IPhoto bloat after migrating to ext drive

When we moved our Finder Get Info 170 GB iPhoto '09 library from our iMac HD to ext HDs, we noticed that if we trashed our photos and movies from our iMac HD it left 20 GB of data use in Finder. We rebuilt and recovered disk space, etc and trashed and emptied to no avail - the 20 GB was not removable from Finder even though the library was showing it was empty in the app.
Does anyone know what this bloat is and how to remove it? If it is in an empty library after trashing, it may be in all existing libraries also, making libraries bigger than necessary.
Our simple solution was to open a new library which was in fact empty by Finder showing 260 KB.

Thanks for the quick reply TD, unfortunately I didn't think about looking at the "show contents" as that would have answered part of my question before I deleted that so called empty library.
I've since looked at the current library and note that originals take up 112, modified 25, data 23, and everything else the balance.
Has anyone attempted to trash any of these folders (even "old" back-up ones) to reduce bulk or will this just crash the app and make a good day into a bad one. I do realize that messing with these files/folders may compromise the library operation so this is not normally recommended for the faint of heart or inexperienced.
In the worst case, we can just go on living with the bloat.

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I just had to buy a new computer because my "vintage" Mac died. after migrating my backup drive over my Adobe creative suite no longer wroks I get a 150:30 error code HELP!

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Thanks for your reply but I'm still confused as to how I lost over 10Gigs of HD space after the migration. I understand the conversion is supposed to create more space, not less. When I look in the pictures folder in Finder, I see 2 LIbrarys, iPhoto and Photos, each of them approx 15 Gbs. according to the Get Info menu. I guess what I don't understand is if the iPhotos Library is not needed and is moved to an external drive why that wouldn't free that amount of space.
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HT201250 How to recover iPhoto Library after format of hard drive?

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SOLUTION : iPhoto folder recovered after formatting hard drive by mistake.
I was able for recover my iPhoto library ( intact ) after formatting the hard drive by mistake.
On top of that I formatted it in FAT32 format. My iPhoto folder was huge 100GB with file and movies of all sort of formats. I kept it on a secondary hard drive of 500 GB. one day I was formatting flash drive for somebody which was 500Mb, seems similar to my 500GB and I formatted my hard drive by mistake. I realized the mistake a week after the person called me and said there is nothing in flash disk and I find a single file on my hard drive. Needless to say the earth disappeared underneath me. All my pictures for 10 years , 8000 thousand of them, cherished memories all gone. But was I determined to find them back and I know they are intact somewhere. My biggest fear was that formatting on MS-dos format might have really deleted them , but they were there. and here is how I got them back.
First I tried the Data recuse 3 software. I got the photos back, but they were all jumbled up. Long numerical file names and original dates were gone. No way I could sort it out back to the way it was before . So my target was to recover the iPhoto folder intact.
- I bought an external hard drive with 1tb space to retrieve the data.
- The software which did the miraculous job is called " STELLAR PHOENIX MAC DATA RECOVERY" .
- I ran a deep scan all night and came up with many volumes. volume-1 was the MS dos , volume 2 was a mac system,
- I tried MS dos volume first and there was nothing on it.
- I tried the 2 volume with mac system. It got all my files and some other system file.
- I could see the iPhoto folder and click on that only to recover. After that I went for my doc and other files later.
- It took hours to retrieve my iPhoto folder intact, The folder size was right and file were there in master folder.
- I checked in FINDER , opening iPhoto with "show content " and all my picture file were there with original date.
- BUT when tried opening it in iPhoto , there was nothing. it keep showing the wait icon and nothing shows up. Empty iPhoto.
- I tired starting iPhoto , holding command -option and tried building and repairing database, nothing worked.
- Then I got this software " iPhoto library manager" .
- downloaded, installed it and pointed it towards my iPhoto folder.
- It asked for space to rebuild a new iPhoto library with existing picture and folder.
I had another external hard drive , I used it to make a rebuild iPhoto library.
and there I GOT IT. only took three night of pain.
IMPORTANT:
I never touched my original formatted hard drive. Don't write anything on it until you are sure you have recovered everything. open and see files with your own eyes.
- I recovered the iPhoto on another hard drive and then built it on another hard drive . Yes its pain in the neck but well worth fixing your stupid mistake of not making a back up in the first place.
I hope this helps all who are looking for iPhoto recovery and their lovely memories.

Can't create new files after moving to ext drive, LR4

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Can you right-click on a folder name in the Lightroom Folder Panel and select "Show Parent Folder"?
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HT204476 Can I delete my iPhoto Library after migrating to Photos?

My iPhoto Library is about 450 GB in size. This morning I migrated it to Photos. After a reboot my Mac started complaining that I have no disk space left (I have a 1 TB drive in my MacBook Pro). It appears that the Photos migration process duplicated my iPhoto Library and I now have two photo libraries, each measuring 450 GB, based on looking at the Finder's Info windows for each library. But I understand there's some fancy, convoluted new file storage methodology being used with the new Photos library, so I'm not clear on precisely where my actual, precious photo files are.
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Iphoto 11 on MT Lion can not find my iphoto library after a a hard drive replacement and restore from time machine...HELP

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In iphoto 11 they moved it out of the pictures file and it is hidden.
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Can you see it in Time Machine?

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Hi everyone,
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Hi amanda,
for now, use Image Capture to import your images.
Using Image Capture to download images and video clips:
Open up Image Capture which is found in the Applications folder.
When it is opened, go to Image Capture/Preferences
Under the General button choose
Camera: When a camera is connected, open Image Capture.
The next time you connect your camera Image Capture will open.
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iPhoto: How to Change the "Open Automatically" Preference
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Preference file
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OnyX
-I want you to check the permissions on your iPhoto Library folder and make sure they are Read/write for you. In the same window go all the way to the bottom and check the box.
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Bootable clones and data cloning apps are the best and most reliable way of creating reliable backups of your important data in the future.
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Sorry you have lost your precious photos.
Painful lesson, but good info to prevent this all from happening,again.
WIth computers, having many copies and redundancies of data is key to never losing important computer data.
Again, sorry.

HT202807 I have a MB Air 128gb and a Time Cap.802.11AC. My HD is maxed out because of 30GB of photo storage after migration to 10.3.3 Photos. Please recommend an external drive best for connecting to TC and moving the iPhoto Lib off my HD

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I don't plan on using it for any other purpose so a small capacity drive will suffice.
If you really only want such a small capacity drive.. what about just buying a 32GB or 64GB USB memory stick.
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Prep for Migration from PC to Mac (Ext Drive)

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After migrating data from Time Machine, some of my photos are not showing up in iPhoto. I get a 'dashed rectangle." When I click on it I get ' ! in a Triangle" When I click on that, I actually can see the photo. I want to see my photos

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Try these for the first attempt:
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OT

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          3. Click on "Show Package Contents"
          4. Go to the folder called "Originals" or "Master"
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I'm re-posting the answer to this problem so I can show it has been answered:
Open your new iPhoto Library
Go to wherever your ORIGINAL iPhoto Library is saved/backed up, then Right-click (or Control click) on the iPhoto icon
Click on "Show Package Contents"
Go to the folder called "Originals" or "Master"
Click and drag everything INSIDE the folder (not the folder itself) to your new iPhoto Library
DO NOT try Importing from inside iPhoto! For some reason, iPhoto can't see these images, but I promise, they're there!
          GOOD LUCK!!!

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I've run out of room on my hard drive. I bought an external drive and exported all my albums to the external drive then deleted the albums from iPhoto. I want to sync both from my ext drive and new albums in iPhoto. My photos on the devices get wiped out when I sync to iPhoto since I deleted all the albums. But when I sync to my hard drive (where I maintained the album structure) the photos are copied to my iPad but lose all the hierarchy and folder structure. Now I have to scroll through thousands of photos to try to find the one I'm looking for. Before I sync any more devices I want to know the following: 1) can I restore the album structure on my iPad by using the photo cache? 2) is there a way to sync both new iPhoto albums AND pictures in the folders in my hard drive? And 3) how can I keep the photo hierarchy structure from my hard drive intact on my devices?

TigerMom28 wrote:
I've run out of room on my hard drive. I bought an external drive and exported all my albums to the external drive then deleted the albums from iPhoto.
Don't do that.
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IPhoto bloat after migrating to ext drive

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