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I want to move my photo library to an external hard drive, but want to de-dupe them before doing so. Additionally, I organized recent photos from my iphone into folders - will those photos be deleted if I delete the originals in the photo library?
Where can I find information on how the photo library, photo albums / folders work?
Hi For duplicates see below.
For albums/folders:
Photos only ever stores one photo - that is the one shown in the library. When you add a photo to an album it is not duplicated but the filename is effectively added to a list for that album. When you view the album it shows all the photos that have been added to that albums "list", viewing them from the library.
So yes - if you delete a photo from the library it will no longer be available to view from the albums.
Now duplicates:
There are no facilities in photos to automate finding and deleting duplicates, so either
* manually,
* or using an app designed to work with the photos library (Ie one that marks the photos or puts them in an album, and lets you review and then delete them, rather than doing the delete itself.
Do NOT use a general file duplicate finder not designed to work with the photos library. They will damage your photos library and likely cause loss of your photos.
I personally use PowerPhotos (I also use this for copying images and data between libraries) https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/
Another suitable app recommended by experts here is PhotoSweeper (I have no personal experience of this one)
Both are paid apps. PhotoSweeper is the lowest cost and can recognise duplicates based on content, but PowerPhotos provides a lot of functionality in addition to the duplicate detection.
Hi For duplicates see below.
For albums/folders:
Photos only ever stores one photo - that is the one shown in the library. When you add a photo to an album it is not duplicated but the filename is effectively added to a list for that album. When you view the album it shows all the photos that have been added to that albums "list", viewing them from the library.
So yes - if you delete a photo from the library it will no longer be available to view from the albums.
Now duplicates:
There are no facilities in photos to automate finding and deleting duplicates, so either
* manually,
* or using an app designed to work with the photos library (Ie one that marks the photos or puts them in an album, and lets you review and then delete them, rather than doing the delete itself.
Do NOT use a general file duplicate finder not designed to work with the photos library. They will damage your photos library and likely cause loss of your photos.
I personally use PowerPhotos (I also use this for copying images and data between libraries) https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/
Another suitable app recommended by experts here is PhotoSweeper (I have no personal experience of this one)
Both are paid apps. PhotoSweeper is the lowest cost and can recognise duplicates based on content, but PowerPhotos provides a lot of functionality in addition to the duplicate detection.
Thank you - follow up question. I read on the Apple site "You can't store your library on a storage device used for Time Machine backups." How can I get my external hard drive - which I originally chose as my Time Machine back up - to not be the Time Machine back up anymore so I store my photos on there?
Erase and format it.
How can I eliminate duplicate photos in my photo library
