michelepost
Level 1 (4 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: What to do with my old, 98GB, iPhoto Library?

So I'm using the Photos app now... instead of iPhoto, on my iMac and other devices.  My previous iPhoto Library is still on my computer taking up 98 GB of space.  What should I do with it?  I have tons of pictures and at a glance they all seem to be in the new Photos.  So can I just Delete it and reclaim all that space?  Is there a reason to keep it?

 

Would love anyones input

 

Michele

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 31, 2015 3:21 PM

by Niel,Solvedanswer
Niel Niel
Level 10 (314,528 points)
Mac OS X
A:

1. Put it on an external drive in case you encounter a problem with Photos, but see #2.

2. The actual media files in both libraries are hard-linked as opposed to having separate copies of the same files on the drive. Deleting the iPhoto library will free up a little space, but nowhere near 98GB.

 

(128126)

Posted on May 31, 2015 3:24 PM

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michelepost

Q: What to do with my old, 98GB, iPhoto Library?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Niel,Solvedanswer

    Niel Niel May 31, 2015 3:24 PM in response to michelepost
    Level 10 (314,528 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 31, 2015 3:24 PM in response to michelepost

    1. Put it on an external drive in case you encounter a problem with Photos, but see #2.

    2. The actual media files in both libraries are hard-linked as opposed to having separate copies of the same files on the drive. Deleting the iPhoto library will free up a little space, but nowhere near 98GB.

     

    (128126)

  • by LarryHN,Apple recommended

    LarryHN LarryHN May 31, 2015 3:26 PM in response to michelepost
    Level 10 (85,678 points)
    Photos for Mac
    May 31, 2015 3:26 PM in response to michelepost

    A few things

     

    1 - You can delete the iPhoto library but it is not recommended as once you delete it you have cut off any ability to use it again if needed or if you do not like Photos

     

    2 - Deleting it will save very little space since iphoto and Photos share access to the same originals so deleting the iphoto library will not save 98GB - probably a few GB at most, maybe only a few MB - see Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    LN

  • by Cunnla,Apple recommended

    Cunnla Cunnla May 31, 2015 3:29 PM in response to michelepost
    Level 4 (2,038 points)
    Desktops
    May 31, 2015 3:29 PM in response to michelepost

    iPhoto and Photos use the same database so deleting the iPhoto library will not add that much space to your computer.

    You can keep it as a standby so that you can start up either iPhoto or Photos by holding down the Option key while opening Photos, provided you still have the iPhoto app (version 9.6.1) in your Applications folder.

  • by michelepost,

    michelepost michelepost Jun 22, 2015 9:06 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 22, 2015 9:06 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thank you for your help, and the article link too, I read it.  But I still have a question: when I started using the new Photos app I decided to put my Photos Library in my Dropbox to save space on my computer.  My old iPhotos library is still on my Mac's HD.  Have I messed up anything by doing this? ...something I haven't noticed yet?  Because Photos seems to work fine, but I haven't done enough with it to know for sure.  I do notice that my Photos Library on Dropbox is only 23 GB, while my iPhotos Library on my iMac went from 98 GBs to the low 70s. 

     

    I agree, from you and other research I've done so far here on the forums, that I shouldn't delete my iPhotos library, but I still want to free up that 70+ GBs on my iMac.  Should I move my iPhotos library to my Dropbox?  Or should I put the Photos library back on my Mac's HD and deal with the storage issue. 

     

    One more thing that might be relevant:  I can't remember exactly when I moved the Photos library into my Dropbox, maybe within 2 weeks of first opening and using it, but I have noticed a couple weird things:  First that there is no "faces" data that was transferred from iPhoto (I spent so much time naming faces over the years!), also I heard Events would be transferred over to Photos as Albums w/ the Event's name, but that never happened (which is not a big deal for me as I didn't really use Events).  But if this had something to do with my moving the Photos library away from the iPhotos library than I guess I've done something I shouldn't have.

     

    Appreciate your help!  Thank you, Michele

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jun 22, 2015 9:40 PM in response to michelepost
    Level 10 (85,678 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 22, 2015 9:40 PM in response to michelepost

    Yes

     

    The photos library must always be on a volume formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) - Drop box is not correctly formatted

    And DropBox will sync changes so the library may get modified without Photos knowledge which will destroy the library

     

    And moving the Photos library to a new volume breaks the hard links

     

    Hopefully moving it back to the main hard drive will work but you probably have broken the hard links so it probably will now take up lots of storage so you may be forced to delete the iphoto library in order to continue

     

    LN

  • by michelepost,

    michelepost michelepost Jun 23, 2015 2:35 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 23, 2015 2:35 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks Larry.  I will try to drag photos library back to my macs HD.  Do you think I should reinstall Photos?  Is that even possible?  But first do you have any suggestions on how I could test it to see if they are linked again?