Does uploading iPhoto libraries from multiple Macs with the same photos create duplicates in the new Photos app?

I have 4 Macs and I had the same iPhoto library on each of them. When I chose to turn on the iCloud Photo Library on each of them, each Mac, each one of them uploaded the library to iCloud Photo Library.. Now it appears that I have many duplicates in the new Library. Is it adding each of the 4 libraries to the mix? It's a real problem as I have 25,000 pictures - 70GB in my library. So paused the upload on 2 of the Macs about half way through in case it is creating duplicates, until I get some answers. Any help would sure be appreciated.

I'm in the same boat as well. I'm doing one mac at a time and seeing how it works. Howev the upload is so slow, who knows when it will be done.

Similar Messages

Merging iPhoto Libraries from two Macs

Does anyone have a way of physically combining (not just sharing) iPhoto libraries from two macs? I'm hoping there's an easier, smarter way of doing it than just exporting all of the photos from one and importing them into the other and then just doing the reverse. Is there software that does this smarter? Can get rid of duplicates, etc.?

Merge?
Do you mean 'sync' libraries
The general term means when two Libraries (A and B) are compared and files in Library A are copied to Library B, while files in Library B are also copied to Library A so that both Libraries are identical.
This is bi-directional copying and you cannot do this with automatically with iPhoto. No Syncing software is capable of parsing the iPhoto Library in this manner. One or both of your Libraries will be damaged if you try this.
The nearest you can get to syncing is to use iPhoto Library Manager to move files/Albums/Events plus assoicated metadata between Libraries. This process cannot be automated.
The Export/Import route will not get your versions.
Regards
TD

How to unify multiple iPhoto libraries from different Mac OS versions?

I am pretty good with the Mac itself and have been a long time user. I knew full well acumulating multiple iphoto libraries in older backups (intead of building up on one) was not a great idea but for several reasons I have had to live that way. Now is the time to clean it all up once and for all and I need some wisdom;
-I got my external drive as my new iphoto library now. It's being used, there are already albums in it and it's ready to accept older libraries.
-What I want is that the older libraries (about 10 of them from different Mac OS versions) to show up in the new external drive as they looked in iphot back then. As albums in other words.
-I do not want them imported in a single folder that's full of photos.
Any help is much appreciated,
Cheers.
M

If you imported a previous iphoto library into your new one, it created a folder inside the iphoto called "imported".
That was the problem. One should never import one library into another. Only iPhoto 6 libraries and earlier can be imported into a library now. With the introduction of iPhoto 7 the library was changed from a folder to a package which can't be imported by the current iPhoto version.
To use an older library with a new iPhoto version one just opens that library with iPhoto and lets iPhoto update it as necessary. No importing necessary.
Also you can use the paid verson of iPhoto Library Manager to merge those additional libraries into your current working library (be sure to have a current backup of your current library before merging). What will be included are albums, Events, keywords, titles, descriptions, places. Books, slideshows, calendars in the other libraries will be copied over as just albums.
OT

How to use a single iPhoto Library from multiple macs

I'm trying to help my brother out with his iPhoto Library and his Mac network. He has a Library on a MacBook Pro that is about 65GB. I am moving it to his Mac Mini to make it the primary Library. What he wants to do is be able to load new photographs from any Mac in his house and have them appear in the primary Library. If I make the Mac mini shareable and point iPhoto on each of his Mac's to the Library on the Mac Mini, will that work?
Are there any down sides to doing it this way? Can you create multiple Libraries for iPhoto, the other thing we are thinking about is to organize his Library by years.
Thanks
Elliot

What do you mean by "make the Mac mini shareable"?
Iphoto is not really designed for this kind of use, but there are some possibilities - with limitations.
I'm assuming you want to use the same library for each machine, so there is only one.
Put the Library on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and set to ignore ownership and permissions.
Then point each machine at it in turn.
Remember only one machine can access the Library at a time, and attempting to do so with multiple machines can cause damage.
How are you connecting to the Library? A strong warning: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.
Regards
TD

Moving and Merging iPhoto Libraries From 2008 Macs to 2013 MacBook Pro

I have a late 2008 MacBook and an early 2008 iMac. Both are running Lion and iPhoto '08. I will be getting a new MacBook Pro Retina very shortly to replace my MacBook. I would like to move the iMac's iPhoto library to the new MacBook Pro and merge it with the MacBook's iPhoto library once that library is also on the MacBook Pro. I obviously need to get all iPhoto libraries up to date prior to doing this. I think I have a plan to achieve this, as follows, but I would appreciate your help:
1) Upgrade iMac to Mavericks (App store said that I need to do this prior to upgrading to iPhoto 9.5)
2) Upgrade iMac's iPhoto to 9.5
3) Use set-up assistant to migrate old MacBook to new MacBook Pro. This should upgrade the old MacBook's iPhoto library to the current iPhoto version on the MacBook Pro???
4) Move the iMac's iPhoto library to the MacBook Pro (6,604 photos, approximately 27 gb)
5) Merge the two iPhoto libraries using iPhoto Library Manager or Aperture (I have not decided which one yet)
Is this a plan that will work?
MacBook just has Ethernet and USB. iMac has USB, Ethernet and FireWire. MacBook Pro has Thunderbolt and USB.
I already need to buy a Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter to transfer between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. I'd rather not have too buy another adapter just to transfer the iPhoto library from the iMac to the MacBook Pro.
Is there a way to do 4) on my wifi network using file sharing or some other method I may not be aware of just to transfer the 27 gb iPhoto library?
Thank you.

More simple.
Wait until you get the new machine. Copy the two libraries to the new machine. Open them, this will upgrade them to the same version. Then merge them.
Obviously, don't move them to the same folder, or rename one, so they don't overwrite each other.
To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:
Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...
But however you do choose to link the two machines...
Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.
Then launch iPhoto. That's it.
This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.
I would strongly caution you that Migration Assistant is not very reliable with iPhoto Libraries.

Best practices for sharing iPhoto libraries across multiple Macs

I have a pair of iMacs running 10.6.x. and iPhoto 11 connected via Ethernet to an Airport Extreme. I am looking for a way to share my iPhoto library between the two Macs.
I found an Apple Support note on the topic (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198) which states that a disk image is a supported location for a shared iPhoto library (with limitations acceptable to me) and it strikes me that this would be a way of hosting a shared iPhoto library onto a NAS device.
Am I missing a simpler solution or, more importantly, am I missing any blindingly obvious caveats? I'd love to hear from anybody who has tried this (successfully or otherwise) or anybody who has a better idea. I haven't bought a NAS device yet, so I'm open to alternative suggestions.
Specific requirements:
Members of my family use either one of a pair of iMacs.
The only user who edits the iPhoto library is me and I only need read/write access from one machine.
iPhoto library access limited to one user at a time is acceptable and practical in my case.

Easiest:
If the other users only get to see the Library then just use iPhoto Sharing.
Enable sharing in the iPhoto Preferences on the Host machine, then go to the other macgine and in the same location enable 'Look for Shared Libraries'
Other forms of sharing will give the users read/write access to the Library.
A strong warning: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.
Regards
TD

How to consolidating iTune Libraries from multiple Mac

I was using my Powerbook when I stationed oversea. Now that I am back home, I would like to move the music I have purhcased oversea and loaded on my Powerbook to the iTune librbary I have on my desktop without having to scan thru the CD one by one again. Is there anyway to do it?

I have moved music off my PB by finding the folder that the music is in (iTunes; iTunes Music; Artist Name) and moving that to my iMac.
The next step was to add the music in iTunes (File, Add to Library...).
This will transfer artwork across because that is stored in the MP3 file, it will also transfer track name. What you will lose is the play count as that is stored in iTunes itself, and can be seen in the XML file.
Season Greetings,
Colin R.

Merging photo libraries from different macs

silly question but how do you merge iphoto libraries from three macs in the one home to one machine only?

iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - is the only way to merge libraries
LN

Best way to merge multiple iPhoto libraries from several external hard drives into one, while deleting duplicates?

Problem: My wife and I both have MacBook Pros (MBPs). We take a lot of pictures and import them into iPhoto. When the storage capacity of our MBPs gets full, I have been moving our iPhoto libraries into external hard drives, which are now multiple (3 or 4). The problem I now realize we have been making, is that once the iPhoto libraries were copied onto the external hard drives, we were only deleting about half of the photos in each iPhoto library remaining in our MBPs (because we wanted to keep some of the important ones in our hard drives). Once the storage capacities of our MBPs got full again, I would repeat the whole process again and again. In essence I now have several large iPhoto libraries (each about 80 GB), each with multiple duplicate photos, divided among several external hard drives. And I am running out of space on my hard drive again. So what is the best way to:
a) merge all of these iPhoto libraries into just one, while simultaneously being able to delete all the duplicates? (or would you not recommend this?)
b) prevent this from happening again?
Thanks. BTW I am using OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 and iPhoto 8.1.2 (2009)

If you have Aperture 3.3 or later and iPhoto 9.3 or later you can merge libraries with Aperture.
Otherwise the only way to merge Libraries is with the paid ($30) version of iPhoto Library Manager
The Library Manager app can be set avoid duplicates.

How do I install lion to multiple macs with a single download from the Mac App Store?

I want to upgrade multiple Macs, but I don't want to download the update multiple times.
Has Apple posted instructions on this? My searches have been in vain.
Bob

Upgrading to OS X 10.7 FAQ
Backup your user files and folders manually (drag and drop) from all partitions/OS's installed to a external powered drive and disconnect this drive, before proceeding in addition to TimeMachine, Bootable Clones etc.
You need to make sure you're running the latest version of Snow Leopard10.6.8
Click the "Apple" symbol in the top left corner of your screen and select "About This Mac."
Make sure you're running version 10.6.8.
If not, click "Software Update" from the same Apple menu and update your system.
Then when that's finished launch the MacAppStore from the same menu.
You'll see the giant Lion banner across the top. Click on it.
This brings you to the app page for Lion. It costs $29.99 -- click the price, then click "Buy App."
Free Lion? check here
http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/
You'll be prompted to sign in with your iTunes ID. After that, yourdownload / upgrade begins.
BackupLion
http://www.eggfreckles.net/tech/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/
http://eggfreckles.net/tech/installing-lion-clean/
Check Apple's license details throughly before usingorinstalling Lion.
This is what binds you legally, notwhat users say or sites suggest you can do.
Other Lion FAQ's answered.
No"Rosetta" sorry.
Someof your older programs (like Appleworks) that depend upon it will notwork.
OS X Lion cannot be installed on these Macs:
1:Any PowerPC processor Mac (G3, G4, G5)
2:Any Intel Mac on this list:
iMac4,1Early(Jan-Sept) 2006 17"
iMac4,1Early(Jan-Sept) 2006 20"
iMac4,2Mid(July-Sept) 2006 17"
MacMini1,1(Feb-Sept) Early 2006
MacMini1,1(Sept-Aug) Late 2006
MacBook1,113"(May-Nov 2006)
MacBookPro1,115" A1150 (Jan-May 2006)
MacBookPro1,217" A1151 (Aprl-Oct 2006)
MacBookPro1,115" A1175 (May-Oct 2006)
Look under the Apple Menu > About this Mac > More information for you rmachine details.
(there are reports of hacking Lion to work on 32 bit Intel Core DuoMac's, it's unsupported by Apple and not advised)
Didn't get Lion?
These are user to user support forums and Apple doesn't respond here,
We users can't speak for Apple about your free Lion status or problems downloading, reissuing a download.
It's possible Apple could be spacing out the downloads as not to knock theservers offline. So be patient.
If after a week or so when the initial rush is over, and you still haven't gotten your Lion, I suggest you contact Apple.
Mission critical
If your using Mac's in a mission critical type environment or have third party hardware or software you must rely upon working correctly. It's advised to wait until all the bugs, driver updates, third party software and other issues are resolved before upgrading. This might take several months. Then if you do so, do one machine at a time andcarefully test everything before full deployment.

Restoring a single iPhoto library from multiple Time Machine backups

My daughter traveled for six months in SE Asia with her MacBook Air with the Lion OS. She routinely deleted all iPhoto 11 content after backing up with Time Machine on a 1 TB external drive as the drive on her Mac reached capacity. My question: how can she create a single, complete iPhoto library on an external drive from these multiple backups?

Your daughter will have to restore the iPhoto Libraries by going back in time on Time Machine and extracting the different libraries at the points in time before they got erased.
iPhoto does not have a feature to merge these libraries. So she could either export the images from each library and then reimport those into one selected library or use the iPhoto Library Manager application to extract photos from one library and to import them into another. Using iPhoto Library Manager she could preserve keywords and captions, but this software is not free.
Next time your daughter should simply create her iPhoto Library on her external volume, so that she has enough space to collect all pictures in one library.
Regards
Léonie

Multiple Macs with multiple user accounts

I have a Mac computer connected to airport and use Time Machine for backups. This works well.
I have now purchased a second Mac and would like to include this second Mac so that I can move between Macs and work. There does not appear to be any mechanism to allow this.

After searching the web and the discussion here, here's my minimal impact solution for multiple Macs with multiple users in a household:
1) Set up Mac1 for myself only
2) Set up Mac2 for the wife and kid
3) Set up each Mac to backup to the Airport base station using Time Machine (this would create two separate backups on the Airport base station's drive, which from what I've read has its own problems)
4) On Mac1 setup "empty user accounts" for the wife and kid. These will not have any files in them - just an access mechanism. If they want to access their files, they can use Time Machine's "The Browse Other Backup Disks Option" to get their file from Mac2, work on it and then drop it in the Shared Folder. Next time they are on Mac2, remember to copy the updated/created file from the Shared Folder into their Mac2 user account. If possible, get Time Machine to not backup the "empty user accounts".
5) Do the same for me on Mac2.
Not the most elegant solution, but until Apple get off their backside and make this seamless, I can't think of anything else :-( .
P.S. iCloud is not a soluton since it costs hundreds of dollars a year, uses up intenet data allowance and is slow.

Any way to restore iTunes and iPhoto libraries from failed Time Machine backup?

Is there a way to restore iTunes and iPhoto libraries from an unmountable Time Machine backup?
Background: I received an update alert on my iMac (mid-2010, 1TB) from Time Machine (wirelessly connected to a Time Capsule, 2TB 2013) that it required an update and required rebooting, of course, it happened when I was in the middle of a project and I postponed the restart for later. That evening I turned off the computer and coincidentally the next morning, the iMac would not start; it loaded to the Apple logo and about an 1/8 of the progress bar would load before the iMac would turn off.
The iMac had been fine to that day (OS upgrades and all since 2010) so I was assuming something misfired when I declined the Time Machine update. I tried the PRAM and SMC resets mentioned in the forums but no dice. I then went into Disk Utility to try repairs and there were errors on the hard drive that could not be fixed. My next step was to erase the drive and restore from my Time Machine backup. Before doing that I checked Disk Utility and to my horror, it told me that my Time Machine backups were unmountable so of course my first thought was that all my files were gone.
The TC was under warranty so I called support and they referred me to the local Genius Bar. The Genius was great and showed me that my files weren't lost even though the Time Machine backup was unmountable. They recommended I erase the partitions, starting from scratch and I would have to transfer the Time Machine backup files manually by directly connecting an ethernet cable from the TC to the computer. If that didn't work, the hard drive was bad and needed replacement which they could take care of.
I followed their recommendation and the hard drive is fine. I was so relieved to hear that my files were safe that I forgot to ask about all of the metadata that was lost in iTunes (de-selected songs, playlists, rankings, play counts) and iPhoto (geotags, names, etc). Any ideas / help? I sank considerable time into my music and photos and would love to have that time back.
FWIW, I'm in the process of buying an external hard drive as a secondary backup to the TC as my confidence is a little shaken on the product line - the first time I ever actually need a backup and the backup is unmountable. My whole point of spending a little more and buying into the Apple ecosystem for a backup solution was to streamline the backup process and avoid these types of issues.

Thank you for the reply. I tried the Disk Utility to repair my TC's Time Machine backup disk with no luck, it stopped with the message:
Disk utility stopped repairing "iMac"
Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
It took a night but I was able to copy all the TC Time Machine files to the external hard drive as a backup to a backup just in case. I'm still pretty bummed the TC's backup didn't allow for Disk Utility's restore functionality. Fortunately, the iPhoto library backup I dragged to the iMac from the Time Capsule backup worked without a hitch. On the downside, the "iTunes Library.itl" backup I dragged over is locked so now I'm checking out the forums for any ways to fix that. I temporarily created a new iTunes library with all my apps and music but plan on reverting to the old iTunes library if possible so I can start syncing my iOS devices again.

Using new Air Disk to host iPhoto library to multiple Macs?

Just some early thoughts and questions...
One of my biggest wishes for iPhoto has been to keep all my photos in synch. My wife imports family photos to her iBook, I keep some on my Powerbook and then others make there way to the family iMac. Wouldn't it be great for us all to share the same library? Any edits would not have to be done multiple times to the same photo on other machines, etc...
With the new ability to have an external HD connected to the new Airport Extreme, it seems that it should be possible to locate your main iPhoto libarary on this shared HD connected to the AE? Would this allow iPhoto running on multiple macs to reference a single iPhoto library on the AE connected external HD? And if so, could each mac call up the photos, edit and import to the library? As opposed to simply sharing the library as iPhoto currently does (which does not allow editing or saving to the other shared library)? I wonder how access speed would be over a wireless network (g or n speed)? Going a step further, what about Aperture?
Thanks for any thoughts...

However, if my memory is correct, having a fully editable shared iPhoto library is not possible between users of a single Mac nor using a network drive.
This article explains how to set up a shared iPhoto library in Mac OS X 10.4 which multiple accounts can see and edit. If the numeric UIDs of the accounts which will be sharing the library are the same, or if the Ignore ownership on this volume box is checked in the disk's Get Info window, you don't need to do anything other than dragging the library over and updating iPhoto's preferences.
(19520)

Can sync two iPhoto libraries? (via.mac?)

My wife and I both use macs. We both take digital photos and so each have iPhoto libraries - both of which are inevitably incomplete. But what would be really handy is to have one 'shared' iPhoto library.
Can users on two machines somehow sync or share iPhoto libraries - either through wifi sync or via .mac ?
Thanks

RossM:
At the present there is not way to sync iPhoto 7 libraries. Any sync application can sync the image files but the database file, Library6.iPhoto, that contains all of the organization information, events, slideshows, keywords, comments, etc. has to be the same as far as content. Syncing apps cannot sync content of files. Until iPhoto Library Manager gets updated to be compatible with iPhoto 7, the only way is to export and import manually. At least the exported file will contain the keywords, title, comments and changed date (if the date was changed).
So keep new photos in their own events so that when it comes time to export and import it's easy to know which are the new ones.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Does uploading iPhoto libraries from multiple Macs with the same photos create duplicates in the new Photos app?

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