Roland000

Q: Can I safely uninstall iPhoto?

I just started using iPhoto when Apple "upgraded" to Photos. I have seen the various issues with the new software but don't want to stick with an unsupported product (and will probably mostly use Canon DPP anyway). iPhoto keeps launching and jumping up in the dock with the the message that my library has been migrated to Photos. I don't know why it does that (maybe to do with my photos being stored on a NAS). Can I simply uninstall iPhoto or will there be any backward compatibility issues/data loss in terms of my library?

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on May 2, 2015 12:11 AM

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Q: Can I safely uninstall iPhoto?

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  • by léonie,Apple recommended

    léonie léonie May 2, 2015 12:36 AM in response to Roland000
    Level 10 (106,767 points)
    iLife
    May 2, 2015 12:36 AM in response to Roland000
    . I don't know why it does that (maybe to do with my photos being stored on a NAS)

    If your Photos are stored on a NAS, then  you are using both Photos and iPhoto in an unsupported way. I would not uninstall iPhoto before you are convinced that your iPhoto Library migrated well to the new Photos.app and you have checked each and every Photo in the Photos library, if it has been migrated to Photos and can been accessed in the new library.

     

    You will have no easy way to reinstall iPhoto, if you notice that the new library has issues that only can be solved by fixing the problem in your original library with iPhoto.

     

    . iPhoto keeps launching and jumping up in the dock with the the message that my library has been migrated to Photos.

    This message will pop up, if you are trying to open the original iPhoto Library, that can only be read by iPhoto and not trying to open the new Photos library, see this help document:  If Photos won't open a library that you already migrated - Apple Support

     

    You migrate from iPhoto to Photos by opening your iphoto Library in Photos, either by dragging the iPhoto Library to the Photos icon in the Dock or launching Photos while holding down the alt/options key while double-clicking the Photos icon. Select your iphoto Library from the Library Chooser panel.  If your library on the NAS is not listed there, or iPhoto keeps launching instead,  Photos cannot access the library on that volume.

    Move the library to a drive with a supported format - the drive should be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled) and it should be locally mounted, not using a network connection.

    After Photos migrated your library successfully, you should be seeing a new library with a colourful icon, the same as the Photos.app, on the same drive as your iPhoto Library and with the same size and the filename extension ".photoslibrary".  The original iPhoto Library will have the filename extension ".migratedphotolibrary" and still show the original iPhotolibray icon.

    If you don't see a large library like this, your iPhoto Library has not yet been successfully migrated:

    Screen Shot 2015-05-02 at 09.32.44CEST.png

  • by Roland000,

    Roland000 Roland000 May 2, 2015 1:54 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    May 2, 2015 1:54 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks Léonie. Your response is much appreciated.

     

    Just to clarify, I have migrated my library already and I CAN access my files on the NAS from Photos. I am not prepared to move the files to a local drive. Does that change the answer in terms of the need for an installation of iPhoto?

  • by léonie,Apple recommended

    léonie léonie May 2, 2015 2:36 AM in response to Roland000
    Level 10 (106,767 points)
    iLife
    May 2, 2015 2:36 AM in response to Roland000
    Just to clarify, I have migrated my library already and I CAN access my files on the NAS from Photos

    Your Photos library is on the NAS or are only the original photos referenced on the NAS?

     

    If the library is on the NAS some services will not work with your Photos library, i.e. iCloud, see: https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht211de786

    By default, your System Photo Library is stored in the Pictures folder on your Mac, but you can move it to another location on your Mac or store it on an external storage device. However, to use iCloud services, the external storage device must be formatted using Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, also known as HFS+.

     

    When exactly does it happen, that iPhoto launches, when you try to work with Photos?  That is not normal and indicates a problem with your Photos library. You wrote:

    iPhoto keeps launching and jumping up in the dock with the the message that my library has been migrated to Photos.

    If this this message appears, when you launch Photos, it means, that Photos cannot find the most recently opened Photos library and tries again to migrate the most recently opened iPhoto Library. That would indicate, that it does not recognise the library on the NAS when it launches.

    Uninstalling iPhoto and/or deleting the old library will not solve this. In that case would Photos just create a new default Photos library in your Pictures folder.

    If you do not want to move the Photos library onto your Mac, make a test, if iPhotos will work more stable with the library on a locally mounted external drive with the correct file system MacOS X Extended (Journaled).  This test will show, if the location of your Photos library is indeed the problem.

  • by Roland000,

    Roland000 Roland000 May 2, 2015 3:14 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    May 2, 2015 3:14 AM in response to léonie

    Sorry, should have been precise. The library itself is stored locally, but I have unticked "Copy items to the Photos Library" and all the files are saved on the NAS. I want them there and not on any other drive since other computers on the network can access the files there.

     

    Having said that, I think the migration from iPhoto to Photos has resulted in photos that were already included in iPhoto to be moved into the Photos library which turns out to have 12GB of data now. I would be interested in learning how to reverse that. I don't want to use iCloud services and there is no need for duplicate files in my view.

     

    I cannot tell you anything specific that I do before iPhoto jumps up in the dock. It's definitely unrelated to me accessing any photos or opening Photos. It feels pretty random (when browsing, launching iTunes etc.), hence my guess that it might be prompted by the NAS waking up, although I don't think that's consistent either.

  • by léonie,Apple recommended

    léonie léonie May 2, 2015 6:47 AM in response to Roland000
    Level 10 (106,767 points)
    iLife
    May 2, 2015 6:47 AM in response to Roland000
    Having said that, I think the migration from iPhoto to Photos has resulted in photos that were already included in iPhoto to be moved into the Photos library which turns out to have 12GB of data now. I would be interested in learning how to reverse that. I don't want to use iCloud services and there is no need for duplicate files in my view.

    That are not actual duplicates.  The original image files are linked by hard links.  The hard links look and behave like full files, so you see an increased file size of the library, but the files are shared and do not use additional storage, see:

     

    I cannot tell you anything specific that I do before iPhoto jumps up in the dock. It's definitely unrelated to me accessing any photos or opening Photos. It feels pretty random (when browsing, launching iTunes etc.), hence my guess that it might be prompted by the NAS waking up, although I don't think that's consistent either.

    You may have enabled an "Auto Import" of new photos to iPhoto.

    If your Mac is seeing any connected device as a camera with images to download, it will open the application that has been set to import from that device.

     

    The next time you are seeing iPhoto jumping and the warning panel, click "Open iPhoto".

    Then see, how iPhoto opens. If it will bring up the "Import panel", check, which device it is trying to import from.

    • In the iPhoto Preferences set the "General" preference "Connecting Camera opens" to "No application.
    • Then launch Image Capture and set the same option for the currently connected device to "No application". You will have to click the disclosure triangle in the lower left corner in the Image Capture window, to see this option, after selecting any device in the sidebar.

    Screen Shot 2015-05-02 at 15.45.40CEST.png

  • by Roland000,

    Roland000 Roland000 May 3, 2015 7:13 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    May 3, 2015 7:13 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks. All very helpful since it gives me a better understanding of how Photos is supposed to work.

     

    I have activated View -> Metadata -> Referenced file and the icon does not come up for pictures that were added to my iPhoto library before the migration to Photos. The ones I added later, have the icon, hence my understanding that the files had been moved into the library. I saw a post somewhere saying that Photos would create small additional file versions such that iOS devices could obtain access through the iCloud without taking up too much space. I am not sure about your reply, to be honest.

     

    iPhoto got launched in the event viewer, not on an import page, so I still don't know what triggers the message. I've made the preference changes but on Image capture, I did not have any  devices connected.