IPhoto 09 library package original and modified folders

Why is there an 'original' folder and a 'modified' folder in the library?

Picasa uses a hack to access the iPhoto Library rather than the standard APIs that Apple provides for other applications. Because the access to the Library is via an unsupported method, this means that at any point in the future an update to iPhoto could render the Library inaccessible to Picasa. You could find your photos inaccessible to you until the makers of Picasa re-work their hack.
Picasa is an excellent application, but you need to be aware of some differences between it and iPhoto.
1. iPhoto is integrated throughout the OS and is available in every Open... or Attach... dialogue in the OS.
2. iPhoto is colour managed.
3. iPhoto can integrate with a wide range of online sharing sites.
4. iPhoto has Keepsakes: books, calendar and so on
5. iPhoto has an excellent range of Slideshows.
Finally, and this may or may not be important to you, but when you install Picasa you accept an End User licence that allows Google to update the application when it wants to, with no further recourse to you. Should their be a problem with an update, as can happen to any software developer from time to time, you have no way of refusing that update.
Regards
TD

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Data, Original and Modified folders?

sorry, this may be a dumb question, but what's the difference between Data, Original and Modified folders? when I do a search for a specific folder, i find that I will find all the folders and there looks like duplicates but they are filed in Data, Original and sometimes additionally under Modified.
thanks!

A Note about the iPhoto Library Folder:
In this folder there are various files, which are the Library itself and some ancillary files. Then you have three folders
Originals are the photos as they were downloaded from your camera or scanner.
(ii) Modified contains edited pics, shots that you have cropped, rotated or changed in any way.
(iii) Data holds the thumbnails the the app needs to show you the photos in the iPhoto Window.
Please remember that Finder searches do not really understand your iPhoto Library. If you use iPhoto the correct way to search for photos is via the iPhoto Window.
Regards
TD

How can I merge original and modified folders in iphoto library?

I see 2 folders within iPhoto library - originial and modified. Original folder keeps all pictures in original and modified has the edited version for picture I edit. So iPhoto basically keeps 2 version for any picture I modify, which takes a lot of space.
I would like to have just one copy for each picture (original picture or only modified version of the picture if I edit) - this way I think I would save a lot of memory. Could someone please advise
1. if there is any iPhoto settings that I change, so that it starts saving only 1 copy for each picture
2. If I could something with my already existing pictures - i.e. if there is a way I can delete "original" version of only those pictures for which "modified" version is available.
Let me know if anything is not clear or you need any more information. Thanks in advance.

Don't use iPhoto.
Iphoto is a Digital Asset Manager designed to protect your original file at all costs. In other words it treats the original like a film shooter treats the negative. This is hard-wired into iPhoto, it's the very heart of the programme. If you don't want that feature, don't use iPhoto/
Note that there are different versions of the photo, they are not copies. The Original is required for the Non-Destructive editing feature in iPhoto.
So, specifically, no you cannot merge the two folders - and by the way, doing so won't save any memory at all, just some diks space.
1. if there is any iPhoto settings that I change, so that it starts saving only 1 copy for each picture
There isn't.
2. If I could something with my already existing pictures - i.e. if there is a way I can delete "original" version of only those pictures for which "modified" version is available.
There isn't.
If space is an issue: use an external drive for the 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.
Or, just use an app that works the way you want.
Regards
TD

Iphoto library transfer not organized in folders

My Mac book pro HD was full and I wanted a larger 500GB HDD. I had Best Buy swap out the old drive for a new HDD.
I needed to transfer my iphoto collection to my computer ( with the new high capacity HDD ). I used a adaptor to conncect the now externalized HDD to the mac book pro. It was recognized. I was able to then tranfer my photos from the library to the desktop of my mac book pro (all 12000 pictures and videos ). I then dragged this to iphotos and all 12000 pictures transferred sucessfully. The problem is that I had all of these pictures organized by folders with event names and dates. They did not transfer over like this. All 12000 came over into a single event folder arranged in random order.
HELP! Is there a way to fix this. I need all of these 12000 pictures organized like they were ...in about 200 or so event folders.
The externalized HDD is now unreadable! Dont know what happened to it but now when I connect it, the mac book does not recognize it and it is unreadable..maybe this can be fixed and it still has all of my folders on it with my pictures organized.
I still have the photos sitting in my desk top as well ( from the original tranfer as I did save then to the desk top thankfully )
Any advise is appreciated
Thank you

You do not provide details of how you transfered the iPhoto library - the correct way is
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
You do not transfer photos and you do not import anything - just drag the iPhoto library package accross and open it with iPhoto
LN

Where are my photos? iPhoto library hides them AND renames the folders

I recently upgraded to Lion OS and can no longer see my photos and videos in Finder. A search shows that they are all in a dir that is actually an iPhoto library. Bizarrely it has been given the name of the first lot of photos that I imported in to iPhoto from a flash drive - so all of my photos are "packaged" inside a file called "mom's photos"!!!. In Finder it appears as a data item - NOT as a folder - the contents of which can be seen by clicking "Show Package Contents". Inside this "package" is the directory tree that Get Info shows is the path for a photo file. The photos have been arbitrarily put in to directories called "Modified" and Originals within which they have been stored in folders with year names ("2003", "2006", etc) that have no connection to the date the photos were created or their file names.
Is this considered to be progress by Apple? How can I work with my files independently of iPhoto or iMovie (raw video being also inside the iPhoto library "package")? How can I reverse the renaming of the folders? Can I rename the iPhoto library to a default name - such as "iPhoto Library" for example!
Any pointers on how to deal with this new regime for handling photos and video will be welcome
jilsybean

It's really very simple.
If you want to manage files, use a file browser.
If you want to manage photos, use a Photo manager like iPhoto.
No version of iPhoto has supported the user accessing the files via the Finder. None at all. In versions 1 to iPhoto 6 it was possible to view the contents of the library, but accessing was not supported. Making changes within the iPhoto Library was not supported. Renaming files and folders corrupted the Library.
So, with iPhoto 7 (released in the autumn of 2007) the library was moved into a package to protect it from Users making these changes.
How the files are stored simply doesn't matter. Why? Because everything you need to do can - and should - be done via the iPhoto application. It's a database, after all, and like any db requires that you manipulate the data via the app itself, not a back door.
iPhoto is your go-to app for anything you need to do with your Photos. You simply never access them via the Finder.
So, you can edit either with iPhoto - or in any other app: You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Or, you want to access your photos for any reason at all:
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
There's a similar option in Outlook and many, many other apps. If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running:
For users of 10.6 and later: You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu.
Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and 10.5 Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
File -> Export: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
Show File: a. On iPhoto 09 and earlier: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected. 3.b.
b: On iPhoto 11 and later: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Reveal in Finder -> Original. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
All of the above are a: faster and b: safer than rooting around in the old library folders.
I know it's a change but you'll get used to it. And, of course, if you don't, you can always use another app.
Regards
TD

IPhoto import brought originals and modified photos?

I am trying to migrate from iPhoto to Aperture. When I imported my iPhoto library and then browsed the Aperture package I found that it had brought over both my original iPhoto pictures and the modified ones. This created an unessesary 6 gig of lost space. Is there a way I can force it to only bring over only the modified ones or somehow delete those out? Thanks

Is there a solution to the problem?
In a word, No.
The problem goes back to here:
I backed up my photos by saving the "Originals" and "Modified" folders to an external drive
When you did this you missed the key file that tracks the relationship between these elements of the iPhoto Library - the main database file. Once that’s gone there is no way to recreate the relationship between the Originals and Modified versions. The correct way to back up iPhoto is to back up the Library in it’s entirety. Frankly, unless you’re recovering from disaster there is never a need to enter the Library or to deal with it as anything other than a single entity.
When I manually copy the two folders into the iPhoto library directory it doesn't work either.
That’s right. Again, it’s back to the missing DB file. Simply having pics in a folder is not enough, they need to be imported.
Best bet? For me I would trash the modified and start over with the Originals.
Regards
TD

What is the difference between original and modified?

Hi,
Because of a series of odd coincidences, I need to reconstruct my iPhoto library. The iPhoto directory is 'broken', apparently past the point of bring repaired. The disk utility can't do it, Disk Warrior can't do it, nor could the genius at the Apple Store, though to his credit he won't on it off and on for almost an entire day.
The images themselves are there on the drive, and I'm planning to reimport them a year at a time, and rebuild the directory manually.
My question is this: there are two folders containing the images, one labeled Original, one labeled Modified. At first glance, the meaning of those terms seems obvious -- one contains the original image, the other contains -- what? an actual modified image? Or just pointer to the changes I've made. For example, if I had cropped an image, what is in the second folder labeled Modified -- the cropped image, or the original image and a series of instructions on how to display it?
Put another way, what should I import into the 'new' iPhoto library? The originals? Or the Modified?
Thanks,
Hal
Note: The odd coincidence: For reasons unknown, the directory for my iPhoto library got corrupted, and couldn't be fixed. At almost the same time, the backup drive failed.

The original is as you suspect an exact copy of the original imported image - the modified is a preview of the current version with editing - to start over you should use the originals
LN

How to transfer both original and modified images to another computer?

Hi,
I've been trying to figure out if there is a way to copy items between iPhoto libraries in two different computers.
Basically I've got a desktop mac and all my digial images are sorted in the iPhoto library there. This is where I want to keep them as the disk is a NFS-mounted RAID-array adding a bit more security.
Now I've got a macbook pro as a travelling companion. To avoid a huge project later in sorting and editing the pictures, I'd like to do that in pieces while abroad. So I'll edit the pictures already in the macbook and also would like to sort out what stuff to publish by creating albums containing the best pictures.
But how to preserve all that when coming back home? How do I export the stuff from the macbook so that it preserves both the original and modified image and also any comments I've added? And then how to import all this to the mac mini? When I'm at home, both the computers can access the same NFS server so transferring the data is not a problem.
I can of course export the pictures to a folder, copy that folder to the shared disk and then import in the mac mini. But export seems to export only the modified image so I'll lose that if doing it that way. If I just copy the files to the modified/original -folders in the mac mini, the index files of the mac mini lack the information about the new pictures as they were not properly imported.
Is there any way to do this? I can't just copy all the stuff including index files as then I'd lose track on the 10000+ pictures already in the iPhoto library of the mac mini.
/hv

Thanks.
It seems to be a little buggy. My first test import seemed to be ok but it didn't copy any of the modified pictures. It seemed to put some originals to the modified folder but not the real, modified ones. Second try seemed to work, though.
Anyway, this seems to be what I've been looking for.
/hv

Saving original and modified versions

Hey all,
Can someone tell me how to stop iphoto from saving both an original and modified version of my photos? It's very confusing when I try to access the photos to upload onto flickr, or to burn dvds etc.
I can't believe how much time I've wasted on this program--and now have had to start all over from scratch.
LH

Hello.
You do have a choice. Use a file browser. There are many available. They let you simply store the photos on your hard drive, in your folders, how you want them. Easy.
Why does iPhoto behave as it does? Because it offers much more complex features than any file browser. iPhoto is not a file browser. It is a database application with non-destructive editing. You import a photo. iPhoto creates a thumbnail version, linked to your original, for efficient presentation of your library on screen. You edit, and it creates a full-sized copy, which you then modify. It keeps track of the edited version, linked to your original. Your thumbnail is also located and updated to match the edited version. If you ever wish to go back, you can always Revert to Original. The edited version will be deleted, and your thumbnail will again reflect the change. All before you can blink your eyes.
So, yes, the way to get your files for uploading or burning to DVD is to select from iPhoto, then export. Because iPhoto will be sure to export the full-sized, most recent version of your photos. You never need to root around its library folders to find them yourself. Exporting gives you the additional ability to rename the copies. And, even better, to resize the copies, since smaller files work better for viewing on most websites. After you finish with the upload you can trash the exported copies.
Then consider the Albums and Folders in your Source Pane. With a file browser, you'd have to duplicate your files to display them in more than one album (because album = folder). With iPhoto's database, albums never create duplication; they are virtual arrangements which have no presence in your folder structure. The benefit - you can have a photo in 100 albums, with very little increase to the size of your library.
Play with other search features, and iPhoto becomes very powerful indeed. Smart Albums can be created to compile photos based on many criteria, and they stay current with your library. With the calendar tool you can pull up photos from any year, month, and/or date with just a few clicks. Keywords can be used to include or eliminate (Option-click a keyword) groups of photos until you have just the grouping you want. [Ex: I can find all photos of my daughter, with my in laws, at a festival, NOT at Christmas, with animals....]
It is a shift in thinking to leave the iPhoto Library alone and let iPhoto deal with the file management. As long as it works, why does it matter how it's done? You have all of its tools at your disposal.

Easily accessing Original and Modified pictures

Example: When I want to access picture files that are originals and modified and upload them to the internet, but when I access the iPhoto folder there are two separate folders (Original folder & Modified folder). Is there an easy way to actually put both the original and modified pictures into the same folder so you can access both kind of pictures?
(Kind of a wierd question) Just thought it would be easier to access pictures this way.

Lets say I modify a picture and iPhoto keeps the original picture also isn't it taking up a lot of space on the hard drive?
IF space is an issue you can run iPhoto from an external HD. IF you don’t want to do that, +and don’t want to preserve the Original+ then - very simply - don’t use iPhoto.
Also I could still delete the original picture but it would have to be through the Finder or another hard drive.
Yes you could. And, as it’s your Mac and your photos feel free to do anything you want.
*But iPhoto won’t work if you do*.
Remember: Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Regards
TD

My IPhoto library is gone and I cannot find it. I have found an earlier version witha few photos but the big one is gone. Any ideas?

My IPhoto library is gone and cannot be found. There is an IPhoto in Applications marked "original". I can find the one I'm looking for using Time Machine but when I try to open it it says that it cannot be opened as there is a newer version installed. Any help would greatly be appreciated:-)

Download and use Find Any File to search for the file "Library6.iPhoto" which is in every iPhoto Library package. If you find more than one check both to see if one is your missing library.
OT

Can the iPhoto Library package file be recreated?

I recently moved my iPhoto library to a new LaCie solid state external hard drive, because it had reached 130GB in size and was taking up too much space on my hard drive. My iPhoto library has 30,000 photos with lots of events, smart albums and metadata (faces, keywords, etc.). Unfortunately the external hard drive failed and I had to pay for data recovery services. When I got the external hard drive back, the Masters folders were all there with my photos, but the iPhoto Library package file seems to be missing. Is there anyway to recreate the iPhoto Library package to include all the files AND the associated metadata?
I found instructions on how to start from scratch by importing the Masters...but this method does not retain metadata. Any ideas would be really appreciated. Worst case scenario, I can go back to a Time Machine back-up from June 2014 and use that as a starting point, but I'd much rather not have to take that route.

but the iPhoto Library package file seems to be missing.
You cannot recreate the iphoto library package from your Masters folder. It is an intricate web of linked files. Use your most recent backup as a starting point, and then add the newer files from your recovered Masters folder.

Determining folder sizes inside iPhoto Library Package, eg Originals/2009

In iPhoto '09 is it possible to determine (in an automated fashion) the size of the folders inside the Originals folder inside the iPhoto Library Package.
I'm working on a MacBook Pro with limited space so I wanted to identify the folders that are taking up the most space and try to remove them.
Specifically, I'm looking at the following location:
Originals/2008/...
Originals/2009/...
Those seem to be the largest folders, so removing some of the largest ones will really help for a trip I have coming up.
Thanks for the insights.

Thanks for the info on DiskInventoryX. Unfortunately it cannot look inside of the iPhoto Library Package, so I guess I need to keep looking into the true format of a package... Is a package similar to a tgz file?
It is unfortunate that the Mac doesn't automatically list the size of the contents of folders in the finder. Having that information listed in the finder would be very beneficial...
Since it sounds like iPhoto is so sensitive about folder structure modifications and does not have the ability to adapt to changes, I may need to look into another program that is a bit more forgiving for working with large numbers of photographs that are only temporarily on the MacBook Pro before being moved over to the Desktop. My workflow requires that most photos and videos are temporarily stored and worked on the MacBook Pro and then (a few weeks over) moved off and over to a desktop for permanent storage and further editing.
Thanks again for all the thoughts and insights, as it is much appreciated...

Can't Import iPhoto Library "package" into Aperture 3

Hi there, I've recently made a backup of all my data and did a clean reinstall of Lion, so the problem is that I won't be using my iLife 11 Suite, so as for my photos I want to take advantage of my recently purchased copy of Aperture 3 but when I ever try to import my iPhoto Library Package, it won't let me, this message pops:
Invalid iPhoto Library
Importing libraries from versions earlier than iPhoto 7.1.5 is not supported. Please upgrade your iPhoto library with iPhoto 7.1.5 or later.
So, searched into some discussions and realize I had to upgrade or restore my library using iPhoto.
Is there any other way to get all my photos and videos in that package, into my aperture library?
One thing to consider is that I can right-click this package and open its contents and then I can get individual files and view everything, but since there's this function for importing all of the library, I would really love to do it this way, not individually.
NEED HELP PLEASE!

Ii you are sure that all of your iPhoto images have been transferred safely, you can remove the you iPhoto Library from your system drive. But keep a backup copy of it on an external drive or thumbsdrive- sometimes you'll notice only later that some images could not be imported properly because of some corruption in the iPhoto library, and then it will be very helpful to still be able to open your old iPhoto Library.
Regards
Léonie

Moved iPhoto library to EHD and lost events, ratings, other info

Hi, I just moved my iPhoto Library to an external drive to free up space on my full mac book internal drive and it didn't transfer any of the events, ratings, or other info I had made over the years. I used the export library function from my old library, closed iPhoto, opened it again holding the option key, created a new library on the EHD and then imported the library. I worked, I can see the pictures fine it's just that I now have 15,000 pictures over 6+ years in one big event. I wasn't suprised to lose my edits because I chose to export as the original file (would rather have the RAW than the post processed JPEG). is this decision the cause of my problem?
much thanks,
Lou

The cause is you did it wrong - exporting does not maintain the library structure - the iPhoto library is a SQL database and must always be treated as a single entity
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

IPhoto 09 library package original and modified folders

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