Can Photos delete from hard drive too?

[clb68forums]

I am relatively new to Photos. I have a hard drive that has nothing but images and photos from many different work and family sources. I imported all of them (over 40k) into Photos thinking that I would be able to use it as an actual management system. However, I found that it's not finding duplicates and I can not delete any images from the hard drive within the Photos application.

Is there a way to delete an image inside the Photos application and have it removed from the hard drive as well? I haven't been able to find a way to do this.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[MSastre]

Assuming it is an external drive with no OS or apps, no you can't delete duplicates on it from the Photos app. You can do it manually on the drive, by selecting the copies and putting them in the trash, then emptying it. You can make multiple selections by command-clicking them, then hit command and delete at the same time. Do not forget to empty the trash before closing the drive's contents.

 

[clb68forums]

Assuming it is an external drive with no OS or apps, no you can't delete duplicates on it from the Photos app. You can do it manually on the drive, by selecting the copies and putting them in the trash, then emptying it. You can make multiple selections by command-clicking them, then hit command and delete at the same time. Do not forget to empty the trash before closing the drive's contents.

Is there a way to delete images from within the Photos app and have them also removed from the hard drive?

I know how to remove the files from the HDD directly, I just noticed that during the import process it showed duplicates that it didn’t import, but it wasn’t perfect. I’m going through some of the photos and see there are duplicates. I’d like to delete the image from within Photos and also have it remove from the drive. It would be easier than going to each image’s info and then searching for that file name. Photos does not give a ‘reveal in finder’ option to delete it or handle it directly on the drive. At least not that I have found.

 

[MSastre]

Again, if it is on a hard drive with no OS or app, you can not have an app remove it. Why would you expect that to be possible?

 

[clb68forums]

Again, if it is on a hard drive with no OS or app, you can not have an app remove it. Why would you expect that to be possible?

Well I’d expect it to be possible because the photos library is on the external drive with the photos. I’d also expect it to be possible because Photos is integrated into the OS (which is capable of deleting from external drives). I’d expect it to be possible because other applications both 3rd party and OEM are capable of deleting from an external drive. ACDSee, Adobe Bridge, etc., just to name a couple.

Matter of fact, one of my Photos libraries that is not on an external drive, but the main Mac drive (obviously an OS drive with the app) does not delete the images from the drive either. So, yes, I would expect it to have the capability if it is a true photo management system.

I just wanted to see if I was missing something.

 

[Dave Braine]

Your photos have been imported into Photos and copies are now in the Photos Library file. You can delete those in the Library file from within Photos. To delete the originals on the drive, you have to do that through Finder. There is no link to those on the drive from within Photos.

 

[KlingonSpy]

Is there a way to delete images from within the Photos app and have them also removed from the hard drive?

I know how to remove the files from the HDD directly, I just noticed that during the import process it showed duplicates that it didn’t import, but it wasn’t perfect. I’m going through some of the photos and see there are duplicates. I’d like to delete the image from within Photos and also have it remove from the drive. It would be easier than going to each image’s info and then searching for that file name. Photos does not give a ‘reveal in finder’ option to delete it or handle it directly on the drive. At least not that I have found.

Within the Photo app just click the photo you want to delete and press the delete key (MBP) the app then pops up a dialog box asking you want to delete. The isn't a delete function on the drop down menu's. Use command+click to select multiple images and press the delete key.

 

[NoBoMac]

The isn't a delete function on the drop down menu's.

Sure there is. Photos > Image > Delete X Photos. At the bottom.

 

[KlingonSpy]

Sure there is. Photos > Image > Delete X Photos. At the bottom.

You're right. Didn't see it where I would normally expect to under "Edit". Been using the delete button so long I didn't look closely at the menu's.

 

[Dave Braine]

Within the Photo app just click the photo you want to delete and press the delete key (MBP) the app then pops up a dialog box asking you want to delete. The isn't a delete function on the drop down menu's. Use command+click to select multiple images and press the delete key.

That doesn't delete them from the hard drive, which the OP is after, only from Photos.

 

[Ash27]

I am relatively new to Photos. I have a hard drive that has nothing but images and photos from many different work and family sources. I imported all of them (over 40k) into Photos thinking that I would be able to use it as an actual management system. However, I found that it's not finding duplicates and I can not delete any images from the hard drive within the Photos application.

Is there a way to delete an image inside the Photos application and have it removed from the hard drive as well? I haven't been able to find a way to do this.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

There's an app (Gemini 2) that can find duplicates both on a hard drive and within photos. It's not a free app but worth it in my opinion. In your case, you'll have to run it twice, once on the files in folders, and once on the photos app.
What I'd do is delete the photo library, run it on the files themselves then make a new library.
The app could be used on multiple folders and can automatically detect duplicates and choose which to delete them depending on different parameters like size, dimensions or location. Also it can find all sort oof duplicates not just image files.
It's on the app store with in-app purchases, or on their web site.

 

[LiveM]

Gemini 2 is outstanding, though MacOS Catalina will find duplicates natively. I had had Gemini sort out all my files into different folders by type, so it’s easy to look through your photos, videos, documents, presentations, etc.,.

As has been stated, importing photos into Photos duplicates your files, bloating your hard drive. Make sure to choose to have the images uploaded to iCloud until required.

 

[mikzn]

I am relatively new to Photos. I have a hard drive that has nothing but images and photos from many different work and family sources. I imported all of them (over 40k) into Photos thinking that I would be able to use it as an actual management system. However, I found that it's not finding duplicates and I can not delete any images from the hard drive within the Photos application.

Is there a way to delete an image inside the Photos application and have it removed from the hard drive as well? I haven't been able to find a way to do this.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

I have been using PowerPhotos for over 10 years - great for finding and deleting duplicates (even if they have been renamed) and also great for managing separate libraries and moving pictures between libraries, and search by "file name".

Might be worth a look ?

 

[clb68forums]

Thanks. I have used Gemini since its baby days. It’s what I use regularly. The issue was we imported the external drive with images on it (sorted by folders) and then came across other images on our RAID servers that we moved over and imported before checking for duplicates. It created a mess!

May just be best to redo the library as suggested but with sooo many photos it will take forever... again. Lol

Thanks all!

 

[LiveM]

I forget about the differences between Gemini and Gemini 2, but with the latter you can choose which photos to delete by parameters, such as file location or possibly date, and it also has the ability to flag or delete images that look to be identical but have different file names, which I know often happens with photos depending on how they are saved and via which apps.