Backing up iPhoto AND Photos?

[scouser75]

Hi guys,

I want to backup my iPhoto and Photos library just in case anything goes pear-shaped!!

My question is, as I am using the Photos app now rather than the iPhoto app do I need to backup BOTH the iPhoto library AND Photos library? Or do I just backup the Photos library?

Within the Photos app I have a folder titled 'iPhoto events'. Does this mean that all my iPhoto pictures are now incorporated into the Photos app and there is no need to backup the iPhoto file?

 

[NoBoMac]

Backup the whole Pictures folder. Photos leaves iPhoto pictures in their old library and references those, while new pictures are added to the Photos library.

 

[simon lefisch]

Backup the whole Pictures folder. Photos leaves iPhoto pictures in their old library and references those, while new pictures are added to the Photos library.

Actually it's dependent on how you imported the pictures. When I switched to the Photos app, all my pictures from my iPhoto library were transferred to a new Photos library. However it is a good idea to backup the Pictures folder to be safe.

 

[Weaselboy]

Within the Photos app I have a folder titled 'iPhoto events'. Does this mean that all my iPhoto pictures are now incorporated into the Photos app and there is no need to backup the iPhoto file?

If you left Photos at its default settings, the first time it started it made a new Photos library and imported all your images into that Photos library and they are listed in the at iPhoto events section you mentioned. Double check the Photos app to make sure all the photos were properly imported, then you can just ditch the old iPhoto library of you like.

That said, the old iPhoto library is not really using any disk space like you might think. It uses "hard links" to the same image files on the drive the Photos library references, so they don't use double the space. Good article here that explains it.

 

[scouser75]

Thanks guys for the replies.

My iPhoto library file is 86GB. My Photos library is 100GB.

I'm quite certain that when I imported the photos, the Photos app asked if I wanted to bring in the iPhoto pictures into Photos.

I'm going to be doing a clean install of El Capitan in the next couple of weeks hence the backing up of everything. I guess I will need to clean install Photos too so will get the chance to 'merge' the Photos library AND iPhotos library.

What I don't want happening is a) having 2 HUGE files of replicated photos. b) And most importantly, DO NOT want to lose any of the photos I had in iPhoto.

I will be backing up the iPhoto library and then once I've clean installed El Capitan, I'll reinstall Photos, merge with iPhoto and then delete the iPhotos library from the HD and see if the old photos still show up on Photos app.

Hope all of that made sense?!?!?!?

 

[Weaselboy]

I'm going to be doing a clean install of El Capitan in the next couple of weeks hence the backing up of everything. I guess I will need to clean install Photos too so will get the chance to 'merge' the Photos library AND iPhotos library.

What I don't want happening is a) having 2 HUGE files of replicated photos. b) And most importantly, DO NOT want to lose any of the photos I had in iPhoto.

I'm confused what you mean by merging now? When you started Photos is imported all the images from iPhoto, so you should be all set there and there is nothing to merge. As long as from that point forward you stopped using iPhoto and only used Photos, then all your images both old and new should in the Photos library.

Read that link I gave you. If you like, you can keep the old iPhoto library on the drive since it is not really using 86GB of space like it appears.

 

[simon lefisch]

I will be backing up the iPhoto library and then once I've clean installed El Capitan, I'll reinstall Photos, merge with iPhoto and then delete the iPhotos library from the HD and see if the old photos still show up on Photos app.

Hope all of that made sense?!?!?!?

Don't delete your iPhoto library until you have confirmed all your pics are in the Photos app. Just move it to an external drive. Once confirmed that all pics are in Photos, then you can delete.

 

[scouser75]

I'm confused what you mean by merging now? When you started Photos is imported all the images from iPhoto, so you should be all set there and there is nothing to merge. As long as from that point forward you stopped using iPhoto and only used Photos, then all your images both old and new should in the Photos library.

Read that link I gave you. If you like, you can keep the old iPhoto library on the drive since it is not really using 86GB of space like it appears.

Hi mate,

what i mean is that because I will be doing a full clean install of El Capitan, where I will lose everything on my HD, I will need to re-install the Photos app. This in turn will mean having to bring in the iPhotos library into Photos.

Hope this makes sense.

Simon, that is exactly what I will be doing

 

[simon lefisch]

Hi mate,

what i mean is that because I will be doing a full clean install of El Capitan, where I will lose everything on my HD, I will need to re-install the Photos app. This in turn will mean having to bring in the iPhotos library into Photos.

Hope this makes sense.

Simon, that is exactly what I will be doing

Photos app will be reinstalled when reinstalling the OS. You can merge the two libraries before the reinstall, backup in TM, then restore after the OS reinstall.....or move both libraries to ext storage and move Photos library back after OS reinstall. Once merged, you won't have to do it again.

 

[scouser75]

How do I merge BEFORE the reinstall?

I would have though that I would:

* Install El Capitan, which would install Photos.

* I would import BOTH iPhotos library AND Photos library onto the Mac HD.

* Open the Photos app and then merge iPhotos with it.

Or do you mean merge the 2 libraries in my existing Yosemite and then just drop the merged Photos library into El Capitan?

 

[simon lefisch]

Or do you mean merge the 2 libraries in my existing Yosemite and then just drop the merged Photos library into El Capitan?

This exactly.

I would do it like this....

Import all your pics into Photos (Yosemite) then move both libraries to ext storage.

After your fresh install of El Capitan, move just the Photos library file back and open with Photos app.

Go thru all pics in Photos app to verify the merge completed successfully (you could even do this in Yosemite if you choose). Once verified, you can delete your iPhoto library if you wish.

 

[scouser75]

Thanks guys for all your help on this. I'll be doing a clean wipe once I've finished a project I'm working on. Wish me luck!

 

[TETENAL]

Photos only imports the iPhoto library once. You cannot merge both libraries at any time later.

Before you do a clean install, make a full Time Machine backup of everything. One needs that anyway, so now would be a good opportunity to start with it.