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Q: Upgrading to Photos

Hello,

 

I have some iPhotos libraries on  my computer. When I open (the new) Photos how can I convert the old libraries to the newest format? Also, can I delete the old iPhotos libraries? That is, are all photos transferred to the new Photos libraries? I want to avoid duplications.

 

Thanks!

Posted on Feb 7, 2016 6:03 AM

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Q: Upgrading to Photos

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  • by mende1,Solvedanswer

    mende1 mende1 Feb 7, 2016 6:06 AM in response to senortz
    Level 10 (93,314 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 7, 2016 6:06 AM in response to senortz

    There are two ways to do that, but the easiest one is to open each iPhoto library from Finder. Photos will open after doing that and it will ask you to upgrade the libraries, so let it do the job. You have to do this for each library you want to upgrade to Photos.

     

    Note that Photos will leave the old iPhoto libraries unmodified. If you think you will not need iPhoto again, you can delete them safely, because Photos will not use those libraries again. You can also remove the iPhoto app if you still have it.

  • by Japib,Helpful

    Japib Japib Jul 8, 2016 3:55 PM in response to senortz
    Level 4 (2,791 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 8, 2016 3:55 PM in response to senortz

    Hi,

    "When I open (the new) Photos how can I convert the old libraries to the newest format?" : The App will automatically do this for you, by creating a Photos Library, whilst keeping the iPhoto Libraries intact. When you are sure the Library is fully transferred to Photos, you can delete the iPhoto library, though I suggest you still have a Backup, may it be Time Machine or another.

    If you have multiple libraries, the Photos app can only transfer one library to another, and cannot merge them. If you wish to merge them, you need to use a third party app.

    James

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jul 8, 2016 3:55 PM in response to senortz
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Jul 8, 2016 3:55 PM in response to senortz
    Also, can I delete the old iPhotos libraries? That is, are all photos transferred to the new Photos libraries? I want to avoid duplications.

    I strongly recommend to keep the old iPhoto libraries and not to burn your bridges immediately after the migration, for several reasons:

     

    • It will only look, like the iPhoto Library and the new Photos library were using twice the storage, but they are sharing the storage for the images and are using less storage than the combined size on the disk, see this support document:

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

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

     

    • If you delete the old iPhoto Library, you will not gain much storage back. It is save to delete the iPhoto Library, but I would wait  untill you are sure that the migration went well and no photos are missing.  Looking at the thumbnails in the browser does not ensure, that the original image files are there. Only editing or exporting a photos will ensure it migrated well.
    • Also, you may need to finish your projects in iPhoto, the projects do not migrate well.  See:  How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support
    • Sometimes you will need to repeat the migration, if you should encounter problems, that can only be repaired in the original iPhoto Library running iPhoto. Photos repair tools are not yet as powerful as iPhotos.

     

    And if you discover, that you do not like Photos and want to revert to iPhoto, you will need your old library.

    At least, keep a backup copy of the iPhoto Library and the iPhoto application.

     

    In addition to the two recommendations above:

    Before you migrate your iPhoto Library, finish any book or calendar project in iPhoto.  After the conversion it will be more difficult.

     

    If the iPhoto Library is on an external drive, check the file system of the drive.  You cannot migrate a library that is on drive, where the file system is not MacOS Extended (Journaled). And the library must not be on a Time Machine drive.  If either of the above applies, move the library to a different drive, that is correctly formatted.

    To convert the library, you can simply drag it onto the Pkotos icon in the Dock.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Feb 7, 2016 7:42 AM in response to mende1
    Level 10 (84,210 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 7, 2016 7:42 AM in response to mende1
    Note that Photos will leave the old iPhoto libraries unmodified. If you think you will not need iPhoto again, you can delete them safely, because Photos will not use those libraries again. You can also remove the iPhoto app if you still have it.

    Bad Plan - there is no reason to delete them and lots of reasons not to - you may think you are done with iPhoto but for many reasons you many not be - you may want or need iPhoto again - it is recommended that you do not delete the iPhtoo libraries for at least a few months so you are sure you do not need them

     

    LN