HT204476: Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries

Learn about Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries
prider57

Q: I am wanting to clean up all my photos...

I've got the following photo libraries:

1]  iPhoto Library that I just converted to Photos.

2] Aperture library on my MacBook Pro that contains my iPhoto library that I moved over to Aperture a while ago.

3] Aperture library on an external drive.

 

I want to upgrade to another MacBook Pro [my current one is a Spring 2009 17“ MBPro, 2.66Ghz, 8G Ram, running 10.10.4] with a larger hard drive because I do not have room for all these libraries on my current MBPro.

 

Questions:

1] Since I have already imported my iPhoto library into Photos, can I also import my two Aperture libraries as well?

2] Do I need to merge Aperture Libraries before importing them into Photos?

3] Does having an iCloud Photo Library affect any of this? [I've just moved everything from Photos and my iOS devices to iCloud Photo Library]

 

Any advice/help will be most welcome!

 

Thanks...

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 17" MBPro running 2.66 Ghz, 8G Ram

Posted on Jul 31, 2015 2:20 PM

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Q: I am wanting to clean up all my photos...

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  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jul 31, 2015 2:46 PM in response to prider57
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Jul 31, 2015 2:46 PM in response to prider57

    Photos does not support to merge libraries.  You can open any number of libraries in Photos and convert them to Photos libraries, but you cannot merge them into one library (see:                Use multiple libraries       ).  It would be lossy, because you would have to export the photos from one library and import the photos into the other library.

     

    If you want to merge your libraries, use Aperture to merge all libraries into one library and then migrate the merged library to Photos.

    aperture can open iPhoto Libraries, but not Photos libraries, so you would have to merge the original library into the other libraries.  See:  Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries

     

     

     

    Does having an iCloud Photo Library affect any of this? [I've just moved everything from Photos and my iOS devices to iCloud Photo Library]

    You can have multiple Photos libraries, but only one iCloud Photo library.  Only the main System Photo Library can sync with iCloud, so you have to make up your mind, if you want all photos in iCloud or only a part of your photos.

     

    If your aperture libraries are referenced, then you cannot upload the photos to iCloud.  You would have to consolidate the libraries first.