Q: Photo v iPhoto

iPhoto got migrated over as part of all the apps and will continue working on El Capitan, just as long as you've updated it to the latest v9.6.1 level. If you've got all your photos nicely set up there, you can continue using it, but it is EOL and will probably not receive any more updates.

Photos is Apple's New Thing and is in the process of maturing as an iPhoto+Aperture substitute. Definitely Not There Yet. Perhaps by the time OS X 10.15 rolls out it will arrive, but there's a good chance some other New Thing will have popped up. As you might imagine, I am NOT a Photos phan.

If you start up Photos on the newly migrated system, it will convert the old iPhoto Library on to its new format and there's no going back as I understand, You could duplicate your old iPhoto Library and convert that instead so you can test both alternatives and see which one you like best.

And yes, both support the old iCloud Photo Stream or the new iCloud Photo Library to interact and sync with your iGadgets. There too is a one way street: once you've gone to the Photo Library there's no going back. I remain with iPhoto and the Photo Stream very happily on my Mid-2015 MBP with ElCap.

In addition to what Courcoul said - there are nuanced differences between iPhoto and Photos - Photos is a bit more straightforward but for the more involved end user that wants a greater opportunity to "tinker" with the images iPhoto -IMO - is till the better option

Also as many of us say - it is a good idea to have 2 backups of the content on your Mac - not a backup of a backup but 2 independent backups - that way your photos are given their best chance of survival against the vagaries of IT

Timmy,

Apple stopped the development of iPhoto a year ago. It is now a legacy application and no longer sold at the App Store. The last version of iPhoto will still run on OS X 10.11.4, but there is no guarantee, that it will continue to work on the new versions of  OS X to come. It is no longer supported. You can no longer order print products from iPhoto, no books, no calendars, no cards.

For the time being you can continue to use iPhoto, but it would be wise to learn to use Photos, because iPhoto is a dead end.  Both applications are very different.

Photos for Mac does not have events like iPhoto had. The library is structured automatically in Moments, based on the capture date and location.  All photos taken at the same time at the same place will appear in the same moment.

Because Photos has no events, all iPhoto events from your iPhoto Library have been converted to albums in Photos, your Photo Stream events are now also albums. Photos does not create these albums, but the My Photo Stream photos will appear in your library in the All Photos album, if My Photo Stream has been enabled.

Only one library at a time can sync with iCloud and My Photo Stream.  If you enable it in your Photos Library, it will be disabled in iPhoto and vice versa.

You may want to have a look at these links:  This document explains how the items in an iPhoto Library will be migrated to Photos:

  How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support

Here is a basic help how to use Photos:  Photos Help

All the Photos that are shown in my PHOTOS app are ALL in my iCloud ?     y/n

Not necessarily.

It depends on how you have set up iCloud to use with your photos.

There are three different services that you can use with iCloud:

1. My Photo Stream:  It can transfer new photos you add to your Photos library between your devices, but it will only store the most recently added photos, up to 1000 photos. It is free.  iCloud: Get help using My Photo Stream
2. iCloud Photo Sharing:  This is used to store shared albums with selected albums in iCloud and share them with friends and family.  It is also free:   iCloud: iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ
3. iCloud Photo Library: You can upload your complete Photos Library to iCloud, and iCloud will sync all edits and changes to all your devices.  This service requires a paid subscription, because only the first 5GB of iCloud storage are free.    iCloud Photo Library FAQ

If you enable iCloud Photo Library for your Photos Library, then the complete library will upload to iCloud, and you better make sure, that you signed up for enough storage to hold the complete library.  All photos will be on your Mac as well, but you can use "Optimize Storage" and keep only smaller versions for browsing local on the Mac. Then you will need an Internet connection, if you want to edit or share the photos.

You can have several Photos Libraries, but only one of them can sync with iCloud Photo Library.

What will i loose IF if i DELETE my iPhotos app, how can i ensure that i dont loose anything.

if you delete the iPhoto application you can no longer use it.  But Photos can open your iPhoto Library. I would keep a backup copy of your iPhoto application and of the iPhoto Library. The problem is, it is hard to get iPhoto back. So I would make sure, you have  access to iPhoto and the old library, until you are sure, that all photos have been migrated well, no missing photos or similar. Copy them to a backup drive.

How do i log onto iCloud ?

To start using iCloud, open the System Preferences > iCloud.   Sign in with your AppleID  and select the services you want to use.

see this:   iCloud Help Home

timmy toad wrote:

 

Thanks leonie

A couple more questions if i may, that i cant find the answers to in those links !.

All the Photos that are shown in my PHOTOS app are ALL in my iCloud ?     y/n

 

Unfortunately - that depends on IF you use iCloud Photo Library or not

 

If Yes, are ALL these PHOTOS on my Hard Drive, AND also in iCloud ?

 

See above

 

What will i loose IF if i DELETE my iPhotos app, how can i ensure that i dont loose anything.

 

Think about iCloud as a syncing - rather than storage device - all the photos in iCloud are mirrored on your device(s) and deleting it OFF a device will cause a corresponding deletion in iCloud

You may want to also look at Upthere or Google Photos

 

How do i log onto iCloud ?

https://www.icloud.com

 

Tim

timmy toad wrote:

 

 

I have neglected using Time Machine for a long time, it would take simply, a few days to do a Time Machine backup of my HDD drive, surely there is a folder on my Hard Drive that contains my iPhoto Photos Library ?.

I can see that there are about 200 pictures more in iPhoto than there are in Photos !!!!! 4,800 <> 5,000

Tim

You may be surprised - it is very efficient and very quick - my initial 0.5 TB backup was done in less than 30 mins

All photos that you imported to iPhoto are in your iPhoto Library. By default the iPhoto Library will be in your Pictures folder.

You can simply drag your iPhoto Library to an external drive using the Finder, but keep regular Time Machine backups as well.  Unly the first backup will take long. The following backups are incremental faster, and if you keep Time Machine  running in the background whenever possible you will barely notice it.

You're welcome

Good Luck for your migration to Photos!

I can see that there are about 200 pictures more in iPhoto than there are in Photos !!!!! 4,800 <> 5,000

Photos is grouping the photos differently from iPhoto.

In some cases photos will be showing as one photo in Photos where you have seen two in iPhoto.  For example, if you have been shooting RAW&JPEG pairs, they have been shown as two photos in iPhoto, but will be stacked as one photo in Photos.

Photos that you took very quickly one after another may be shown as one burst photo.

And if had hidden photos in iPhoto, they will be hidden in the moments in Photos.