Transferring Data to external hard drive

[Hannahkik]

I have transferred over 890,000 images to my external hard drive...

My laptop kept telling me i was running out of storage, so i decided to try the hard drive. It took a few days to transfer everything, but I think i transferred it all. After i went through and checked to make sure everything was transferred, i deleted all of the files i had sent to the drive. I was relieved to finally have everything cleaned off... until i checked the "all images" folder in finder. Almost all of my images i supposedly "transferred" are still there. I cannot delete them without the administrator password, which my mother gave me when I was young 7 years ago. But she has forgotten it. How much storage are they taking up and are they the real images, or just copies?

WHAT DO I DO?!

i need help creating more space on my laptop's hard drive and I want to update the software after i finish transferring everything.. How much money does it cost and how do i go about doing that?
sincerely,
FRUSTRATED

 

[Mal]

Is the external hard drive still plugged in? The "All Images" in the sidebar is simply a search, and it's not limited to your internal hard drive, so everything that it can find will show there. It's not a good idea to use that for anything but finding and opening images.

To check your hard drive's remaining space, just select it and choose File -> Get Info. If it's not displayed on your Desktop, you can view it by choosing Go -> Computer.

jW

 

[Hannahkik]

No. my drive is no longer plugged in. and I'm not sure if my laptop's internal memory is keeping all of the files in the "All images" folder and if i need to transfer those or not..

 

[SpetsnaZ99]

i deleted all of the files i had sent to the drive.

Can you choose "Get Info" for one of the images when viewing the 'All Images' folder in Finder?

 

[Mal]

Again, "All Images" is not a folder. It's a search. It's simply showing you all the images on your computer, wherever they are actually stored. You need to find out where they are actually stored.

Open "All Images", right-click on one of the images, and choose "Open Enclosing Folder". This will take you to where it's actually stored. Post back once you have that.

jW

 

[Hannahkik]

Okay so I clicked open enclosing folder, on one of the random images. It brought up a file full of more pictures from my sister's prom. I thought I deleted this file.....

 

[Mal]

You didn't tell us where the folder actually is. I guess I assumed this part, but make sure you've turned your Path Bar on in the Finder, then read out the path displayed on the bottom of the window (you can of course omit your name if you choose, assuming it appears somewhere in there).

jW

 

[Hannahkik]

okay so the path is

hannah> documents > new library (with iphoto symbol)> originals > 2012> final fling >

 

[Fishrrman]

Just a thought here (may not be related to your original question):

If these images are important, you need at least TWO copies of them, stored on different drives. A -second- external backup drive is needed. You can then just "dupe" the contents of one drive to the other, using CarbonCopyCloner, etc.