Why do I have two iPhoto Libraries on two different disks?

I have two external hard drives. At one time in the past I created an iPhoto Library on disk one, and then later I created a new library on disk two since it was larger, and that became my primary library. Now I notice using Finder after several months that the iPhoto Library file icon on both drives is exactly the same file size, with exactly the same modification date and time. How is this possible? I now do not know which library to trust. Thanks.

If you find the library1 on disk 1 contains files that do not appear in the library2 on disk 2 and want to get them into the library on disk 2 you can do so with the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager.
Launch iPLM, load the two libraries into it and copy the photos from library1 into library2. Set iPLM's preferences to not import duplicates.
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Why do i have multiple iPhoto libraries

I am trying to migrate my iphoto library to a new location but i have 3 libraries to choose from. why were the others created? one library is 90gb, the other 2 are 22 gb
Should i just delete the other 2?

No way for anyone but you to know - you have multiple iPhoto libraries because you have created them - only you know when and why
And only you know if they are ok to trash - depress teh option key, launch iPhoto and use the select library window to open and check each one and then desiece if you want to keep it or delete it
LN

Merging two iPhoto Libraries from two different MACs

Can I blend together two iPhoto libraries? I have a library on another MAC and would love to move it to my laptop merging with the existing iPhoto. How I can do that? I just afraid to overwrite the original library.

marinamcdonagh\
Welcome to the Apple user to user assistance forums
Can I blend together two iPhoto libraries? I have a library on another MAC and would love to move it to my laptop merging with the existing iPhoto. How I can do that? I just afraid to overwrite the original library.
You need iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - to merge iPhoto libraries
I recommend merging both libraries into a new library so if some problem occurs you do not mess up either original library - this of course requires adequate disk space for all three libraries
LN

Syncing two iPhoto Libraries between two Macs

I'm looking for the best way of keeping my two iPhoto libraries on my two Macs synced at all times. Right now I'm doing this manually over my wireless network which is kind of time consuming...and I'm guessing there has to be an easier way of doing this on a Mac?
Any good ideas? Thanks...
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Jr Oakley
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Exactly what do you mean by sync? Do you mean one way copying? As in I organise and import pics on one machine only, and would like the changes visible on the other?
Or do you mean I want to import and organise on both machines, and have the changes reflected on either? You cannot do this. If you try and sync the database files they will be corrupted.
So a little more info might help us help you.
Regards
TD

Syncing two iphoto libraries on two different macs

Hey
Can't seem to find an answer to this one so here goes. I am trying to sync my iphoto libraries that I have on two different macs of mine. One a mac pro and one a macbook. Both are running 10.5.7 and iphoto 8 with all the updates. I have sharing on enabled on both macs and in iphoto. I can do a manual drag and drop but I have 1000's of photos and that would take way to long to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated
Thanks

Use iPhoto Library Manager to move Events/Albums/Pics plus associated metadata between Libraries.
Regards
TD

Sharing two iphoto libraries between two users on the same computer?

My wife and myself use the same MacBook with two different user accounts. We both checked the check box "Look for shared photos" in the iPhoto preferences, but my wife's library doesn't appear in my iPhoto and vice versa. How can we manage to do this?

Toni
For tis to work, you have to also check 'Share this Library' and log in to both accounts and have iPhoto running in both accounts, and switch between accounts using Fast User Switching.
Regards
TD

I have 2 iphoto libraries and duplicates of everything

I set up my macbook pro wrong 2 years ago and am suffering for my stupidity. I have 2 iphoto libraries, both with different photos in them. Last week I imported photos from one library into the other and now I have 56,000 photos, most of which are duplicates. I have deleted about 20,000 - folders were duplicated several times. New folders contain 'face' photos (just heads, from the face identity bit of iphoto but now as an individual photo). What I want to do now is to restore my iphoto to how it was 10 days ago because i can't cope with the number of duplicates i have.
I have selected folders and chosen duplicate from the drop down menu but this just gives me MORE duplicates, it doesn't get rid of them. I have bought photo sweeper app which is meant to show duplicates but this has made no difference to the library.
Can anyone help me either restore my library, get rid of duplicates or anything else?
I am not great with the compuer, so I need simple mac speak please
Thanks

To merge libraries use iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - or Aperature
To find duplicates within an iPhoto library use iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ -
Photos that are not in an iPhoto library can be imported telling iPhoto not to import duplicates (an imperfect procews) and then IPLM can find the duplicates
As to keeping seperate libraries - only you can do that - IPLM can move photos between libraries for you but only you can know which photos should be in which library
LN

I have two iPhoto libraries: one on the hard drive, and one on an external hard drive. I cannot access my external hard drive iPhoto library. Help!

I have two iPhoto libraries: one on the hard drive, and one on an external hard drive. I cannot access the iPhoto library on the external hard drive. Yes, it is plugged in!

How are you trying to access the EHD library? Can you open it by launching iPhoto with the Option key held down and selecting the EHD library in the window that appears?
OT

Somehow, i have 2 iPhoto libraries which I opened today. The one with the vast majority of my images does not allow me to export photos. What can I do to manage this situation?

With my MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite, iPhoto 9.6, I find I have two iPhoto libraries. I discovered this when opening iPhoto today. One has only a few old images; the other, all current images. I cannot export images from the current image library. Can anyone enlighten me as to why I would have two libraries and how to resolve the issue of exporting?

What happens when you try to export from the library? Where are you trying to export to? Are both libraries located in the same Place? If not where are they located. If on an external HD how is that HD formatted?
How much free space do you have on your HD(s)?

Two iPhoto Libraries?

Hi,
I am the only user of my MacBook Pro so I expect that I should only have one iPhoto library. However, I just discovered that when I right clicked the desktop icon of iPhoto, it would show that there were two iPhoto Libraries:
Can someone explain why I am seeing this duplication and how I can make one of the 'iPhoto Library' go away? (I have checked the Pictures folder and there is only one iPhoto Library.) Thanks a lot.

It might be a Dock issue. Locate the preference file for the Dock, com.apple.dock.plist, and delete it. It will be in your User/Library/Preferences file.
In Lion the Finder folder is now invisible. To make it permanetely visible enter the following in the Terminal applicaiton window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and hit the Enter button - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.
OT

Can I combine two iPhoto libraries?

Following on from my previous post - "Missing Photos" - (what an idiot I am).
I now have two iphoto libraries with approx 10% differing content, ie they have about 90% the same. The largest is around 36GB.
How do I combine the two libraries?
One way I guess, would be to dump the smaller into the larger, and then run a program to eliminate the duplicates.
(iPhoto only rejects duplicates with the same name, many of mine have been renamed.)
Or is there a better way?

You can use iPhoto Library Manager and it’s Merge feature.
Regards
TD

Two iPhoto libraries - combining

I have looked at the previous discussions on merging (not a good idea, apparently) two iPhoto libraries and wonder if this would work. I have a new Macbook Pro and and old Macbook. My iPhoto library on the older machine outgrew the hard drive space and is stored on an external drive. I have started a new iPhoto library on the new Macbook and it only contains about 200 photos. There is room on the new Macbook to store the older library and this is my plan. I will copy the older iPhoto library to the new Macbook and then open the new iPhoto library and export the 200 photos to a folder on the desktop, then switch to the older library and import those from that file to the old library which then will become my current iPhoto library. Any flaws here? Thanks.

Thanks. I will look at iPhoto Library Manager. And for now, will just export the 200 photos as they have no editing or tagging done to them. Now I have to figure out how to copy my iPhoto Library from one external hard drive (that runs through a hub) to another (that won't run through a hub.) (The hub is a powered one, but works with one WD drive, but not the other.)

Why do I have 2 iPhoto windows open?

Why do I have 2 iPhoto windows open? When I click on the dock iPhoto app it gives me 2 iPhoto window options. Do I officially have double iPhotos or have I some how duplicated it? How can I get back to one as Im already struggling with lack of memory space!

That screenshot is only showing you one iPhoto window - the one with the checkmark. The upper part are the recently opened libraries. You can check this by selecting "Show all windows":
iPhoto can have more than one window open, if you launched a dialogue, for example, if you are switching between libraries, you might see this:
Then the main application window is open, plus the dialog window:

What is the best strategy for sharing iPhoto libraries between two macs?

I have an iMac and a new Airbook. I want to keep my iMac as the"main" iPhoto location, but want to also keep copies of the photos on my Airbook.
I could copy the library from one to the other to get the photos into the Airbook initially, but then how would I get subsequent ones in there? Is there a way to sync these two computers so that the photos flow from one to the other? One-way syncing would be ok...
Thanks.
Oh - and I use MobileMe if that helps.

There is an application that can sync two iPhoto libraries. It's SyncPhotos
Here's how it works:
1 - it compares the databases and/or album.xml files of Libraries A and B.
2 - the files in A that are not in B are imported into B by copying the original files from A into B's Import folder.
3 - it then does the same for B.
4 - metadata is not copied nor are Faces or Places.
It can be used to just copy from A to B and not sync both ways if desired. It will work with 2 libraries that are different versions, i.e. between an iPhoto 08 and iPhoto 09 library.
If you want to copy selected Events or Album from one to the other and keep the metadata, faces and places intact, you can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager. You would have to manually select the event/album to copy from A to B and do the same for B to A.
OT

I have several iphoto libraries i would like to merge and delete duplicates

i have several iphoto libraries i would like to merge and delete duplicates

The only way to merger libraries is to use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager . The paid version also has a duplicate finder feature that can identify duplicates.
If you have the latest versions of iPhoto AND Aperture you can merge libraries with Aperture.
These additional applications will identify and help remove duplicate photos from an iPhoto Library:
iPhoto Library Manager - $29.95 (also mergers libraries).
Duplicate Annihilator - $7.95 - only app able to detect duplicate thumbnail files or faces files when an iPhoto 8 or earlier library has been imported into another.
PhotoSweeper - $9.95 - This app can search by comparing the image's bitmaps or histograms thus finding duplicates with different file names and dates.
DeCloner - $19.95 - can find duplicates in iPhoto Libraries or in folders on the HD.
DupliFinder - $7 - shows which events the photos are in.
iPhoto AppleScript to Remove Duplicates - Free
PhotoDedupo - $4.99 (App Store) - this app has a "similar" search feature which is like PhotoSweeper's bitmap comparison. It found all duplicates
Duplicate Cleaner for iPhoto - free - was able to recognize the duplicated HDR and normal files from an iPhone shooting in HDR
Some users have reported that PhotoSweeper did the best in finding all of the dups in their library: iphoto has duplicated many photos, how...: Apple Support Communities.
If you have an iPhone and have it set to keep the normal photo when shooting HDR photos the two image files that are created will be duplicates in a manner of speaking (same image) but there are only twp apps that detected the iPhone HDR and normal photos as being duplicates: PhotoSweeper and Duplicate Cleaner for iPhoto. None of the other apps detected those two files as being duplicates as they look for file name as well as other attributes and the two files from the iPhone have different file names.
iPLM, however, is the best all around iPhoto utility as it can do so much more than just find duplicates. IMO it's a must have tool if using iPhoto.

Why do I have two iPhoto Libraries on two different disks?

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