Migrating from iPhoto to Photos - to to create space?

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Migrating from iPhoto to Photos - to to create space?

Hi all,

I have tonight updated OS on my macbook pro to El Capitan (from Mountain Lion, I think). Accordingly, Photos has replaced iPhoto. When I open Photos and attempt to set it up, I receive the error message "There is not enough disk space to migrate your library. It is estimated that you need at least 32GB of additional free space".

Basically my entire internal hard drive is taken up with photos, so I don't know how to create space without accessing them. I have read lots of the other forum threads but they seem to involve situations where the iPhoto library is already on an external hard drive. I (stupidly) didn't back up the iPhoto library prior to updating. I have an external hard drive I could use, but can't find the iPhoto library on my internal drive. Am starting to freak out a little - any help greatly appreciated!

Posted on Nov 1, 2015 3:55 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

194,653 points

Nov 1, 2015 9:06 PM in response to A.M.081

Accordingly, Photos has replaced iPhoto.

Photos is there in addition to iPhoto. It might help to update iPhoto before you try to migrate to the new Photos.app.

Does your iPhoto icon in the applications folder look like this - crossed out?

With El Capitan you need to update iPhoto to version 9.6.1.

Try the following: Move the iPhoto application to the Trash, but don't empty it. Sign into the AppStore and check the Purchases tab, if iPhoto is showing there. If yes, and you are seeing "Install" to the right of the iPhoto icon, try to install it. The procedure is described here in Barney's User Tip:

Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

If you can get iPhoto to run, see, if it can find and open your iPhoto library. Then post back.

By default your iPhoto Library should be in your Pictures folder and be showing an icon like a fan of pictures. Is it there?

What are you seeing in your Pictures folder? Are there any photo libraries at all? Perhaps a new Photos Library with the colorful flower icon like a rainbow?

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Answer 2

A.M.081 Author

Level 1

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Nov 1, 2015 4:25 AM in response to léonie

Thank you! I didn't realise iPhoto was still there. I updated it accordingly to your advice above and it was then able to open my library 🙂

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,653 points

Nov 1, 2015 9:06 PM in response to A.M.081

Great!

If you still need to make space on your internal drive, drag and drop your iPhoto Library to an external drive. The external drive needs to be formatted "MacOS Extended (Journaled)", if you want to store a photo library there.

See this support document: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture

Once the library is on the external drive, double click it to open it in iPhoto.

Test it, if it working well, before you delete the copy in your Pictures folder.

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