Ivan H
Level 1 (16 points)
Mac OS X

Q: What to do after Photos duplicated iPhoto Library?

I didn't aware that the new Photos app will import and duplicate all photos (200+ GB) from the iPhoto Library on me Mac and the Time Machine backup. 

 

What did you do after you start using the new Photos app and breaking up with the old iPhoto Library Manager? 

 

Did you just delete the whole iPhoto Library?

 

How did you keep your Time Machine slim and avoided duplicated Photos in the Time Capsule?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Posted on Jul 21, 2015 5:26 AM

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Ivan H

Q: What to do after Photos duplicated iPhoto Library?

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  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 21, 2015 5:36 AM in response to Ivan H
    Level 10 (108,894 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 21, 2015 5:36 AM in response to Ivan H

    The photos are not duplicated on your mac, but probably in Time Machine.

     

    When Photos migrates the iPhoto Library it creates hard links to the original image files in the library, also to the Previews.  These hard linked copies do not need any extra space, even if they look like regular files, but they are sharing the storage with the originals, see:

    Six Colors: The (hard) link between Photos and iPhoto

    and

    Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    I am not sure, if Time Machine will recognise the hard links when it backs up the library, but it is using the same technique, when it creates backups.

     

    You can delete the original iPhoto Library, if you do not use iPhoto any longer, but keep a full backup copy.  It may be necessary to repeat the migration, if you later should discover problems in the migrated library, that only can be fixed in iPhoto.

  • by Ivan H,

    Ivan H Ivan H Jul 21, 2015 5:45 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 21, 2015 5:45 AM in response to léonie

    My Macbook Pro lost 200+ GB of space after using Photos app for the first time.

    My daughter's Macbook Air recovered 60 GB after removing iPhoto Library photos. 

     

    I used Space Gremlin and found the space occupied by Photos is similar to iPhoto Library and the folders inside were mirrored.

     

    So, the evidence persuades me that Photos do duplicate iPhotos Library.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 21, 2015 6:01 AM in response to Ivan H
    Level 10 (108,894 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 21, 2015 6:01 AM in response to Ivan H

    I used Space Gremlin and found the space occupied by Photos is similar to iPhoto Library and the folders inside were mirrored.

     

    So, the evidence persuades me that Photos do duplicate iPhotos Library.

    That is the magic of hard links.  It duplicates the files, they look exactly like the original files and are having apparently the same size in the Finder, and you cannot tell from what you are seeing in the Finder which is the original and which is the copy. And applications like Space Gremlin are fooled.  But both files are using the same blocks on the disk, so the space is used only once.  When you trash either a photo from your iPhoto Library or from the migrated Photos Library, you will not see much decrease in used storage.  The storage will only be released, after you delete the image file from both libraries.  MacOS X is counting the references to the linked file, and only when it is no longer used, will the storage be released.

     

    There are some files that are genuine duplicates, for example the faces thumbnails.

  • by Ivan H,

    Ivan H Ivan H Jul 21, 2015 6:15 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 21, 2015 6:15 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks Léonie.

     

    With your experience and the reference links, I'm not questioning about your integrity.  But my experience has confused me because the space on the MBP and MBA as well as two Time Capsules actually gave a BANG!  Perhaps Gremlin was fooled but the Disk Utility reported the same space occupied.

     

    Let me assume that you're totally correct.  Does it mean that I need to do nothing more? (I found that the Photos app lacked the metadata I visually needed.)

     

    (In fact, I was planning to use iPhoto Library Manager and PowerPhotos (from the FatCatSoftware) to split up my photo repository into libraries in the network drives. Now, I may need more time to review it before going ahead.)

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jul 21, 2015 6:25 AM in response to Ivan H
    Level 10 (139,597 points)
    iLife
    Jul 21, 2015 6:25 AM in response to Ivan H

    Just remember that neither iPhoto nor Photos can have the Library on a network location  or on a drive that's not formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 21, 2015 6:30 AM in response to Ivan H
    Level 10 (108,894 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 21, 2015 6:30 AM in response to Ivan H
    Let me assume that you're totally correct.  Does it mean that I need to do nothing more? (I found that the Photos app lacked the metadata I visually needed.)

    I'd wait until you have explored Photos a bit and are sure, if you rather want to continue with iPhoto until more powerful Photos upgrades have been released or not. And then keep only one of the libraries on your internal drive, the one you will mainly be working with.

     

    (In fact, I was planning to use iPhoto Library Manager and PowerPhotos (from the FatCatSoftware) to split up my photo repository into libraries in the network drives. Now, I may need more time to review it before going ahead.)

     

    It is not quite clear yet, if it is save to use Photo Libraries from a network drive.  I would not risk it.  For iPhoto we have Apple's strong recommendation to keep the iPhoto Library on a locally mounted drive:  (iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives)

    . Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.

    iPhoto libraries should be stored on a locally mounted Mac OS X Extended drive for best performance.

  • by Ivan H,

    Ivan H Ivan H Jul 21, 2015 7:06 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 21, 2015 7:06 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks.  Good to be advised.  Instead of network drive, perhaps I keep the libraries in the external drive (USB3) mounted to a Mac Mini Server.