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Transfer Photos library from Catalina to Sonoma

Hi, I'm using an old intel iMac and will soon be receiving a new silicone Mac... when it comes to transferring my Photos library (stored on internal drive, not iCloud or anything).. can I just drag the Photos library onto an external drive then drag that onto the new Mac.. is it as simple as that?


I want to start my new Mac fresh, not do full transfer of everything, just the Photos library.


Thanks!

Posted on Nov 24, 2023 5:43 AM

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3 replies

Nov 24, 2023 10:21 AM in response to saddact

Yes, as long as the external drive is formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (journaled).


You'll have to import the older library into a new Photos library. With Ventura Photos no longer converts or merges libraries. It can only import them. So if you've put a lot of organizational effort into the library you might want to use the paid version of PowerPhotos to merge the old library into a new one. The following is a comparison of PowerPhotos vs Photos in merging libraries:


PowerPhotos: Photos:


Albums -----------

Smart Albums (as regular albums) -----------

Folders -----------

Captions Captions

Titles Titles

Original images Original images

Edited images Edited images

Locations Locations

Favorites Favorites

Can detect and exclude Duplicates detected after import

duplicates (or not) during import


Neither method included projects.


Both methods could import older iPhoto libraries into a Photos library when the iPhoto library couldn't be migrated into a Photos library.



Nov 25, 2023 7:02 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi,


Thanks for your answer.


Yeah external drive is Mac OS Extended (journaled).


My library has no organisational effort, locations, favourites, folders, albums or anything. Just thousands of pictures just stored there in their raw state.


With that being the case, can I just copy that library into the new Mac?


Thanks.

Transfer Photos library from Catalina to Sonoma

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