iPhoto migration to Photos

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Level 1

15 points

iPhoto migration to Photos

I just upgraded to El Capitan and want to start using Photos -- I have followed procedures to migrate my old iPhoto library to Photos with my Photos library designated to reside on a different internal hard drive. I tried several times but shortly after the migration started I got the message that there was not enough disk space -- 10 gigs needed. The disk I am migrating to had 240 gigs available. I tried reformatting that disk and emptied it of all other files so that its full 250 gigs are available, but the process still stalls out at 8% with the same message -- not enough disk space. Can anybody give me some insight as to what the problem is?

Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Core; 8GB Ram, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 5, 2016 2:26 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Sep 5, 2016 2:40 PM in response to DeaconJoe

what is the format of the second internal drive where the iPhoto library s stored? How much free space does your primary internal drive have? How large is your iPhoto library

And since there is no single procedure to migrate and what ever you are doing is not working it would help for you to actually share the procedure you are using

LN

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Answer 2

DeaconJoe Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 5, 2016 2:52 PM in response to LarryHN

Mac OS X extended (journaled) .... 120 gigs still available on start-up disk ... library about 100 gigs ...

I've tried holding down the option key when opening Photos and then selecting my iPhoto library; I've tried dragging the old iPhoto library to the Photos icon on the dock -- both procedures bring the same result. The Photos preferences show that I've set up the Photos library to be on the 250 gig drive with nothing else ... and it shows on the finder window as the only thing on the drive .... ? I could try hosting the library on the primary drive, but I like to keep my files on other drives, using the primary just for the operating system.

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Answer 3

DeaconJoe Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 5, 2016 2:56 PM in response to LarryHN

but the drive currently hosting my iPhoto library only has 8 gigs available ... and that would be about 8% of the library where the process stalls -- ???

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Answer 4

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Sep 5, 2016 4:57 PM in response to DeaconJoe

I'm not clear on what exactly you have - I thought you had two internal drives, the boot drive and a second with the iPhoto library on it but apparently I do not understand

I think you have a drive formatted Mac OS extended (Journaled) with about 240 GB available - drag the iPhoto library to that drive and then launch Photos and use the file menu ==> open to open and migrate it to Photos - it should migrate just fine and you will have both libraries on that drive - then you can delete the iPhoto library is you want although because of the hard links deleting it will not save much space - Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

I think this will resolve your migration issue

LN

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Answer 5

DeaconJoe Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 5, 2016 4:56 PM in response to LarryHN

Thanks -- that fixed it. -- I have 3 internal drives-- one for system, one for working projects, one for storage -- the storage one is where I moved the library and then migrated.

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Answer 6

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Sep 5, 2016 8:07 PM in response to DeaconJoe

great - details are critical - glad you got it worked out

LN

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