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What is the best way to export the contents of iPhoto and completely reset iphoto

So during my searches to find the answers to back up the contents of iphoto I realized that my iPhoto Library may be "fragmented" or "dying" as one put it.

I have already exported all selectable files in the photos tab to an external Hard drive. I exported the originals and the edited copies. This took only about an hour despite being a file of about 347gb.


iPhoto claims to have 470+gb of data in it's "iPhoto Library" package I can't figure out where 130+gb is going though. I figured I would try and copy the entire library to another identical but nearly empty External Hard drive just to be safe before I wiped out iphoto... this however was going to take 8 days to do according to the finder copy window. So I opened activity window while I am not sure how to look at all this info as I only know a few things from what I have read. I looked in the disk tab and finder was writing 100/ MBs of data (where the list of operations is) but at the bottom where the graphs are it was only seems to be writing kbs. I mean idk what all that means but based on the fact that it was only seemed to be writing .01 of gb every few minutes on a Thunderbolt wire this leads me to believe something is wrong on my main hard drive and possibly even with iPhoto.


So to prevent the spread of bad data I just want to export the important contents of iphoto (just pictures and videos) the best way I can and completely reset iphoto. Thank you for your time.

Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 8, 2015 10:37 PM

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4 replies

Oct 8, 2015 10:52 PM in response to ferrante9

this however was going to take 8 days to do according to the finder copy window.


The Finder is a liar. Also it's extremely poor at estimating copy times. It won't take eight days, though will take several hours for that amount of data.


I'm not sure what your issue actually is...


realized that my iPhoto Library may be "fragmented" or "dying" as one put it.


I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by these terms. What you're doing - exporting Originals and Versions - will destroy the non-destructive editing feature and leave you with massive duplication, and, depending on the export settings you choose, significant metadata loss.


The best way to rebuild an iPhoto Library with the absolute minimum of dataloss is with iPhoto Library Manager


Download iPhoto Library Managerand use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)


This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.


Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.


But I'm still not sure what problem you may have... and why you think you have it.

Oct 8, 2015 11:54 PM in response to Yer_Man

I rarely ever use all the features of iPhoto as it's been overwhelming to keep up with all the features available. However I don't like the way iPhoto stores it's data and while it's partially because of my ignorance of how all it's processes work I want to ditch it all together simply because I feel it tries to be too transparent and integrated without explaining what's going in it. Anyways I have a Adobe CC subscription for over a year and wish to learn the ins and outs of that in the next few months. I apologize if what I seem to be attempting or my explanation of it seems a little wacky. My family computer has been rather disorganized for years and thrown into random folders to "clean up" the computer and stashed on various External hard drives and computers. But since recently my sister that was 19 years old passed away in a car accident and well this has made organizing everything and optimizing our computer a major priority.

In my mind, an ideal scenario where cash was no object I'd buy a whole new computer with all the "right" things to replace this computer and migrate everything over to it. But obviously that's a dream scenario. Instead I will be spending the next few weeks trying to figure out everything I can about the computer I have now and how Premier Pro and Lightroom and also iPhoto and iMovie work and store information.

Now I already have 2 LaCie 3TB hard drives (among several other hard drives we purchased over the years)

one that is mine and nearly empty and another that is my fathers that he used for his volleyball pictures of my sister. While I am probably the most tech savy out my mother and father, I still hardly know everything that makes up the vast amount of information about all these software and OS.

My goal is to eventually migrate all photos and videos to a single external hard drive if there is enough room and organize them in Light room as I really like the fact it also incorporates the OS file system. It's too confusing to have ton all these separate libraries that are all bundled up in packages. Not to mention so far Lightroom has performed so much better when it has a large volume of photos in it. I don't know why exactly but I assume it's because of the way it stores and operates it's content.


Anyways I hope I didn't make my question even more confusing. It's just that over time, our Late 2012 27" iMac has gone from what seemed like a good computer to edit videos with to that comparable to an old dell. It's probably our storage habits and lack of knowledge but we suffered many kernel panics over the past year. Which I think is related to faulty RAM (two "Vengence 8gb cards" that are known to have some issues once and awhile but work wonderfully when they work.) I tested that using the Hardware test and said 4/Mem error. troubleshooted that and seems to work fine for now. iMovie never worked the way we wanted and always crashed and was always slow when it was working. iPhoto sometimes crashes but being slow is the main issue with it. Ultimately one day I wish to replace the hard drive with a SSD and run all application off it while keeping all other content on External Hard drives as that seems like the best way to edit videos and rarely come across the classic issues. My first step is to to back up everything and start from scratch as I feel it is the best way to organize the multiple hard drives I have and fix any hidden issues.


Thank you for taking the time to respond though. I know one question is not going to lead me to where I need to go and I know I am probably breaking Apple support forum rules or something with a question that is rather made up of many questions. But sooner or later I will have processed more of what I need to do to get where I need to be. Any help is greatly appreciated though! 🙂


The Metadata you mentioned that would be nice to have in Lightroom. I have done 2 exports one with all "Original" Files and had iPhoto catalog them by event names.But I also exported the edited ("current") copies into a single folder and there isn't that many in comparison so it wouldn't be too difficult to see if one was worth keeping over the original. The "original" seems to have all the metadata that would have been there if I imported the photos into lightroom though I am not 100% sure yet.

Oct 9, 2015 12:15 AM in response to ferrante9

iPhoto and LR are essentially the same application for the same job. They are both Photo Managers and they both offer non-destructive pressing of your images. To do this, they are both built on databases.


What this means is that there is no point in using both apps. There is no good way to use them together. iPhoto is a consumer level application, LR is a professional one. LR is ore powerful, more expensive and has a greater learning curve. I'm going to assume that you will be working with LR going forward.


Where the files are stored - either within the Library package or in Folders visible on the HD - makes not a whit of difference. You never access those files via the Finder. LR and iPhoto are designed to replace the Finder for working with you images. Want to find a Photo: launch the Photo Manager. That's a key point to grasp.


You have images in iPhoto. If you want to move those to LR then use the import plug-in in LR.


https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/import-iphoto.html


Once that's done then dump the iPhoto Libraries. They're just adding clutter.

Oct 9, 2015 12:38 AM in response to Yer_Man

Perfect, thank you for making this easy and to the point 🙂

I'm laughing even, since the solution you've made out is ridiculously simple. but you know late at night, multiple coffees and just a fear of losing the photos and videos can make it hard to see what is probably obvious with a clear mind. But the way you put it is just exactly what I needed for this particular question.

I figured they were similar enough, just the differences when you have a consumer product and a professional one. While the consumer ones are easier and has much less of a learning curve they lack that form I am familiar with in things like Photoshop. As it can tolerate layers and all the extra control so whenever I use things like iPhoto it feels restrictive and off. But seeing how I will be pursuing more and more advanced photography as we have been already over the years, Lightroom seems to be the way to go especially with it's connection to Premier and Photoshop. I will likely keep CC going as it's related to my Mothers work and my own despite how much more expensive it is. I always have CS6 that I won in a raffle (only thing I ever won in a raffle my whole life) and Lightroom CC integrates well with that still.

Anyways I won't take anymore of your time and I greatly appreciate your help here.

What is the best way to export the contents of iPhoto and completely reset iphoto

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