jordaneben

Q: What is the relationship between the Photos library and the iPhoto library?

I'm posing this question here because I can't find any relevant information online.

 

I was dealing with a customer's imac recently who had a full start up disk. I noticed her old iPhoto library was using 126GB while she had already transitioned to Photos. Her Photos library stated it was using much more (200+ if I remember correctly). I copied the iPhoto library to an external drive and deleted it. I then opened package contents and imported the leftover photos into the photos program to ensure I wasn't actually deleting any of her precious memories. After the job was complete I was surprised to see that there were still only 6GB of free space on her computer. What gives? Is there a relationship between the old iPhoto library and the new photos library? If so, what is it? Is what I did safe? I understand at that point she will not be able to go back to iPhoto. But what is going on that I am missing?

 

Thank you in advance for your input.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Photos v 1.0.1

Posted on Feb 29, 2016 6:35 PM

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Q: What is the relationship between the Photos library and the iPhoto library?

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  • by LarryHN,Solvedanswer

    LarryHN LarryHN Feb 29, 2016 9:09 PM in response to jordaneben
    Level 10 (85,032 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 29, 2016 9:09 PM in response to jordaneben

    None - they are totally separate - the is no connection or relationship of any sort

     

    either can be deleted with no effect on the other - but it will not save much space at all and is not recommended - which is exactly what you saw  --  Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    LN

  • by jordaneben,

    jordaneben jordaneben Mar 1, 2016 1:44 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2016 1:44 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks for the reply! That's exactly what I was looking for.

     

    So, did I mess up by deleting the iPhoto library? It seems like if iPhoto library gets deleted that photos would go missing. Am I wrong in assuming this?

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Mar 1, 2016 1:58 PM in response to jordaneben
    Level 10 (85,032 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Mar 1, 2016 1:58 PM in response to jordaneben
    So, did I mess up by deleting the iPhoto library? It seems like if iPhoto library gets deleted that photos would go missing. Am I wrong in assuming this?

     

     

    No and yes

     

    No You did not mess up unless you need the iPhoto library sometime later which you probably will not and yes  your are wrong - the photos are not shared - both libraries hard link to the same photos and as long as any hard link exists the target file is not released - that is why

    they are totally separate - the is no connection or relationship of any sort

    The link I posted gives a good description of hard links

     

    LN