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Delete Photos from iMac's HD

I am sorting through loads of photos and know that by only deleting a photo from within iPhoto, by hitting the delete key, is not sufficient.

I move unwanted photos to the trash bin and then periodically I empty iPhoto's Trash.

iPhoto > Empty iPhoto Trash.


It appears to be working in that I can no longer find these photos in the Master folder.


Path:


Pictures -> iPhoto Library -> Masters -> 2015....etc


However, when I am checking the computer's storage, the GBs for Photos remain unchanged. Only the free space on the disk has increased.

Is this normal? I expected that the GBs specified for Photos also would have decreased.


I just want all unwanted pics permanently removed from the HD.


I am using OS X 10.9.5


Thanks in advance

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 2, 2015 3:19 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Sep 2, 2015 4:45 AM

If you're using iPhoto 11 then you also need to empty the System Trash.

2 replies

Oct 9, 2015 9:53 AM in response to weskus

Deleting Photos from an iPhoto Library


1 - from an Event or the Photos mode: select the photo(s) and use the Delete key to move the photos to the trash bin. Then empty the iPhoto Trash bin as follows:

User uploaded file


2 - from an album, smart album, book, slideshow, card, or anywhere in the library use the key combination of Option+Command+Delete to move the selected photos to the iPhoto Trash bin. Empty the iPhoto Trash bin as above or with the key combination of Shift+Command+Delete. You will see get this message to either continue or not.


3 - once the iPhoto Trash bin has been emptied the files are transferred to the Trash Bin in the Dock. When you empty the Dock's Trash bin the image files are permanently removed from the hard drive.


NOTE: deleting a photo from an album, slideshow, book, etc., with only the Delete key only deletes that photo from that item. Deleting a photo from an Event deletes ALL occurences of that photo in the library.


User uploaded file

Delete Photos from iMac's HD

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