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Photos: Completely remove pictures from all devices and the cloud to rebuild using new library?

Apple ecosystem: ALL are using the same Apple ID

iMac (late 2013), Catalina, Photos 5.0 (161.0.120)

(Yes I am aware that Catalina is old and my iMac is old. That's not relevant to this post.)

MacBook Air, 2022, current software

iPhoneXS, current IOS, Current Photos.app

iPad Pro (new), current software

old iPad, current IOS, Photos App is older

Multiple other old iPhones around the house used as mainly music controls and webcams.


The iMac is my primary storage location for all of the actual files.

There are almost 70,000 images and 1,800 videos in the two libraries that are on my computer.

One library is 'iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary' and another is 'Photos Library.photoslibrary'.


In the settings for Photos.app on the iMac I am using "iCloud Photos" (Ticked) and have selected the radio button for "Download Originals to this Mac".


In the settings for the iPhoneXS I am using 'iCloud Photos' and have selected 'Optimise iPhone Storage'. I also have selected 'Shared Albums' and 'Hidden Album'. At the bottom of the settings in the section titled "TRANSFER TO MAC OR PC" I have checked 'Automatic'.


Settings on the other iOS devices will be same or similar to the iPhone.


As it is now, this arrangement properly transfers/copies all photos and videos from the iOS devices to the iMac's physical storage.


But there are two problems with this setup:

1) The library is just too big - it makes Photos CRAWL sometimes. I need to split it up.

2) When the Photos.app upgraded to v5, it RENAMED ALL OF MY ORIGINALS to unintelligible strings of characters, which is full stop not acceptable to me.


To begin to address both issues, I have successfully used the 'Export' feature in Photos to get every last image and home video safely onto a removable drive - with the original filenames and creation dates intact. It was a long process - Photos will crash the ENTIRE iMac if you ask it to export more than five thousand at a time, and it exports them in slow-motion. I will not let Photos change filenames on these files again, I will force Photos to import copies when rebuilding the library.


Now finally to my questions:

How do I properly delete the current Photos library(ies) so that all of my devices have zero photos?

In other words: How do I delete ALL photos and ALL home videos on ALL the devices? Is it as simple as deleting the locally stored library files? Will the iCloud system spit the dummy if I do that?


Once the old stuff is gone, what is the best way to import from my removable drive to two or more libraries on the iMac that are shared to all of my iOS devices?





More info about how I will need to use these new libraries:

I am the genealogist for the family and am slowly but consistently adding images to our library of our ancestors. These images have real-life 'Taken on' dates well back into the 1800s and I am setting accurate dates in the metadata for the files. So - any new snapshots of the kids and etc will need to go in the 'current day' library, and any pre-2004 stuff will have to go in the 'older stuff' library.

Posted on Jun 29, 2022 3:38 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 29, 2022 2:56 PM

Hi Tony,


Why do you claim I cannot erase the Photos photos? I mean, I can certainly do so (it is as easy as deleting the library) - I just don't know how to do it across all of my devices without causing Photos.app and iCloud services to get wonky.

Is it that part (iCloud problems) that you say is impossible? Please elaborate if you know what will happen.

The data is all safe on an external drive as well as having been backed up using Time Machine on the iMac, so I do not understand your assertion that I will risk losing data.


I'm sorry but you are incorrect about being able to prevent renaming. It simply requires you to check the "Copy Items to the Photos library" checkbox in Photos.app preferences.

Eg: I have just now successfully imported an image from my external drive to the Photos Library; a four click process which left the the original file named "3couples.jpg" on the external drive and created a new file named "8E089E7E-AAD6-46E4-850A-1D0A0C82B54B.jpeg" in the 'originals' folder within the library. This redundant storage is perfectly acceptable to me as it allows me to retain searchable file names of my own choosing.


Using a different photos management app is not really an option because my immediate and extended family are all using the Apple platform to share and view images.

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13 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 29, 2022 2:56 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi Tony,


Why do you claim I cannot erase the Photos photos? I mean, I can certainly do so (it is as easy as deleting the library) - I just don't know how to do it across all of my devices without causing Photos.app and iCloud services to get wonky.

Is it that part (iCloud problems) that you say is impossible? Please elaborate if you know what will happen.

The data is all safe on an external drive as well as having been backed up using Time Machine on the iMac, so I do not understand your assertion that I will risk losing data.


I'm sorry but you are incorrect about being able to prevent renaming. It simply requires you to check the "Copy Items to the Photos library" checkbox in Photos.app preferences.

Eg: I have just now successfully imported an image from my external drive to the Photos Library; a four click process which left the the original file named "3couples.jpg" on the external drive and created a new file named "8E089E7E-AAD6-46E4-850A-1D0A0C82B54B.jpeg" in the 'originals' folder within the library. This redundant storage is perfectly acceptable to me as it allows me to retain searchable file names of my own choosing.


Using a different photos management app is not really an option because my immediate and extended family are all using the Apple platform to share and view images.

Jun 30, 2022 2:39 AM in response to TonyCollinet

TonyCollinet wrote:

Hi

...
All the original file names are stored in the photos database, and you can always get back the original unmodified files using file>export unmodified original (which also is faster than the normal export, which recompresses all the files) - with the names as they were when imported.

That is the big problem, Tony. To get the originals back, with the original metadata and the original file name, we have to be able to run Photos, and Photos has to be able to open the library. This may not be possible, if things should go really bad:

  • If a Photos Library has become badly damaged, Photos may not be able to repair it and open the library.
  • If we have to revert to a previous system version, because of problems with the current system version, Photos will not be able to open the modified library and we will be stuck with the renamed originals.
  • If we want to move from a Mac to a different computer model, we will not be able to run Photos at all.

I think we really should take precautions and be prepared for such an emergency and keep an archive of the original image files, to save the original filenames and metadata.


I am doing what Nixt is doing now: Importing the photos by copying them into the library and keeping copies of the originals on an external volume, which I regularly back up.


The original filenames are holding important information - a code fore the camera make and a running number, so we can sort them by camera and chronologically, based on the filename. The new filenames are useless for all such purposes. if we ever have to recreate a Photos library from the renamed originals, it will be a lot of work.


Jun 29, 2022 8:17 AM in response to Nixt

Hi


You cannot do what you want to do. If you try, you will spend a lot of time doing it, risk losing your data if you get something wrong, and just end up back in the same place.


Catalina and later stores the original files in the original folder under the "renamed" format. This is for improved compatibility with iCloud, and there is no way to "force" it not to rename them. This should not matter to the end user. The library structure is NOT intended for access by the user - that is why it is hidden by default.


All the original file names are stored in the photos database, and you can always get back the original unmodified files using file>export unmodified original (which also is faster than the normal export, which recompresses all the files) - with the names as they were when imported.


If this is not acceptable for you, then probably you will need to choose a different photo management app.

Jun 29, 2022 3:41 PM in response to Nixt

1 - I am referring to the not renaming in the originals folder, not the deletion of images.


2 - I understood you to be objecting to the renaming of files in the originals folder. Photos would not (or at least should not) rename files stored on your hard drive outside of the library. If that has happened something has gone badly wrong.


If you are happy for the files in the library/originals folder to be renamed, then you are good to go. In that case, to delete and start from new you can simply delete the libraries. However, I'm not sure how to do that on a phone/ipad.


You might be better off deleting ALL photos on your synced Mac, and waiting for that deletion (and removal from recently deleted) to be replicated to all devices.

Jun 29, 2022 3:49 PM in response to TonyCollinet

2)


It is very important to understand that my files in the iPhoto library and then the Photos library BEFORE VERSION 5 OF PHOTOS all had their original filenames.


Upon updating to v5 of Photos, the application renamed all of my originals without asking me or notifying me that this would happen.


So, I was not ABLE to import the files that were already IN the library.


Apple just forced the renaming on us users without consent to alter originals.




I am still hoping someone sees my thread here and can offer insight regarding how to delete the library(ies) in the safest way with regards to iCloud sharing of the files.

Jun 30, 2022 12:02 AM in response to Nixt

Photos from version 5 changed the way photos are stored INSIDE the photos library.photoslibrary, renaming them in there so they are guaranteed to have unique file names. It has never renamed files that are stored outside of the photos library, so if that has happened either you have made a mistake, or the app has gone badly wrong.


Regarding deletion, as I said above - if all libraries are synced, then deleting them from your mac library will delete them from iCloud, and all your synced devices.


Make sure your copy of the photos files is securely saved somewhere else (and backed up) first.



I'll bow out now, in case you just want a second opinion 🙃

Jun 30, 2022 1:47 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hmm. I understand what you have written. I think you're not quite getting what happened.


My library had been growing for years - first in iPhoto and then in Photos. For years and years I imported my images and the file names remained the same even when relocated to the library.


So there was no opportunity to import those images into v5 -they had already been imported by previous versions or by iPhoto and its many iterations.




So YES - I already know all about how v5 changed how it stores them, and that these long alphanumeric strings allow the Apple backend to better track/edit/etc them. But it was seriously F'ed up that Apple did that to so many users.


It doesn't strike me as being necessary that the filename itself has this new format of unique ID - Seems like the same thing could have been accomplished by a UID stored in the metadata for the file. But whatevs - it is what it is and I made it give me back my filenames so I am just left with the deletion of the old library and the rebuild of a new one.


I still hope to get feedback on that before I commit.

Jun 30, 2022 1:59 AM in response to Nixt

That is simply how photos works since Catalina - there is no way of changing that behaviour. Could apple have done it differently - sure, but it doesn't matter. This is how they have done it.


The only additional feedback I can give you...


When you delete the content of your library, and then re-import those photos, the copy that is put into the library *will* be renamed again. You will have a library just like you have now. Renamed photos in the "originals" folder, and original names stored in a folder where they are now, external to the library. No linkage between the two sets.


I'm not sure how that helps you. You can always export originals and get the original names back, whenever you like.


Am I still misunderstanding what you are expecting to achieve?

Jun 30, 2022 4:19 AM in response to léonie

I do the same, keep copies of the originals separate from photos


Nixt has exported his complete library to regenerate originals - that makes perfect sense. But if I am not misunderstanding, now what he wants to do is delete everything in the library that he has just exported, then re-import again from what he has exported.


This makes no sense to me, he will end up in exactly the same position after a lot of effort to delete everything, sync the deletions, then reimport, and resync the regenerated library.

Jun 30, 2022 4:44 AM in response to TonyCollinet

I am not sure about Nix's intentions, but you are right, that deleting and reimporting the originals will just be a waste of time. Inside a Photos 5 or later library they will always be renamed. Photos 4 on Mojave has been the last system that allowed us to store our originals unmodified in a Photo Library, like iPhoto and Aperture before. It may have been an attempt to make the syncing of Photos with iCloud across several devices and different platforms and different system versions easier, but it is also applying to Photos Libraries, that are not syncing with iCloud.


Jun 30, 2022 2:21 PM in response to léonie

It will not be a waste of time.


Now that I have exported all my files, I can do much needed work with the MetaData - like fixing 'content created' from when it was SCANNED to when it was TAKEN, Filling other metadata fields, etc to have them make sense and match the image properly - all this stuff that Photos does not do or does poorly (eg makes changes one image at a time, cannot edit 'content created' field and other fields...).


So the time spent getting them out is worthwhile because I now have storage and access security, plus the ability to match file names with a database of family history I have.


The rebuild will happen once I successfully modify many many hundreds of files (maybe into the thousands depending on what I find in the metadata for them all...)


So- the new library will have MAJOR differences from the extant library, Photos will FINALLY sort them by date and have it actually IN date order. Best- I will have been able to add tags and other metadata to allow for specific searches (Family source of image, etc).


Further, once rebuilt the library will primarily exist to share images with. I will never again allow that app to be the 'owner' of my images (images locked away from me in the library of renamed files).


Just because you guys don't see any utility in rebuilding it does not mean that there is no utility to doing it.

Photos: Completely remove pictures from all devices and the cloud to rebuild using new library?

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