JSpencer26
Level 1 (4 points)
iLife

Q: Organizing Photos

Hello,

 

My goal is to clean up my disk space after I recently discovered I had multiple copies of pictures on my computer.  I accidently imported thousands of photos twice resulting in the same picture on my computer but with different names (ex. 1.NEF 1-1.NEF, 1-2.NEF, etc).  I have no idea where to start!  I thought deleting the files from the iPhotos library would delete the photo, but I after the Photos app install I can't even find the file location in the finder.  Is Photos using the iPhoto library?  I opened Finder and I see that there is an iPhotos library and an Photos library.  I assume the Photos library is just an alias of the iphotos library. 

 

I would like to burn all my pictures onto CDs for a safe backup.  I also have an external hard drive and the Time Machine, I just want a physical copy for peace of mind.

 

So how do I find and delete pictures for good on my computer?  Then how do I find and burn pictures onto a CD?

 

Thank you for your help! 

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 26, 2015 9:26 AM

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JSpencer26

Q: Organizing Photos

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jun 26, 2015 9:46 AM in response to JSpencer26
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 26, 2015 9:46 AM in response to JSpencer26

    A few things

     

    you NEVER ever make any changes to the contents or structure of the iphoto or Photos library - doing so will corrupt them and cause data loss

     

    YOU have no need to access the files within the database for any reason and should not be mucking around trying

     

    iPhoto and Photos have two separate libraries and noting done with Photos will affect iPhoto nor will anything done with  iPhoto affect Photos - they do use hard links to share access to the same original and preview photos to save disk space - Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

     

    Deleting photos using Photos does delete them (of course if iPhoto is still using that photo it is not deleted - only when all hard links are removed is the original file deleted)

     

    You can delete your iphoto library if you want though it generally is not a good idea as it makes going back impossible and you may want or need to use iPhoto

     

    for duplicates in Photos you can use PowerPhotos by Fatcat software , Photosweeper for Photos or Duplicate Annihilator for Photos

     

    To burn your photos to CD export (probably the unmodified original) to a desktop folder and in the finder right click on that t folder and burn to disk - after the burn is ocmlete you can delete the folder

     

    LN

  • by JSpencer26,

    JSpencer26 JSpencer26 Jun 26, 2015 12:14 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iLife
    Jun 26, 2015 12:14 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thank you for the info!

     

    What if I want to permanently delete pictures?  I often take hundreds of pictures, but I only want to keep a handful.  How do I delete them without them reappearing elsewhere? 

     

    Will iphotos go away in the future?  I would like to use Photos and Photoshop to edit my pictures, so I am not seeing why the iphotos library should still remain on the computer.

     

    And apologies, I have been a PC person my entire life until recently.  Thanks for walking me through this stuff!!

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jun 26, 2015 1:00 PM in response to JSpencer26
    Level 10 (85,673 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 26, 2015 1:00 PM in response to JSpencer26

    To delete photos in Photos select them and press delete or right click on the selection and delete "n" photos -they will move to recently deleted photos for 30 days unless you go to it and delete now

     

    iPhoto will not go away - it is not being updated and someday if you do an OS update it will quit working - as long as you keep your current system it will keep working

     

    the only reason to keep the iPhoto library is that deleting it save very little space and you might want or need it in the future - one it is gone it is gone so if you do delete it be sure you have a tested backup

     

     

    LN