John Cooney

Q: Overlapping photo libraries - any way to merge?

Hi

 

In my "Pictures" folder I now have two photo libraries - iPhoto Library & Photos Library.  Having examined both libraries there is a lot of overlap/duplication between them, and as they both occupy around 110 GB each I would like to slim them down.  Is there a simple way to merge the libraries, removing duplicated images in the process?

 

Incidentally, I just opened the iPhoto Library in iPhoto and was reminded of how elegant iPhoto was compared to it's adolescent replacement Photos - that's progress apparently

 

John

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Jul 30, 2016 3:53 PM

Close

Q: Overlapping photo libraries - any way to merge?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jul 30, 2016 3:56 PM in response to John Cooney
    Level 9 (50,245 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 3:56 PM in response to John Cooney

    You can delete whichever library is not in use (probably iPhoto) but you will not regain much space. Both libraries use the same set of pictures, which are the bulk of the size.

  • by LarryHN,Solvedanswer

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 30, 2016 4:36 PM in response to John Cooney
    Level 10 (84,210 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 30, 2016 4:36 PM in response to John Cooney

    At the time you migrated from iPhoto to Photos they were identical - any differences are because of changes you have made since the migration - those changes are local to the library you make them in as there is no connection between the libraries

     

    No you can not merge them - if you have added photos to the iPhoto library since the migration you can export them and then import them into Photos

     

    and no they do not use 110 GB each - they use Unix hard links to both link to the same original photos and previews - Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support - deleting one will probably save very little space, certainly not 110 GB - if you want to delete one make an archive and then delete it

     

    LN