Donald Lorentz

Q: Photos application

can I use the Photos application, exclusively, using images from my local hard drive?  can i keep my hard drive images separate from those that are taken by my iPhone (and then placed in iCloud)

Posted on Jun 24, 2016 1:22 PM

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Q: Photos application

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  • by daapple,Helpful

    daapple daapple Jun 24, 2016 6:39 PM in response to Donald Lorentz
    Level 1 (124 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 24, 2016 6:39 PM in response to Donald Lorentz

    Hello Donald,

     

    You can create a separate iPhoto library on your hard drive and then keep the default one on your computer for iCloud photos.

     

    Let me know if you have further questions!

  • by LarryHN,Helpful

    LarryHN LarryHN Jun 24, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Donald Lorentz
    Level 10 (84,210 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 24, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Donald Lorentz

    I have no idea what you are asking - what exactly do you want to accomplish and what are you calling a hard drive" image? Hard drives are storage devices adn can not created images - all images on your computer are stored on your had drive

     

    all images you import into Photos will be in the Photos library -- you can have multiple Photos libraries so you could have different libraries for different photos but generally that is a bad idea and is complicated, confusing and makes using Photos much harder

     

    Please explain and provide us with the software versions you are using and your iCLoud settings on yoru Mac and yoru IOS devices

     

    LN

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Jun 24, 2016 1:37 PM in response to Donald Lorentz
    Level 7 (20,267 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 24, 2016 1:37 PM in response to Donald Lorentz

    You can separate the images into different Libraries, but this approach is frauget with many issues and I would not recommend it.

     

    Tell us, instead, what issuesyouretrying yo resolve, or what needs you're trying to achieve,and we might be able to offer a better approach.

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Jun 24, 2016 1:43 PM in response to Donald Lorentz
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Jun 24, 2016 1:43 PM in response to Donald Lorentz

    There is one thing to consider when using more than one Photos Library. Only one Photos Library can be used as your system photo library and be visible to other applications in the Media Browser. All photos you want to access from other applications,  for examples to ync with iTunes or use in Pages and Keynote need to be in your system photo library.  And only the system photo library can sync with iCloud.  So you would have to make  the library that is syncing with your iPhone the system photos library and not the Photos library that has the photos from your local hard drive.

  • by Donald Lorentz,

    Donald Lorentz Donald Lorentz Jun 25, 2016 7:13 AM in response to daapple
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 25, 2016 7:13 AM in response to daapple

    For this reply and the others responses, it is clear that I did not provide enough information; I'll further explain my needs/issues.

     

    Background: over the years, I creates responsibly large photo libraries. This is not unique to me; I'm certain there are10Ks or more individuals that have collections of photos.  I'm not a fan of cloud storage in general, but I use it.  I'd prefer to keep my most precious photos in multiple places.  [I backup; I have an off site BU storage strategy.]  I used iPhoto but then transitioned to Aperture. I created multiple (6) Aperture libraries.  We know what happened to Aperture.

     

    I really don't understand Photos. It sounds to me as if it is iCloud-centric. I don't care if some of my iPhone photos are sent there, but I want to store those iCloud photos and my other photographs that I take on my DSLRs, to my on-site storage.

     

    Questions: So I'll modify/clarify my original Q... can I take all of my iPhoto and Aperture libraries, convert them to Photo libraries (strongly suspect the answer is yes) or to a single Photo Library (if that seems better?) and store them on-site, on my hard drive, where I'll do mack ups and have good access to them. What are my options? What troubles do I get by breaking my Photos library into multiple libraries (I believe one of you answered that)?  Does someone out there think they have a "best practice" solution(s)?

     

    BTW - I very recently purchased a copy of iPhoto Library Manager and Power Photos.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 25, 2016 7:47 AM in response to Donald Lorentz
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Jun 25, 2016 7:47 AM in response to Donald Lorentz
    It sounds to me as if it is iCloud-centric.

    You can use Photos without iCloud, as long as you do not enable iCloud  in the "Photos > iCloud" preferences.

     

    iCloud services for photos can only be used for the System Photos library.

    • If you enable iCloud Photo Library for the System Photo Library, all photos from that library will sync with iCloud Photo Library  - upload all photos from that library and download all photos from iCloud Photo Library to that library.
    • If you enable My Photo Stream for your system Photo Library, any new photos you import to that library will upload to My Photo Stream and stream to the other devices that are using My Photo Stream. Photos does not allow to selectively only download from My Photo Stream, t will upload as well.

     

    So you can use your libraries without using iCloud Photo Library.

     

    can I take all of my iPhoto and Aperture libraries, convert them to Photo libraries (strongly suspect the answer is yes) or to a single Photo Library (if that seems better?)

    You convert Aperture Libraries or iPhoto Libraries to Photos Libraries by dragging the library onto the Photos icon in the Dock. That will create a new Photos library from your Aperture Library or iPhoto library.

     

    Photos has no tool to merge Photos Libraries.  If you prefer one large library with all your photos, use Aperture to merge the libraries before you migrate them to Photos, as described here:  Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries

     

    Once your libraries are Photos libraries, you can no longer merge them losslesly:  See this user tip: 

     

    If you have not seen these documents, have a look:

     

  • by Donald Lorentz,

    Donald Lorentz Donald Lorentz Jun 25, 2016 8:05 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 25, 2016 8:05 AM in response to LarryHN

    see my reply to daapple.

  • by Donald Lorentz,

    Donald Lorentz Donald Lorentz Jun 25, 2016 8:06 AM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 25, 2016 8:06 AM in response to Rysz

    see my reply to daapple.

  • by Donald Lorentz,

    Donald Lorentz Donald Lorentz Jun 25, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 25, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Rysz

    see my reply to daapple.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jun 25, 2016 8:19 AM in response to Donald Lorentz
    Level 10 (140,913 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 25, 2016 8:19 AM in response to Donald Lorentz

    TH.png

    Yes, you can.  Just don't enable the iCloud Photo Library nor the My Photo Stream on your Mac like shown in this screenshot:

    Picloudpreferencepane.jpg

    Also in the System/iCloud preference pane uncheck Photos.

    Highlight001.jpg

    That will keep the two devices separate as far as photos are concerned.

    OTsig.png

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 25, 2016 8:28 AM in response to léonie
    Level 10 (105,761 points)
    iLife
    Jun 25, 2016 8:28 AM in response to léonie

    Sorry, the link to the User Tip vanished from my post:    Notes on Merging Photos Libraries

  • by Donald Lorentz,

    Donald Lorentz Donald Lorentz Jul 24, 2016 9:40 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 24, 2016 9:40 AM in response to Old Toad

    thanks.  I appreciate your attention to detail.

    lorentzd

  • by Donald Lorentz,

    Donald Lorentz Donald Lorentz Jul 24, 2016 9:42 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 24, 2016 9:42 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks.  this helped.

     

    lorentzd