How can I reduce the size of the MASTERS folder inside Photos?

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nathan_h Author

Level 1

39 points

How can I reduce the size of the MASTERS folder inside Photos?

I was trying to find out why my Photos app database is SO large. I have 8 gig of jpg photos.

I chose to NOT copy them when I imported them into Photos.

Yet my Photos app database is 8g as well! That's a lot of space to use when I didn't even copy the JPG into it.

So I went hunting to learn what was going on.

You can go to your Pictures Folder and find the Photos Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

Here is what I found:

The "Masters" folder is very small. 300MB.
The "Previews" folder is a similar size.
"Thumbnails" are under 1G.
It's the "Resources" folder that is many gigs in size.

Very interesting. So in a sense, it could be even worse!

That is, apparently the setting prevented the "Masters" folder from getting 8 gig of photos copied into it.
But even so, "Resources" ended up with 6.5G in it -- even though no files were copied!
Wild.
Other photo management apps (e.g., Lightroom) have sort of a 10% overhead, not a 90% overhead -- i.e., close to the same size as the actual photos themselves.

I should probably start a fresh question, now that you have solved half the mystery: Yes, the actual photos were not imported into Masters, but Resources gets really big!

So here is my question: What the heck is going on with RESOURCES? How can I make that folder smaller? I mean, at this point, if I were to choose to import all my photos, it looks like that would double the size of my Photos installation. Of course, I'm not going to do that. Because, already, I don't have enough space for everything on my hard drive. And Photos, even when not importing, takes up a lot of space.

I need to get this folder under control. How can I?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 11, 2015 11:06 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Apr 11, 2015 11:12 AM in response to nathan_h

Any fooling around that you do will likely result in losing your photo library. Leave it alone. See Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support.

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Answer 2

nathan_h Author

Level 1

39 points

Apr 11, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Kappy

Sorry, I meant RESOURCES folder, not MASTERS. My question is correct, but the topic title needs editing!

Masters can be controlled easily -- Don't copy on import.

But the Resources folder is almost as big as my complete photo library. That means, when using the PHOTOS app, I need twice as much hard drive space -- which isn't going to happen on my Mac Air any time soon 😟

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Apr 11, 2015 12:19 PM in response to nathan_h

Please read the linked article. Photos links to your iPhoto Library using hard links which work as though they are real files, but they aren't. They do appear as duplicates.

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Answer 4

Philbee

Level 1

21 points

Apr 11, 2015 10:20 PM in response to nathan_h

If you have many faces being attached to persons (face recognition thingy), that may explain the huge size of your resources folder.

At least that's what I noticed here. Photos disk space usage

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Answer 5

nathan_h Author

Level 1

39 points

Apr 11, 2015 10:09 PM in response to Kappy

Cool article, but not relevant.

I did not import from iPhoto nor Aperture.

I have my photos as JPEG files in a folder on my hard drive.

Photos, the app, did not make any duplicates. Rather, it made a giant Resources folder, almost as big as my folder of Image files.

FInder Info confirms the size increase and lost capacity on my hard drive.

But I appreciate the link. That could certainly give someone the same impression.

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Answer 6

nathan_h Author

Level 1

39 points

Apr 11, 2015 10:19 PM in response to Philbee

Bingo. That is what my problem is, as well. I think it's funny(sad) that the recommended solution is to not use the Photos app.

BUt yes until there is an option to not create the giant Resources folder, effectively doubling the space I need for my pictures, I don't have a choice.

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