libraries

Reply

Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

Nov 14, 2014 11:16 AM in response to melsox

Rename the library on your new Mac before copying the library from your old Mac. Then use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to merge the few photos in the new library into the old library. This will also copy the edited version, all metadata, i.e. keywords, titles or descriptions, faces and places, albums and events.

Reply

Answer 5

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2014 6:55 PM in response to FoxFifth

Hi, I wanted to update what I originally asked and include more info. I have a 2006 Mac Pro with OS X 10.6.8. In my iPhoto 11 version 9.2.3 (629.52). On this machine, I have 20,482 photos, which take up about 106 GB. I bought a new iMac with OS X Yosemite version 10.10.1, and iPhoto version 9.6 (910.29). Unfortunately, I only wanted to transfer my photos, music, and iMovies, to the new machine, so I did not do a migration assistant and copy everything. Then I waited too long and had to start using the new machine, so I am left with a lot of new photos in my iPhoto on the new machine, but I want to bring over all the old ones without messing up the new ones? Is there any way to copy the 20,000 photos, and bring them to the new machine and have them all still in the same events with all their titles, etc., and not mess up any of the new photos and events I already have going on the new machine. I do have a mac passport external hard drive with enough space on it to fit them all, if that helps. Sorry, should have said all this the first time, but I am new to this forum. What do you think?

Reply

Answer 6

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 30, 2014 7:24 PM in response to melsox

exactly as given above

1 - rename the iPhoto library on your new machine - maybe iPhoto Library new

2 - move your old iPhoto library to the new machine - connect the systems together (or use an external hard drive that is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) ) and drag the iPhoto library from the old system to the pictures folder of the new system

3 - Launch iPhoto on the new system to convert the library - this will give you exactly what you had on the old system

4 - to switch between the two libraries use the switch library command in iPhoto - if you wan to combine the libraries use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to merge them

LN

Reply

Answer 7

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2014 8:41 AM in response to LarryHN

LN, thanks a lot, very helpful. The only problem I had was that their are a lot of files and photos on the old iPhoto that would not load on to the hard drive, they were corrupt or something. They appear fine though in the iPhoto on the old machine? Is there any way to recover those also?

Mike

Reply

Answer 8

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 8, 2014 8:45 AM in response to melsox

Not without details

if you get errors we need to know the exact errors - we need to know exactly wha you have (version Iphto and the OS) on each system - exactly how you did the transfer and exactly what is happening - the directions given work perfectly for thousands of people - if they do not wrk for y we need details

LN

Reply

Answer 9

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2014 11:26 AM in response to melsox

Larry,

Thanks a lot, now when I went into iPhoto on the new machine, they were all there even though it said they did not all get copied. Can I do the same process with iMovie, or is it different?

Mike

Reply

Answer 10

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 9, 2014 6:29 AM in response to melsox

Larry,

I spoke too soon, the 20,000 photos are listed there, all the events are there, with the proper labels, but in about 12,000, the photo is missing and I get a yield sign with the ! in the middle. The problem I assume exists with the original computer and iPhoto, but do you have any advice on how to fix this and me get back all 20,000 photos? My info on the 2 computers is: I have a 2006 Mac Pro with OS X 10.6.8., and my iPhoto 11 version 9.2.3 (629.52) has 20,482 photos, which take up about 106 GB. I bought a new iMac with OS X Yosemite version 10.10.1, and iPhoto version 9.6 (910.29), this is where the transfer is going.

Thanks Again,

Mike

Reply

Answer 11

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 9, 2014 7:35 AM in response to melsox

Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - from the resulting first aid window repair permissions and if necessary rebuild your database

LN

Reply

Answer 12

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 9, 2014 8:09 AM in response to LarryHN

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thank you. Do I do this on the old computer, or the new one, or both?

Reply

Answer 13

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 9, 2014 8:10 AM in response to melsox

the new one where you are having problems

LN

Reply

Answer 14

melsox Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 9, 2014 9:44 AM in response to LarryHN

Ok, I did the repair, and the rebuild, and I let thumbnails rebuild as well, but it did not fix the problem, should I try doing that on the old computer and then transfer again? I am also willing to purchase a software if it solves the problem?

Mike

Reply