Mac storage showing 190 GB of Photos when I have 62 GB

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Level 1

8 points

Mac storage showing 190 GB of Photos when I have 62 GB

I recently purchased a MacBook Pro and I wanted have my photos in iPhoto. I tried several times to just drag all my photos to iPhoto, when it crashed. Afterwards I imported all my photos folder by folder so less data had to be transferred. I didn't know at this time that it creates duplicates of the original photos. Now I see that out of the 500 GB I have 190 GB of photos, when I actually only have 62 GB. I deleted the photos from iPhoto, emptied the iPhoto trash can and I reinstalled the application, I tried to use several disk cleanup programs, but neither of them discovered where is the location of those 'ghost photos'. Anyone has any recommendations what should I do or has a solution? Thank you in advance.

Posted on Mar 11, 2015 9:31 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Mar 11, 2015 9:33 AM in response to irisz002

Use this

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

it will tell you accurately what is using up your disk space and where it is.

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Answer 2

irisz002 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 11, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Yer_Man

Even with the application I have only 62 GB of photos. I checked the application folder, my documents and all in all there is around 160 GB of space occupied on my whole Mac. Any other recommendation what could I do?

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Mar 11, 2015 12:24 PM in response to irisz002

If you mouse over the app window it will tell you what is using the space and where it is...

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Answer 4

irisz002 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 11, 2015 2:08 PM in response to Yer_Man

Yes, I found out that, but the thing is even in the app it says that I have only 62 GB of photos, although in the About this Mac > Storage, it says that I have 180 GB. This is what I don't understand.

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Mar 11, 2015 2:19 PM in response to irisz002

About this Mac > Storage, it says that I have 180 GB. This is what I don't understand.

You're assuming that the 'Storage' indicator is useful, that's all. It's not. Just a pretty picture. It will update eventually. As a measure of anything it's quite useless.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Mar 11, 2015 2:20 PM in response to irisz002

Tell us bit more, what you actually did.

I tried to use several disk cleanup programs, but neither of them discovered where is the location of those 'ghost photos'.

Which cleaning programs did you use? Some cleaning apps can corrupt the iPhoto library.

Which iPhoto version do you have?

I deleted the photos from iPhoto, emptied the iPhoto trash can and I reinstalled the application,

How did you delete from iPhoto? iPhoto does not delete photos well, if you trash more than a few hundred photos at once.

And did you empty the System Trash, after you emptied iPhoto's Trash?

How large is the iPhoto Library, when you check the size in the Finder?

If you let any cleaning app touch your iPhoto Library, I would make a backup and rebuild the iPhoto Library.

To launch the Library First Aid Tools, hold down the key combination option-command while double-clicking the iPhoto icon. In the panel select "repair database". This may take a while for a large library.
If that does not help, back up your library and use the next option "Rebuild".

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Answer 7

irisz002 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 11, 2015 2:49 PM in response to léonie

I used Disk Cleaner and CleanMyMac but neither of them found these 'ghost pictures', just the usual deleting internet history data etc.

I have iPhoto 9.6 and I deleted the event folders, there were quite a lot, but afterwards they all disappeared and they were in the trashcan (the total number of photos was after the trash) and then I emptied the iPhoto trashcan and the System trashcan also.

Actually as I see now, iPhoto only uses 1,59 GB, so then probably the problem is not in iPhoto. Thank you for your reply.

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Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Mar 11, 2015 2:56 PM in response to irisz002

I used Disk Cleaner and CleanMyMac

Seriously. Remove both of these apps from your Mac. They are quite unnecessary and have been known to damage OS X installations on a regular basis as well as trash iPhoto Libraries, Aperture Libraries. Truly, they are junk ware.

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Mar 11, 2015 3:21 PM in response to irisz002

Actually as I see now, iPhoto only uses 1,59 GB, so then probably the problem is not in iPhoto.

How did you import into iPhoto? You may have stored the photos in the original location and not inside the iPhoto Library.

Check the Preference "Advanced > Importing", if it is set to "Copy items to the iPhoto Library". If you imported photos with this preference off, the originals of the photos you deleted will still be on your Mac and not deleted, even if you emptied the iPhoto Trash and System Trash.

If you imported photos this way to iPhoto, you will have to find the originals on your own, they are not in the iPhoto Library and iPhoto does not delete them.

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Answer 10

Old Toad

Level 10

215,718 points

Mar 11, 2015 4:19 PM in response to irisz002

I used Disk Cleaner and CleanMyMac but neither of them found these 'ghost pictures', just the usual deleting internet history data etc.

After deleting those two crap ware and all their associated files according to the developer's instructions run Etrecheck to confirm that all have been removed.

Then keep a close eye on the performance of the system and other apps. If you have any problems you may have to reinstall the system.

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