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User profile for user: fotocano
fotocano Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Deleting iPhoto library.

it has recently been pointed out to me that I have both the Photos library and iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary taking up 219.71GB on my MacBook Pro. The iPhotos have been moved to PHOTOS after Apple discontinued iPhoto and I had upgraded my operating system.

It was suggested that I should delete the iPhotos library as I am essentially duplicating my early photos. I have no problem doing that , but I want to be sure I won't lose them from the Photos library.

Will I encounter any problems with deleting the iPhotos library, such as hiccups by my computer? My OS is High Sierra. I have backed up my Photos Library to two external hard drives - one is a Lacie backup which backs everything up, and one is a dedicated HD just for photos.

MacBook Pro 17″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 24, 2020 7:53 AM

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User profile for user: Keith Barkley
Keith Barkley
User level: Level 7
20,898 points

Posted on Sep 24, 2020 9:52 AM

You can, but you won't reclaim as much space as you might think. Photos uses a clever OS feature (a "hard link") so that it shares the original files between the iPhoto and Photos libraries. Deleting the iPhoto library will delete the link, but the original, will still exist safe and sound in the Photos Library.

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User profile for user: Keith Barkley
Keith Barkley
User level: Level 7
20,898 points

Sep 24, 2020 9:52 AM in response to fotocano

You can, but you won't reclaim as much space as you might think. Photos uses a clever OS feature (a "hard link") so that it shares the original files between the iPhoto and Photos libraries. Deleting the iPhoto library will delete the link, but the original, will still exist safe and sound in the Photos Library.

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User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
163,824 points

Sep 26, 2020 3:10 PM in response to fotocano

You won't know exactly until you delete it.


The library currently claims to use 220 GB of space. Of that 220GB we can surmise that some 200 or so is your photograph and videos and the balance is the basic overhead of using iPhoto - thumbnails, database files etc. As the photographs and videos are shared with Photos, deletion will only reclaim the overhead - the 20 gigs mentioned in my example.

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Deleting iPhoto library.

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