HT204476: Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries

Learn about Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries
Nealf

Q: How to move all photos to Photos and delete iPhoto and Aperture libraries?

How can I move all my iPhoto and Aperture photos to Photos and delete iPhoto and Aperture libraries?  Photos automatically links back to the old libraries on migration to save space with two libraries. 

 

As a related issue, there does not seem to be anyway to determine where a photo is stored when viewing from Photos.  Incredibly frustrating when there are duplicates because how do I know which one I should delete? 

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Apr 28, 2016 6:10 AM

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Q: How to move all photos to Photos and delete iPhoto and Aperture libraries?

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Apr 28, 2016 6:18 AM in response to Nealf
    Level 10 (84,210 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 28, 2016 6:18 AM in response to Nealf

    No - nothing is connected - once you migrate a library it is totally independent and has no connection to the original library - you can delete it if yo want

     

    However deleting the original library will save little space and is not recommenced since it does use hard links to the originals and previews so the new library uses little additional space

     

     

    As to duplicates - what difference does it make? They are duplicates so delete one and eep the other - same same  --  you do not have any visibility of the underlying files (and have no need for that) in Photos

     

    Photos is a new program and here is a learning curve - and it is not a professional program like Aperture so it is not intended to to everything that Aperture did - It is better than iPhoto and getting closer to Aperture but I doubt that it ever will be Aperture

     

    LN

  • by Nealf,

    Nealf Nealf Apr 28, 2016 6:43 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (61 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 28, 2016 6:43 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks, Larry. 

     

    I am confused, however, by what you mean when you say the migrated Photos library is independent, yet also that space is being saved by hard links.  My concern is that when I encounter a hard link duplicate I will delete the master file rather than the link and thus lose something.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Apr 28, 2016 6:55 AM in response to Nealf
    Level 10 (84,210 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 28, 2016 6:55 AM in response to Nealf

    Very simple - both libraries are independent and have no connection - that is a very clear and concise statement - what do you not understand about it?

     

    As to hard links they are simple - you have a photos and multiple different libraries can be hard linked to it - they have not links ot each other but all have a link to the photo - changing or deleting a library has no effect on the photo - if you want to completely understand Hard Links research Unix Hard Links on the internet  as that is far beyond the scope of this Photos forum - they work and there is no connection between the libraries using them

     

    You do not need to be concerned with how they wrk

     

    LN

  • by Nealf,

    Nealf Nealf Apr 28, 2016 7:43 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (61 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 28, 2016 7:43 AM in response to LarryHN

    Your words, "independent and have no connection," contradicts being linked. If the photos are linked, they are connected. Apple explains that the images are connected: Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support 

     

    My only concern is losing the master file. When I migrated my libraries to Photos, were the master photos in iPhoto and Aperture actually moved out of the iPhoto and Aperture libraries to some other location and shared back with iPhoto and Aperture?

     

    You are right, I don’t need to understand the hard links, but I just want to be sure that "shared" images from iPhoto and Aperture can really be deleted and the original will still be accessible in Photos.  

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Apr 28, 2016 7:53 AM in response to Nealf
    Level 10 (84,210 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Apr 28, 2016 7:53 AM in response to Nealf

    Third time - same exact answer

     

    You can delete any library with no effect on any other library - they are totally independent

     

    the libraries are not linked in any way - both are linked to the original and previews - no lines between the libraries - links to photos - breaking one link ahs no effect on any other links

     

    As to hard links they are simple - you have a photos and multiple different libraries can be hard linked to it - they have not links to each other but all have a link to the photo - changing or deleting a library has no effect on the photo - if you want to completely understand Hard Links research Unix Hard Links on the internet  as that is far beyond the scope of this Photos forum - they work and there is no connection between the libraries using them

     

    You can delete any library and it has no effect on any other library

     

    and it is recommended that you not delete any libraries because it will save little space and if you want or need them in the future you have a problem because they are gon

     

    YOu can delete them - it is recommended that you do not for at least three months - but you do what you want

     

    and of course the solution to not losing anything is always having good, current backups - at a minimum running TimeMachine with default settings and better yet TM plus a daily clone to a third drive

     

    Have a nice day

     

    LN

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Apr 28, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Nealf
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Apr 28, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Nealf

    If the photos are linked, they are connected. Apple explains that the images are connected: Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support 

    Hard links create two independent files, that just happen to be stored on the same blocks in the disk.  Both files are referencing the same entry in the file table. If you delete one of the two files, the other file will remain, no data lost, and no storage freed.

     

    My only concern is losing the master file. When I migrated my libraries to Photos, were the master photos in iPhoto and Aperture actually moved out of the iPhoto and Aperture libraries to some other location and shared back with iPhoto and Aperture?

    All image files in the new Photos library are new files - exact copies of the master files and previews in the original libraries. They are just stored in an efficient way to save storage.  You should be able to see that, when you compare the sizes of the iPhoto Library and Aperture Libraries with their migrated counterparts in Photos.  The sizes of the libraries will be about the same.