Photos library size is bigger than capacity of SSD

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Level 1

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Photos library size is bigger than capacity of SSD

I decided to move my Photos library from HDD external drive to SSD external drive. The library on icloud weighs almost 700GB and little bit more on the hard drive before moving. But then I try to move it, strange things happen. I tried to copy it directly by connecting both drives to my M1 MBP, but after some time of preparing the library size almost doubled – it got to 1.3TB and since my SSD is only 1TB it was not able to copy the library. I restarted and the size got back to previous 760GB on the external HDD, but trying to copy it again, the same thing happened. Then I tried to copy the library to my MBP internal SSD and it was a success. After 3 house of copying the library was on my internal SSD displaying the size of 760GB. But then I tried to copy it to the external SSD drive and... The capacity increased again.

Now it shows that Photos library weights 1.3TB and the problem persists – my T7 1TB is too small for it. But the most magic thing is... the capacity of my MBP drive is only 1TB. So I have 1TB drive with all the OS and Apps installed + Photos library that weights 1.3 TB and still some free space left :)

How is that possible? Maybe you know what's happening?

MBP M1, 16GB RAM, 1TB

Posted on Feb 4, 2021 12:56 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 4, 2021 4:05 AM in response to regis fra

Hi

Are the external drives correctly set up for using with a photos library?

It must be formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled) (preferred for spinning drives)
It Must not be (or have been) used for time machine.
It must have the 'ignore ownership" checkbox ticked.
It should not be on a memory stick, SD or similar.
It must also not be a network drive (a direct connection is required - eg USB or Thunderbolt).
File sharing services such as iCloud Drive, Drop box, Onedrive etc are not compatible with Photos libraries.

It stands to reason that if you want any sort of reasonable performance it should be a fast drive with a fast connection.

See

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

196,989 points

Feb 4, 2021 4:32 AM in response to regis fra

Which system version do you have installed? Starting with macOS 10.15.1 Catalina you can no longer trust the size of the Photos Library shown in the Finder, as Tony mentioned. The Photos Library is a package of several files and folders, bundled together and shown as an item. When Photos is adding items to the internal folders, the file size of the package is usually not updated. To get an idea, how large your library really is, look Ito the library package, but be careful, just look, do not modify anything.

Select the Photos Library and ctrl-click or right-click it.
From the dialog, that appears, select "Show package contents". This will open a Finder window, showing the folders inside the library.
Now check the size of the folders "originals" and "resources". These should be the largest folders inside. What is the total of the sizes of the folders?

If another folder is very large, for example "database", your Photos Library may need repairing. After one upgrade I suddenly had a database file in the library, that had twice the size of he photos combined. Repairing the library fixed this problem. Your library can also grow considerably, when you are syncing the library manually with an iPhone or iPad using a USB connection, because Photos will cache the synced photos.

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Answer 3

Feb 4, 2021 4:07 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Also - finder is frequently not correctly reporting the file size of photos libraries.

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Photos library size is bigger than capacity of SSD

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