Unexpected Photos bloat after restoring from Time Machine

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Unexpected Photos bloat after restoring from Time Machine

At the weekend I had to do the unthinkable: erase and reformat my hard drive because of a problem Disk Utility couldn't fix. I then restored from a recent Time Machine backup. The Finder is reporting that my Photos library and iPhotos library are the same sizes as before - 95 and 91 GB respectively. But the Finder is now reporting that I have 90 GB less disc space than before - it's as if Photos is no longer saving space by keeping track of links to my iPhotos library. Has anyone else seen this and what can I do about it? I suppose I could export unmodified versions of all photos since Apple released Photos, then delete the Photos library, get it to reimport from iPhoto and finally add back my recent photos. But is there a simpler solution? Thanks.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 6, 2015 6:37 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

194,761 points

Jul 6, 2015 6:45 AM in response to RichardLim

. But the Finder is now reporting that I have 90 GB less disc space than before - it's as if Photos is no longer saving space by keeping track of links to my iPhotos library.

Obviously Time Machine did not restore the hard links, when it restored both libraries.

If you want to recreate the hard links, you will have to start over with the old iPhoto Library and migrate it again to Photos, and then reimport all newer Photos.

Are you still using both photo libraries - iPhoto and Photos? If not, consider to move the iPhoto Library to an external drive to save space on your internal drive. The external drive will need to be formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). (see Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture)

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Answer 2

RichardLim Author

Level 1

97 points

Jul 6, 2015 6:51 AM in response to léonie

I still have iPhotos installed although I don't use it much. Yes I could move the iPhoto library as you suggest and maybe at some point ditch it if and when Photos regains enough of iPhoto's functionality that I don't feel the need to have both installed. Or I may migrate my old library to Photos as you suggest.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,761 points

Jul 6, 2015 7:04 AM in response to RichardLim

The problem is, that Photo's space saving is based on hard links, and the hard links do not work across different drives.

Time Machine should have been able to restore the hard links correctly, but if even Time Machine did not restore the links I have no hope, that you can recreate them other than migrating the library again.

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