Moving Photos Library to a New Mac

[Hrothgar]

I've done some googling, and I'm finding inconsistent advice.
I'm sure this topic has been addressed here, but my searches are not coming up with what I want.

Do you think Apple realized that when the replaced iPhotos with an application called, simply, "Photos", that they made it very difficult to search for information about the application? Googling (or searching anywhere) iPhoto turned up results for iPhoto. Googling "Photos" turns up results for photos -- not necessarily Apple's "Photos" application.

I have what I think is a simple issue: On my old Macbook Pro (Late 2011, running el Capitan, 10.11.4), I have a Photos library (37.8 gb) and an iPhotos library (33.4 gb). I assume all of the iPhotos content was imported into and exists in the Photos library -- but is there a way I can confirm this?

I would like to export my Photos library (assuming it is complete) onto a new Mac Mini that has no photos at all. What is the easiest way to do this?

In Photos, I went to Albums, All Photos and then File-export-export folders. I got the following message:

"Some of your photos and videos are stored outside of the Photos library. Photos needs permission to access this media. Please choose the folder named “15” at the path “/Users/DavidJStone/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2012/09/”."

I'm not sure what this means? I can't navigate in Finder to a folder in the iPhoto library. When I try, it just opens the iPhoto app.

I'm sure there is an easy way to do this. Sorry. and thanks in advance.

 

[Weaselboy]

There is no good, automated way to verify everything from iPhoto got imported to Photos. The best you can do is open both libraries in their respective apps and look at the total number of photos and make sure they match up.

Normally, all you would do is copy the Photos library file onto a USB drive then copy from there to the new Mac's Pictures folder. Then option key launch Photos and tell it to use that library.

But one thing here is scaring me, and it is that "Some of your photos..." message. There is a setting in both iPhoto and Photos that allows you to use the app to manage photos without actually importing the photos into the library. It just creates a reference (pointer) to the photo and leaves the photo in its original location. The default setting it to Copy items to the Photos library like in my screenshot. But if you uncheck that box in either app, the actual photos will not be copied to the library and it would cause the message you are seeing.

Do you think for some reason in September 2012 for a time you had that box unchecked when you imported some photos? Do you just get that message this one time for that single folder?

 

[Hrothgar]

Thanks. I'm not sure about that message. I don't remember ever playing with Photos. I'm not much of a picture guy, and I think Apple has made it very cumbersome.

I imported into Photos the random folders under Pictures.

I tried to copy my Photos Library to an external drive. I got the following message:
"The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8084)."

Any ideas?

 

[Weaselboy]

Had you quit Photos when trying to do this? What format was the external drive? It needs to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

 

[Hrothgar]

I think I quit photos. and the drive ws formatted correctly.

I first tried to export my Photos library to the external drive. When I got that odd message, I just hit "skip." However, when I connected the drive to the Mac Mini, I tried to import it, but it was grayed out on the drive as an option.

I tried again to just copy the Photos library to the external drive. For some reason, it worked. I was able to use import on the Mini to import all the photos. But I now have 10,000 photos that seem to have lost all metadata.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Weaselboy]

I tried again to just copy the Photos library to the external drive. For some reason, it worked. I was able to use import on the Mini to import all the photos. But I now have 10,000 photos that seem to have lost all metadata.

You don't want to import. You just want to move the Photos library to the internal drive, then hold down the option key as you launch Photos. You will get a prompt asking what library to use... then just point it to the library you just over over. Then it will just continue to use that library and all your organization and meta data will be there.

 

[Hrothgar]

So, I realized that I've got duplicates (at least) of almost all my photos.
Is there an app that can review my Photos library and identify/delete all the duplicates?

 

[Weaselboy]

I used Duplicate Annihilator on a friends library and it worked really well. Not free though.

http://www.brattoo.com/propaganda/

 

[Hrothgar]

Thanks. I'll check it out.