Freeing memory space by cleaning up iPhoto library

I would like to free some space from my macbook so I plan to transfer the photo files generated by iPhoto to an external drive. how do i do it? will removing the photos from the iphoto library affect its performance?

Are you running a Managed or a Referenced Library?
A Managed Library, is the default setting, and iPhoto copies files into the iPhoto Library when Importing. The files are then stored in the Library package
A Referenced Library is when iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing because you made a change at iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced. The files are then stored where ever you put them and not in the Library package. In this scenario you are responsible for the File Management.
If you're running an Managed Library:
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

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I know many have this issue but i can't find a solution to the problem. i get message saying insuffisiant disk space in the volume iPhoto library and i have plenty of space available. i have the new macbook pro with retina display.

I know many have this issue but i can't find a solution to the problem. i get message saying insuffisiant disk space in the volume iPhoto library and i have plenty of space available. i have the new macbook pro with retina display. i have never seen this message before and i have 2 other macbooks and have had many other also. i am assuming this is a problem with the new macbook retina. does anyone know the exact fix to this issue? i have seen many sugestions to try to fix this issue but none have solved the issue for anyone that i can find in the Apple Support Community. thank for looking into this in advance.
******A true apple fan********

Actually your suggestions are the ones that i have tried. i have seen that you have tried to help others with this issue and the only one that i could find that said they found the problem said that it was an ilife update issue and it fixed it and i have no available updates. i know it has to do with something in photo stream because it happens when i create a new library and it is loading the photos but i get the message before i reach the maximum 1000 photos. so i've tried updating, new library(first backing up photos and then deleting them from iPhoto), reinstalling OSX many times, running disc utilities. I called Apple the first day i had this issue and i was the first person to call them for support with the retina display and i actually had it escalated to a senior advisor and we thought we fixed the problem but we did not. i am pretty fluent in dealing with troubleshooting these type of issues and this is the first time i'm reaching out to the community. i figured now that the retina has been out some time now that there would be an obvious answer to this issue. thanks for the quick reply.
Bebers5

How do I clean-up iPhoto library in iMovie '08 and make my new ones appear?

I'm a graphic designer and I use Adobe Bridge to add metadata (keywords) to my pictures so they're searchable on the Internet - not just iPhoto (and iLife?) and after transferring all the image files from iPhoto onto my Time Capsule (external hard-drive) and deleting the Photo Albums from iPhoto, I created a new Album to import still frames/images to use in my new iMovie project. I cleaned out (emptied) my iPhoto trash to help free-up space on my hard-drive, too.
The problem I'm having is that my iPhoto library as viewed from iMovie - still shows all the old photo albums that I've already deleted and the new .PNG I imported doesn't appear; however, the old .JPG files I once had still appear with exclamation marks as the thumbnail images and I can't select or delete them. When I right-click on the iPhoto photo albums library within iMovie, I only get the option to open in iPhoto. I imagine there is some back door manipulation required to fix this. The iMovie and iPhoto software came pre-installed in my computer and I'm not so sure that re-formatting my computer with the start-up disc is the safe or correct answer.
I've been researching the iMovie forum to see if there is a file I should be able to access to fix a Cache file somewhere; however, I couldn't find any .xml files, cache files, or anything anywhere yet. Thanks in advance to anyone willing and able to share some knowledge. I look forward to resolving this troubling experience. My final goal is to use the .PNG file (which contains transparent data, unlike .JPG files which fill transparent data with white pixels) as a frame image if not as a floating graphic (i.e. picture-in-picture).

Sean in the iMovie technical support area (thanks to my lovely Apple Care plan purchase) answered my question about how to delete the iPhoto library, which I no longer use (because I use Adobe Bridge and Photoshop CS3 to browse my photos and update their Metadata to make the images searchable not only on my computer, but others who don't have iPhoto, or iLife as well; even PC users and Internet search engines - when the images are uploaded as-is - without compression and changes that occur when uploaded to image hosts such as Photobucket.com, etc.):
Go to: *Finder >* (click on) *Pictures >* (and on the right, see iPhoto Library, Aperture, etc.? Select those files and...) *Move to Trash*
Now when you look at the Photos Browser in iMovie (⌘2) the folder, files, blank thumbnails and junk are (thankfully) gone!
As for using images located elsewhere for use in iMovie - I just have to locate them via the Finder, then select the file, then drag-and-drop the image for immediate placement into the part of My Project where I want to use the image and repeat this method for each incidence I want the graphic to appear.
Unfortunately, I must upgrade to iMovie '09 if I want to be able to take advantage of the Picture-in-Picture feature, which would enable me to place a logo or image graphic in a video project while other parts of the production are playing, but I can still use the title feature to embed text information such as a business name and phone number or (website) URL pertaining to the project as a surrogate stamp, watermark, or creative signature, but no other graphic image files may be used here.

Best workflow for cleaning up iPhoto library?

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a workflow to clean up a large iPhoto library. Up until now, I have kept every photo I took. Now I want to go through and trim it down to the best photos. I know iPhoto can "hide" photos, but I want to delete them to reduce space, and make it easier to go through my "faces" and "places" updates. I was thinking of adding a "deleteme" tag to the ones I want to trash, then creating a smart album to collect them. Any other ideas?
Thanks!

Personally I prefer going through and dragging the unwanted photos to the trash doing it in one step rather than making it a two step process
You could do it with key words -- or flagging photos and then creating an event from flagged photos and deleting that event.
Remember to empty the iPhoto trash every 100 or so photos - if you get too many n the trash it will not empty
LN

Cleaning up iPhoto Library folder?

Once I learned the hard way not to "move, delete, rename, or otherwise tamper with files or folders in the iPhoto Library folder" in the case of photos I wanted to keep in iPhoto, but what about the pics I've long ago deleted and now just want to go away?
I've recently come across a bunch of old images in this folder that I trashed through iPhoto, but they're still hanging around in the folder taking up space. Can I delete them through the folder? Or will this mess with the current pictures in iPhoto? Does anyone know?
Thanks!
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If you've trashed them from inside iPhoto, you're probably OK. However...
My suggestion is to use the Finder to duplicate the existing iPhoto Library folder. Call the dupe "Backup" or some other clever name. Trash these photos from your original library folder and then open it using iPhoto. Check it out as much as you feel is necessary to build your comfort level. If all is OK, trash "Backup." If any problems, trash the original and rename "Backup" appropriately.

Cleaning up iPhoto Library "package"

I've been using iPhoto, probably since it first came out, and the iPhoto Library seems to have some legacy folders and files and it. I'd like to clean it up as much as possible. Which files and folders should I keep?
Thanks,
Tony

Well the bad permissions were 777 when I think they should be 755. Anyway, as I said, I ended up restoring an old version and the permissions in the backup were 777, but when I restored them they were 755, which is weird, but is also exactly what I wanted.
Also, I understand that many of the files in the package are important (although a lot of them have also been deprecated in previous versions and have been renamed to other things). The only item I deleted was the "2006" folder, which has no contents (besides .DS_Store), its total size was 8 kb, and it was created in March 2006 and last modified in May 2006. I don't plan on touching the package anymore. I am still also able to open iPhoto, see that my thousands of photos are in there, and was able to transfer them to my iPod just now as well. I assume this means the database still works, and hopefully it won't die on my in the near future after what I did to it, although I don't think it will.

Freeing Memory Space

I need to free up memory space to load windows on boot camp.. but my computer is saying I have small amount of memory remaining. I only really use my computer for work files, which although there are a large number are not significant enough to take up this space.
How can I find out what is taking up all the room?

FYI, memory = RAM, not hard disk storage space, which is what you are actually referring to.
Use Disk Inventory X:
http://www.derlien.com

Use Automator/AppleScript to clean iPhoto Library

Hello,
Having read a lot of posts about the use of AppleScript and Automator to do things with iPhoto, I think it's possible to create a script or a processus to clean the iPhoto Library (let say, a copy of it) to eliminate "zombie files" (photos which have not been deleted of the iPhoto Library when emptying the iPhoto trash).
The script should simply verify, for each file in the "master" folder, il the path of this file is known in the iPhoto database (the data base is in the "AlbumData.xml" file). If it is, the file is kept. It it's not, the file is moved to trash (or to a temporary folder).
Should anyone create this script ? I should try, but I would need two weeks to do it correctly, and I'm sure someone can do it in 5 minutes... Some help here ? Thanks !

Hi,
Try this AppleScript:
repeat
    set r to (choose file with prompt "Select an iPhoto Library package" default location (path to pictures folder)) as string
    try
        (r & "AlbumData.xml") as alias
        (r & "Masters") as alias
        (r & "Previews") as alias
        exit repeat
    on error
        activate
        display dialog "This package does not contains \"AlbumData.xml\" file or the \"Masters\" folder or the \"Previews\" folder." buttons {"OK"} default button "OK"
    end try
end repeat
set iPhoto_Library to quoted form of POSIX path of r
set AlbDataXML to quoted form of POSIX path of (r & "AlbumData.xml")
tell application "Finder"
    set newFolder to (make new folder) as string
    set dest to (make new folder at folder newFolder with properties {name:"Images qui ne sont pas dans AlbumDataXML"}) as string
end tell
set destF to quoted form of POSIX path of dest
set file1 to quoted form of POSIX path of (newFolder & "filesPath.txt")
set file2 to quoted form of POSIX path of (newFolder & "PhotosDataPath.txt")
do shell script "dest=" & destF & "; tFile=" & file1 & "; tFile2=" & file2 & "; iPhotoLib=" & iPhoto_Library & ";
grep -A1 '\$\\<key>OriginalPath<\\|\\<key>ImagePath<\$' " & AlbDataXML & " | sed -n '/<string>/s/^.*<string>\$.*\$<\\/string>$/\\1/p' | sort -o \"$tFile2\"
find \"$iPhotoLib\"Masters -type f \\! -name '.*' >\"$tFile\"
find \"$iPhotoLib\"Previews -type f \\! -name '.*' >>\"$tFile\"
sort -o \"$tFile\" \"$tFile\"
diff -ab \"$tFile2\" \"$tFile\" | sed -n '/> /s/^> //p' | while read f; do
   name=${f##*/}
   if [ -e \"$dest$name\" ];then
        i=1
        while [ -e \"$dest$name $i\" ];do
            ((i++))
        done
        name=\"$name $i\"
   fi
   /bin/mv -f \"$f\" \"$dest$name\"
done"
tell application "Finder"
    activate
    reveal folder dest -- select the folder which contains moved files
end tell
This script move every files in the ("Masters" and "Previews") folders which it's path is not in the "AlbumData.xml" file to a new folder on the desktop.
The grep command get all path in "AlbumData.xml" from the (OriginalPath and ImagePath) keys and put the result in file2.
The find command get all file's path in the ("Masters" and "Previews") folders and put the result in file1.
The diff and sed command get all file path in text file1 which is not in text file2
Before moving file:
This script check name of the file to not overwrite any file in the destination folder.
If a name already exist in the destination folder, the script add a space and a number to the end of the filename.

Not enough free space on Aperture Library volume to import iPhoto library into Aperture?

I purchased Aperture 3 from the App Store after using the free trial version for a few weeks. I downloaded the program and do not have any images imorted into Aperture yet. I tried to import my iPhoto library using File>Import>iPhoto Library and received this message: There is not enough free space on your Aperture Library volume to import the selected items. It is estimated that you need at least 10GB of free space. I have iPhoto 11 and 25,000 images on iPhoto. I did review the Aperture owners manual and did not find an answer to this.

Well obviously you don't have enough space to import an iPhoto Library that is more than 10 gigs.
But that's not importat right now.
You have the makings of a major problem and you need to address it now.
OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on.
Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially.
Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do. Purchase an external HD and move your Photos and Music to it. Aperture, iPhoto an iTunes can run perfectly well with the Library on an external disk.
If you don't you will suffer data loss. I can't stress this enough.
Regards
TD

Need iPhoto library management help

I've been trying to organize and archive my photos and videos for the past few weeks. I have well over 250GB, spread over several iPhoto libraries on an external drive. Many of those libraries contain duplicate images, and are taking up way too much space. I am looking for an app that will scan multiple iPhoto libraries stored on an external drive for duplicates, so I can remove them and consolidate all of my libraries in the smallest amount of space possible.
I haven't had luck with: Dupe guru, Duplicate cleaner for iPhoto, Photos Duplicate Cleaner or iPhoto library manager. I know that I had found one before that scanned the libraries and showed me which duplicate images were on which library and gave me the option to delete them. That was a while ago, and at that point, I hadn't organized things to the point that I was ready to start deleting. It may be one of the apps listed above that I'm just not using correctly. If so, and if someone can walk me through getting started doing it the right way, it would be much appreciated. If not, and there is a different app available, please let me know which one it is & I'll try it.
Not sure if this matters, but I'm using OS X 10.7.5, iPhoto '09, version 8.1.2 (424)
Thanks in advance.

Duplicate Finder apps for iPhoto all search the contents of one library for duplicates. There is none that compare across Libraries.
If you are seeking to consolidate your Libraries, then using Library Manager to merge them can be done while also eliminating duplicates.

I can't copy my old iPhoto library from a external HD to my new mac?

Hi. I just bought a new mac and want to have all my old iphoto pictures from my old mac into my new iPhoto library. I've tried to copy the old iPhoto library into a external HD(works fine), but the problem is that I can't copy it out from the external HD an in to my new mac again. It just say that it doesn't work because it doesnt have enough storage.
I don't get why it would say that, because the old iPhoto library is 89.55 GB and I haven't used any memory at all on my new macbook pro, and my old macbook pro has memory enough to have the iPhoto library on it (the mac is 5 years old and has almost a full memory), so why can't my new macs memory manage the iPhoto library when my old mac can? It doesn't make sense at all.
I've googled it, and it says everywhere that it should work by simply copy to external HD and move over the library from there and into the pictures folder, but this definitely doesn't work for me.
I hope that some please can help me with this, I don't know what do to.

Do you know how much space the cheapest macbook pro with reatina has?
http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/notebooks.html
A basic MBP may only have
128GB solid-state drive

Ghost files in iPhoto Library waiting for import holding up program

I have a new iMac (not sure which OS operating system). iPhoto came with it. I downloaded some photos. It seems that it got caught up on the RAW files. Eventually those were downloaded too. But now every time I open iPhoto I get a message say "X# of photos have been found in the iPhoto Library that were not imported." But they had been imported. And if I say Import, then it gets hung up trying to import and nothing imports anyway. I then have to do a forced close.
Then the next time the message comes up, the number has gone up; it's now 5000+ photos allegedly waiting, when I just started off with a couple hundred. I've deleted everything in iPhoto. I still have the photos on my camera CF chips so they're safe.
Can I re-install iPhoto or kill the waiting area where all these alleged photos are waiting in some sort of image library purgatory?!

BARW:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Since you still have the files on the memory card, delete the entire iPhoto Library folder from your Pictures folder. Launch iPhoto and, when asked, opt to create a new library. Launch Image Capture and connect your camera. Use IE to upload your files to a folder on the Desktop and then disconnect the camera. Now try to import that folder into iPhoto.
Does the folder contain just RAW files or RAW and JPGs?
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. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
MBP 2.16Ghz; G5 Dual Core 2GHz, 2G RAM ea, 250G HD; G4 Dual 1Ghz, 1.5G RAM; Mac OS X (10.4.9) 22" LCD, 710G FW HDs, Canon: SD700IS/i850/LIDE 50, Epson R200, 30G iPod, 2G Nano

How do I retrieve iphoto library from Time Machine when the Mac doesn't have enough memory

Is there a way to retrieve (or view) specific photos from iphoto library when it resides in Time Machine? The iphoto library file is much bigger than the free space available on the Mac; erasing unneeded files may not free up enough space if the library must be restored as one entire transfer. It would be easier if I could restore only pieces of it. Is there a way to do this?

Not from Time Machine which is backing up only a file, not its individual contents. Either you restore iPhoto Library or not.
Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Get an external hard drive on which to store some of your files after which you can
erase the data from your internal drive to free up space.
5. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
6. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
7. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

I moved my iPhoto library to a external hard drive to free up space on my iMac per instructions, but the library is still on my iMac so I don't have much room left. How do I get rid of the all the contents of my library on my iMac so just on backup drive

As per Apple instructions, I moved my iPhoto library to an external hard drive so that I could free up space on my full iMac. However, I was not told the last step in the process -- How do I get the iPhoto library off my iMac so I free up that memory?

And after deleting the old Library, you should start up iPhoto while holding down the Option key in order to force iPhoto to let you select your iPhoto Library that is on your external hard drive. If you start up iPhoto the usual way, it will just create a new, blank iPhoto Library in your /users/yourusername/Pictures folder on your iMac's internal hard drive.

How do i delete a backup? I deleted a large iPhoto library, but it didn't create any space as there is now a backup that is the same size.

I deleted a large iPhoto library from my hard drive to make space for an updated version. When I emptied the trash and checked on memory, there was an equivalent sized backup, so I still can't download the new library. How do i delete the backup from my hard drive?

You could be seeing the local Time Machine backup files.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #30 for the details on Local Snapshots.

Freeing memory space by cleaning up iPhoto library

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