iPhoto questions

[Ruffian829]

I have some albums synced from my macbook to my ipad and iphone through itunes. However, I now want to delete the albums off of my macbook. If I do that, the next time I plug my iphone or ipad into my macbook will it try and "sync" to those albums and therefore delete them off of my ipad or iphone? Is there a way to prevent this?
Also, if I delete photos from "photos" or "events" in iPhoto (vs. deleting the albums) and the photos are currently IN albums, will those photos subsequently be deleted from the albums as well?
(I'm just trying to clear up some space on my macbook so I wanted to delete all photos not in albums but since they are pretty random I don't want to go through and delete "around" those individual photos within the "photos" setting)

 

[Tumbleweed666]

I have some albums synced from my macbook to my ipad and iphone through itunes. However, I now want to delete the albums off of my macbook. If I do that, the next time I plug my iphone or ipad into my macbook will it try and "sync" to those albums and therefore delete them off of my ipad or iphone? Is there a way to prevent this?

I am pretty sure it will and i don't think there is anyway to prevent it. You could easily test by synching one photo you don't care about (or one added for this purpose) and then deleting it from iPhoto and synching again.

Also, if I delete photos from "photos" or "events" in iPhoto (vs. deleting the albums) and the photos are currently IN albums, will those photos subsequently be deleted from the albums as well?

Yes, because photo are not physically in albums. Think of an album as containing a set of pointers to the real photos. SO delete the originals, and the pointers mean nothing.

(I'm just trying to clear up some space on my macbook so I wanted to delete all photos not in albums but since they are pretty random I don't want to go through and delete "around" those individual photos within the "photos" setting)

I googled "iphoto remove all photos not in an album" and the first hit was this thread which seems to have an answer to your problem.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2562293?start=0&tstart=0

(see the post from OldToad in that thread). In summary you can create another album (a smart album) that contains all photos not in another album. He then adds another step, move those to a regular album and then use command option delete, which apparently deletes the source image, not merely the pointer in the album. I am wondering if you cant just delete directly from the smart album. You can try both ways with an image or two you dont mind losing first.

Take a backup to another disk before you do anything radical like this (you should have a backup anyway of course or one day you'll save space by losing all your photos)

HTH

 

[Ruffian829]

Thank you! I will try these. I'm thinking of maybe exporting the photos in the folder onto the desktop, then deleting the photos in iphoto, and then importing them back into iphoto... that way I can delete a bunch from iphoto but make sure at the end all the photos I need for those albums are there (I think this would work?)
And I'm in the process of backing up my photos online as well as on an external HD. Thats the only reason I'm feeling "brave" enough to (finally) delete them from my macbook.

-I remember there was a way when you hooked up a ipod to not have it automatically sync upon hookup, like you plug it in and hold down command or control or something while itunes loaded? I take it there isn't the same option for an iPad? possibly then I could keep the albums from syncing upon hooking them up to the macbook?

 

[Ruffian829]

I just read the thread that you posted, and it sounded way less complicated than I thought it would be. I think I am going to try that approach. Thank you very much!