Clean Install 10.10, but what about Photos.app?

[palebluedot]

Any recommendations on what to do with Photos.app's Library (and my iPhoto Library) if I want to format and clean install my very sluggish 10.10 installation? With older OSes you could just copy the iPhoto Library to your external and/or use a TC backup - but now I have two libraries with hard links (apparently the photos are still in iPhoto Library). What am I to do if I want to format?

Google brings up conflicting recommendations. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[maflynn]

Do you have a backup of your iPhoto library before it was converted? That's really your only option AFAIK, you lose the photos.app when you do a clean install and it won't run on an older OS. You will need to revert back to an older version of the iPhoto library before photos.app touched it.

 

[palebluedot]

Do you have a backup of your iPhoto library before it was converted? That's really your only option AFAIK, you lose the photos.app when you do a clean install and it won't run on an older OS. You will need to revert back to an older version of the iPhoto library before photos.app touched it.

It is not my latest backup, but I can probably go back in Time Machine and find an older backup.

I am surprised at how inelegant OS X is becoming with all these changes! Is there really no way to "back up" Photos.app in the same way you could iPhotos?

P.S. Thanks for the comment!

 

[posguy99]

I am surprised at how inelegant OS X is becoming with all these changes! Is there really no way to "back up" Photos.app in the same way you could iPhotos?

Of course. In the same way you were backing up iPhoto. But that's not what you asked, so that's not the answer you got.

If you're not going to go back to 10.3, then you can't run Photos. You are restricted to iPhoto, and you'd need a copy of the iPhoto library from before Photos touched it.

 

[grockk]

if you are using the recovery partition by holding cmd-R, then erase the main partition and then install OS X, it will be 10.10.3.

If you download Yosemite from the mac app store and use the InstallESD.dmg method to boot from external drive and wipe the entire hard drive including the recovery partition and then install OS X, it will be 10.10.3.

The only way to install something earlier version of Yosemite than 10.10.3 is if you already did the InstallESD method for creating an external drive or if you do cmd-opt-R during boot it will install the latest version of whichever OS X 10._ that your mac shipped with. Still if you try to upgrade to yosemite, it will be 10.10.3 that is downloaded.

I just went through this on a new to me Mid-2011 Macbook Air.

TL;DR If you have a backup of your home folder or Time Machine and you restore it before opening the photos app, it automagically works.

 

[palebluedot]

Of course. In the same way you were backing up iPhoto. But that's not what you asked, so that's not the answer you got.

If you're not going to go back to 10.3, then you can't run Photos. You are restricted to iPhoto, and you'd need a copy of the iPhoto library from before Photos touched it.

Sorry my question may have been unclear. I mean 10.3.3 or whatever the latest OS X version is. But I am confused that I have two libraries, iPhoto Library and Photos Library. Do I have to copy both to an external to migrate them over? I am getting errors when I try to copy them to my TC.