Moving entire photos library to a new MacBook

[Skoal]

I’ve tried to find an answer via search but keep getting peripheral answers to what I think is a simple question. I want to move or import my photos library to a brand new MacBook from an old one. What I’m not sure of is which folder to copy/transfer onto the new laptop and where to move it to so the new MacBook will have all the photos right there when I open the app.

I’m assuming the folder in the home folder inside “pictures” titled photo library.photolibrary is the one but wanted to make sure. Also, would it just be simpler to find that folder in a time machine backup? Thanks so much for any help anyone can provide. I realize this isn’t a difficult task and although I have backups I get a bit paranoid I’ll end up with folders all over my new machine which would drive my OCD up the wall

 

[Unix_is-not_linux]

Well it depends where all your files are stored. Do you know the location you saved them to ?

also if you are moving to a new mac it might just be easier to use the mac os Migration Assistant

 

[ScreenSavers]

Another vote for migration assistant. Otherwise use iCloud photo library.

 

[techwarrior]

If you used iCloud for your photos library in the past, just login with your iCloud ID launch Photos and turn on iCloud Photo sync. it will download everything from the cloud.

You are correct, the .photoslibrary file is the database with all the photos and metadata assuming you had it set to copy imports to the library. if so, you can copy this to the new Mac and select it on first launch.

 

[NoBoMac]

I will ditto Migration Assistant/Time Machine as well.

OR

Just to be safe, I'd copy the entire "Pictures" folder over, because...

Do you also have a ".migratedphotolibrary" object under Pictures? If so, that contains photos that were imported via the old iPhotos program, which .photoslibrary points to for any old pictures Photos program has.

 

[Skoal]

I will ditto Migration Assistant/Time Machine as well.

OR

Just to be safe, I'd copy the entire "Pictures" folder over, because...

Do you also have a ".migratedphotolibrary" object under Pictures? If so, that contains photos that were imported via the old iPhotos program, which .photoslibrary points to for any old pictures Photos program has.

Indeed I have photos that were migrated via iPhoto when the photos app became a thing. Good call and thank you. I wanted to use migration assistant like I have in the past but for some reason on my first attempt to use it it on this new laptop there were all kinds of issues when I booted the laptop up again after. I have a good time machine backup I can grab everything from I just need to make sure I put it in the right place.

Do you recommend just replacing the current pictures folder (in new laptop) with the old I.e. delete the new one and plop the old in that home folder?

 

[Skoal]

Disregard my last post:

All is well in the world lol! I ended up using my latest TM backup through finder to copy the iPhoto and photos folders into the new pictures folder and everything imported as if it were the original computer. Thanks for the tips folks. It helped ease my mind getting what I know is a simple task done. My main worry was I’d end up with folders everywhere and out of place.

 

[Fishrrman]

NoBoMac writes:
"Just to be safe, I'd copy the entire "Pictures" folder over, because..."

You CANNOT DO THIS.

The "pictures" folder is more than "just a folder". It's a symbolic link (or at least used to be), that is tied to the ownership of your home folder on the old Mac.

But... you CAN COPY things that are INSIDE the "pictures" folder, such as individual photos, the Photos library, etc.

That would involve:
a. copy the pictures folder to an external drive
b. mount the drive on another Mac
c. click ONE time on the drive icon to select it, then type "command-i" (eye) to bring up get info. At the bottom of get info, click the lock icon and enter your password. Now put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume", then close get info
d. locate the old "pictures" folder and open it into a finder window on the desktop
e. you can now copy items inside of it to the "pictures" folder of your NEW account (on the NEW Mac).

As mentioned above, you can also migrate from a backup drive.
I ALWAYS recommend backing up with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
I suppose Time Machine might work, but I've never used it, ever.

 

[NoBoMac]

The "pictures" folder is more than "just a folder". It's a symbolic link (or at least used to be), that is tied to the ownership of your home folder on the old Mac.

Pictures is a folder. And everything around Photos is self contained in that folder.

Where links come into play is iPhotos library vs Photos. Photos has hard links to the pictures in iPhotos library. Both libraries will link to the same image file via a hard link.

Depending on scenario, yes, things might get mucked up if ownerships are messed up (eg. create a new user account on new Mac and go from there vs. Migration Assistant to get same setup), but generally will work to simply copy.

For example, I moved my Pictures folder off my Mac onto an external drive: no issues, and links preserved, no extra steps.

$ cd '/Volumes/External_SSD/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/Masters/2007/Event/'
$ ls -li IMG_0412.JPG
43463 -rw-r--rw-  2 myidhere staff  424359 Jan  1  2009 IMG_0412.JPG
$ cd /Volumes/External_SSD/Pictures
$ find . -inum 43463
./iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary/Masters/2007/Event/IMG_0412.JPG
./Photos Library.photoslibrary/Masters/2007/Event/IMG_0412.JPG

One thing that might cause troubles is in Settings and the default photos library: might need to reset that.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414

 

[mpainesyd]

Try Powerphotos.app

 

[Fishrrman]

NoBoMac wrote:
"For example, I moved my Pictures folder off my Mac onto an external drive: no issues, and links preserved, no extra steps."

Yes, of course that would work, because you're still accessing the folder with THE SAME ACCOUNT that you used when it was located "internally".

Try doing that with a NEW Mac that has a different account on it!

 

[MacKey76]

Reviving this as I'm in a similar situation.

I am moving from my old Mac to a new one. I don't want to use migration assistant as my old one is 8 years old and full of crap and has been upgraded each year to the latest OS, so will likely have a ton of stuff I don't want/need hidden on it.

So I did a clean setup of the new Mac and setup user account the same and intended to reinstall everything and copy over data files/folders.

However... I screwed up and named the accounts slightly differently - I didn't check and thought it was firtnamesurname but but it was just first name - so the home folder has a different name on the new one to that on the old one.

Shouldn't really cause me any issues, but I came to copying the Photos library (which I have spent a long time populating and organising so don't want to lose) and did a Google to see what the best way was. I can copy all my photos back (into the Photos folder) as they are on the old Mac and copy the library over, but will the different name of the home folder mean the links hidden in the Photos library will all fail? And if so is there a way to update them in bulk?

Not sure if it matters but old Mac is on Catalina and new one Big Sur.

Thank you

 

[tamara6]

Reviving this as I'm in a similar situation.

I am moving from my old Mac to a new one. I don't want to use migration assistant as my old one is 8 years old and full of crap and has been upgraded each year to the latest OS, so will likely have a ton of stuff I don't want/need hidden on it.

So I did a clean setup of the new Mac and setup user account the same and intended to reinstall everything and copy over data files/folders.

However... I screwed up and named the accounts slightly differently - I didn't check and thought it was firtnamesurname but but it was just first name - so the home folder has a different name on the new one to that on the old one.

Shouldn't really cause me any issues, but I came to copying the Photos library (which I have spent a long time populating and organising so don't want to lose) and did a Google to see what the best way was. I can copy all my photos back (into the Photos folder) as they are on the old Mac and copy the library over, but will the different name of the home folder mean the links hidden in the Photos library will all fail? And if so is there a way to update them in bulk?

Not sure if it matters but old Mac is on Catalina and new one Big Sur.

Thank you

Would love to see the answer to this - did you find one?

 

[MacKey76]

I'm afraid not. I spoke to Apple Support who were no help, and posted on the Apple support forum where someone said that it can't be done and needs doing manually.

It's my own fault for not naming the account the same, but really annoying, and cannot be a unique situation either moving folders or changing accounts.

 

[psingh01]

Just try copying the library over and see what happens. Keep the original on your old Mac until you you've verified that everything is ok on the new one. If it bugs you about usernames then look at the Get Info for the library from the Finder and go to the Sharing & Permissions section and add your user name with Read & Write (and remove the old user name). It has an option to Apply to enclosed items... to propagate the permissions to all files in the library.

If none of that works, then you can try doing it via the command line with the chown command.

How to recursively set owner or permissions to 'everyone' for all folders and files?

I have an external hard drive attached, and I need to set permissions to be 'free' for the user MyUser. I think I need to set the owner to MyUser also. How can I do this via terminal?

superuser.com

Although I don't recommend the last one if you have little experience with the terminal. Practice first on something you are ok with screwing up and starting over (even if it means a complete fresh install of the OS). Command lines aren't as forgiving. Especially when making recursive changes. If you mistakenly point it to the wrong directory it will happily change permissions there.

If worse comes to worse, the library is just a directory/folder. You can go in there by right clicking and Show Package Contents. All the original files should be in an originals subfolder. You can copy them straight out of there and import them to your new Mac. You would lose any organizing you've done and possible edits, but you'd still have your originals.


FYI: If you are curious, there is a file called Photos.sqlite in the database subfolder of the library that contains all the data that organizes the library. You can view the contents with https://sqlitebrowser.org. You could edit that in bulk if you know SQL. Just remember to do it on a copy. Not your main library files (or even your primary backup)! Play around with it then trash it when you've learned something.

I had to muck around in the contents of libraries because I had various backups I made over time from Photos, iPhoto and Aperture. They were all in different states. Unfortunately Photos was not good at importing them and detecting duplicates and I wound up with a mess. I had to do some scripting to consolidate it all.

The most important thing is you keep a backup of the original somewhere safe so you can go back to it if you mess up. If you mess up, just trash the library you messed up. Make a new copy from your backup and try again.

 

[MacKey76]

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded the SQL Lite Browser you posted above and it opened the file, but the contents make little sense. I know SQL a little, but I expected to see a structure that made sense, and this didn't. I'm sure I could edit it if I knew the correct table/field etc.