Merging and moving libraries

I have itune libraries on three separate laptops and would like to move them to an external hard drive and obviously merge them. There is no duplication on any of these laptops. Thanks!

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.

Similar Messages

Merging and Syncing Libraries

So with this new version, it said that you can merge and sync two or more libraries by simply dragging one Aperture library into another. Is this done from the desktop or from within the application itself?
Thanks in advance for your help!

You open your main library in Aperture, and then either drag your second library into the Aperture window, onto the projects icon. Then press the "Merge" button to merge the second library into the first.
Or use the File menu : File > Import > Library and select the second library in the File Chooser.
Merging will update matching content; adding will import the complete second library.
Regards
Léonie

What's the best way to merge, restore or reconstruct iPhoto and Aperture libraries to resolve images that are not found/offline?

Hey there, Apple Support Communities.
To start, I'm working on a MBP Retina 15" with a 2.3GHz i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM. 10GB free on a 256GB SS HD. Attached are two external HDs - one 1TB Western Digital portable drive from 2011, one 2TB Porsche LaCie non-portable drive from 2013; both connected via USB. All photo libraries in question are on the external drives.
I have Aperture 3.5.1 and iPhoto 9.5.1. I prefer to work in Aperture.
The Issue(s)
Over the years, I have accumulated a number of iPhoto libraries and Aperture libraries. At one point, I thought my WD drive was dying so I purchased the LaCie and copied all libraries over the the LaCie drive. (Turns out, there's probably an issue with my USB port reading drives, because I can once again see the WD drive and occasionally I can't see the LaCie drive.)
So now I have old version of some libraries on the WD drive, and new versions on the LaCie drive.
When I was moving things, I ran the software Gemini to de-dupe my iPhoto libraries. Not sure what effect that may have had on my issues.
In my main Aperture library and in some iPhoto libraries, I get the image-not-found badge or exclamation point. I've dug through the hidden Masters folders in various libraries to find the original image. In some cases, I have been able to find the original image, sometimes in a different version of the iPhoto library.
My Question(s)
1. For Aperture libraries that have missing originals, is there some magical way to find them, or have they just disappeared into the oblivion?
2. For iPhoto libraries that have missing originals and I have found the original in another iPhoto library, what is the best way to proceed?
3. Are there quirks to merging iPhoto and Aperture libraries (by using the Import->Library) feature that I should be aware of?
TL;DR: Too many iPhoto and Aperture libraries, and not all the original pictures can be found by the libraries anymore, though some originals still do exist in other libraries. Steps/process to fix?
Thank you! Let me know if you need add'l info to offer advice.
With appreciation,
Christie

That will not be an easy task, Christie.
I am afraid, your cleaning session with Gemini may have actually removed originals. I have never used this duplicate finder tool, but other posters here reported problems. Gemini seems to replace duplicate original files in photo libraries by links, and this way, deleting images can cause the references for other images to break. And Aperture does not follow symbolic links - at least, I could never get it to find original files this way, when I experimented with this.
1. For Aperture libraries that have missing originals, is there some magical way to find them, or have they just disappeared into the oblivion?
You have to find the originals yourself. If you can find them or restore them from a backup, Aperture can reconnect them. The reconnect panel can show you, where the originals are supposed to be, so youcan see the filename and make a Spotlight search.
For iPhoto libraries that have missing originals and I have found the original in another iPhoto library, what is the best way to proceed?
Make a copy of the missing original you found in a folder outside the iPhoto library. You can either open the iPhoto library in Aperture and use "File > Locate Referenced file" to reconnect the originals, or simply reimport them. Then Lift&Stamp all adjustments and metadata to the reimported version.
See this manual page on how to reconnect originals: Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images (the paragraph: Reconnecting Missing or Offline Referenced Images)
Are there quirks to merging iPhoto and Aperture libraries (by using the Import->Library) feature that I should be aware of?
References images will stay referenced, managed will remain managed. You need to unhide all hidden photos in iPhoto - this cannot be done in Aperture.
and not all the original pictures can be found by the libraries anymore, though some originals still do exist in other libraries. Steps/process to fix?
That is probably due to Gemini's replacing duplicate originals by links, and your best cause of action is to fix this before merging the libraries. Reconnecting can be done for your iPhoto libraries in Aperture.

I have created an iTunes account on my current computer for my daughters ipod touch and tried connecting my ipod nano and it won't sync and says that it is associated with another iTunes library so how do I merge the two libraries?

I have created an iTunes account on my current computer for my daughters ipod touch and tried connecting my ipod nano and it won't sync and says that it is associated with another iTunes library so how do I merge the two libraries?

You do not merge libraries.
iDevices sync to one and only one computer.
If you want a single library, you manually move the content from one library to another... all content will still be associated with the Apple ID it was acquired with.

I just ran migration assistant, and now I have two accounts on my new iMac...how do I merge my iPhoto libraries?

I just ran migration assistant, and now I have two accounts on my new iMac...how do I merge my iPhoto libraries? Is there anyway to do it without using an external hard drive?

Yes there is.
1: Log out and into the account you later want to remove.
2: Open your Pictures folder and look for the iPhoto Library.
3: Right or control click on it, a menu appears and choose the option "Show Package Contents", it's really a folder.
4: Find the folder called "Originals", select it and use the Finder menu to Duplicate it.
5: Move the Copy of Originals to the Desktop. Close the window.
6: From the Finder menu, select Go Computer.
7: A window appears with your boot drive, double click it and on the Users folder inside.
8: Select the OTHER users folder and open the folder called Public, inside is a folder called "DropBox"
9: Drag the Copy of Originals to that DropBox folder, it will copy it.
10. Log out and into the other account and access the DropBox folder, your files can then be imported into that iPhoto user Library from within the program itself.

After moving my iTunes and iPhoto libraries to an external hard drive and deleting the originals i found i still had no space on my mac.help

i moved my itunes and iphoto libraries to an external hard drive to free up space on my mac.
after i had moved them and checked they could be found i trashed the originals and checked again that the could be found on the external hdd.
all seemed to be ok.
when i checked the disc utility it did not show i has made any more free space than i had before.
any help please as i am loving tje mac but i am still quite new to it.

Did you empty Trash?

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.

Merging PC and Mac Libraries

Hi,
I have two libraries as follows that I would like to merge:
1. A 60GB library on a Windows PC that I have spent many, many, many hours getting the genre, track names, album art etc. corrected. This library does in fact sit on an external hard drive.
2. My wife's 60GB library on a Mac where the it is ok if we lose the library info like genre etc.
I now have the new 160GB ipod and can finally have all of the music on the one ipod. I would like to put all of the music on my wife's mac and run the ipod from there. But I assume that if I plug in the external hard drive and add the folder to the mac library I will lose the hours and hours of work i put into getting the library details correct.
So how can I merge these two libraries and not lose my work? I guess another choice is to merge it on the PC first and then "migrate" the whole library to the mac?
Thanks in advance for the help.

Hi,
I have two libraries as follows that I would like to merge:
1. A 60GB library on a Windows PC that I have spent many, many, many hours getting the genre, track names, album art etc. corrected. This library does in fact sit on an external hard drive.
2. My wife's 60GB library on a Mac where the it is ok if we lose the library info like genre etc.
I now have the new 160GB ipod and can finally have all of the music on the one ipod. I would like to put all of the music on my wife's mac and run the ipod from there. But I assume that if I plug in the external hard drive and add the folder to the mac library I will lose the hours and hours of work i put into getting the library details correct.
So how can I merge these two libraries and not lose my work? I guess another choice is to merge it on the PC first and then "migrate" the whole library to the mac?
Thanks in advance for the help.

Moving iphoto and imovie libraries to free up space

Hi All,
I'm trying to free up hard drive space on my '09 MacBook Pro by moving my iphoto and imovie libraries - approx 110GB - to an external hard drive. I've done this successfully and emptied the trash but this has only freed up approx 25GB of space.
Is there something else I should be doing to free up the the whole 110GB? Any help is appreciated!
PS. Using version 10.9.3

When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself.

HT201340 moving aperture and iphoto libraries

My aperture and iphoto libraries have consumed my little MacBook. What is the best method for moving all libraries to a different harddrive?

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto and/or Aperture
2. Copy the iPhoto Library / Aperture 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. Repeat form Aperture.
4. Test the libraries and when you're sure all is well, trash the ones on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

Merging different iTunes libraries

I have an old iPOD that was sync'd with an iTunes library that I had on a Windows OS laptop. I changed to Mac and probably stupidly set up a new iTunes library. When I try and sync the old iPod with the Mac I get asked whether "I want to delete the music from the iPOD and then sync with the new library." Obviously I would like to merge the two libraries. The old library has many CDs that were copied into the old iTunes library and I do NOT want to lose those. The old PC and its library have ceased to exist. Anyone any ideas?

Hi, welcome to Apple Discussions.
*Recover media from iPod*
See this post from Zevoneer for options on moving your iPod data back to your computer.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7217190#7217190
Once you've rescued the all media you can decide what needs adding to your library.
tt2

Merging 2 iPhoto libraries, one on HD/one on EHD, to the LaCie

Hello,
A year ago, I moved my iPhoto Library onto the Lacie to free up room on HD, with the help of this forum thank you. It worked great until the LaCie was turned off without ejecting it first or ?! The next time I downloaded photos, a new Library was started on my HD and the EHD was no longer recognized by iPhoto. I continued to use iPhoto on my HD and now my HD is full again...the opening of iPhoto with the option/alt key pressed, only shows the one option. I just bought the iPhoto Library Manager today, after reading a recommendation on another thread. When I tried to merge the two onto the Lacie, like before, I got an Invalid Selection. "The path you have chosen is a root level of a disk, which cannot be used as an iPhoto Library. Please select a valid iPhoto Library." I'm so lost and the FAQ's for the iPLM did not have this senario. I would appreciate your help again, thank you so much.
Deb

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Is the location of the library on your boot drive in the /Volumes folder? To check go the to Go menu in the Finder and select the Go to Folder option. Enter "/Volumes? in the window and click Go. If the library is there drag it to the desktop and then into your Pictures folder.
Click to view full size
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions) 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 created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), 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. There are versions that are compatible with iPhoto 5, 6, 7 and 8 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
NOTE: The new rebuild option in iPhoto 09 (v. 8.0.2), Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup" makes this tip obsolete.

So, I have just about had it. For nine days now, I have valiantly tried to move my library to an external drive. At first, I attempted to move it to my 2TB Time capsule, iTunes didn't like its new home though and moved home without telling me.

So, I have just about had it. For nine days now, I have valiantly tried to move my library to an external drive. At first, I attempted to move it to my 2TB Time capsule. iTunes didn't like its new home though and moved home without telling me. So then there were two libraries. I meshed them back together reluctantly and iTunes in a silent revolt, absolutely refused to use its own 'Keep Library Organized' criteria and may as well have thrown my music against the wall. Seriously, my 5 year old nephew has his computer files better managed. Then I bought a 3TB Time Capsule and you may ask yourself why??? Well, iTunes doubled in size- although when I ran apps that are designed to find duplicate iTunes files, it deleted the music I actually bought from iTunes. So then I watched as iTunes got it back. How you ask; I run a MacBook Air, iMac and Mac mini in my house - as soon as one powered up it hit the net like a sailor on leave and re-downloaded it all without abandon. I tried to keep the libraries separate, no success there. I tried to keep them unified; iTunes response was to ask me if I wanted to join iTunes Match every time I logged on to my computer and on any computer - my iTunes match song number has been as high as 24,367 and as low as 11,112. And I can't simply refuse iTunes. No one refuses iTunes. Refusal to allow iTunes Match to run through all 24000 songs again was to revoke my rights to the songs that were once part of my library. If I took a long time to decide or was visibly impatient while iTunes did its little 3 hour scan it would arbitrarily decide that music I bought from iTunes was ineligible for iTunes Match. How could that possibly be??? I am missing music, or at least iTunes tells me so by showing me that lovely exclamation point. I have tried backing up my computer to do a full system restore and start all over. Time Capsule claims I have 979 GB of data and takes its sweet time to even back up one gig (about 18 minutes) even though I can transfer files to my Time Capsule at about 1 GB every 40 seconds. I guess though performing back-ups are somewhat like government jobs; it will get done, when it gets done. The back up requirement of 979 GB is surprising though, my Mac claims that I currently occupy just about 25% of my 2TB drive. The discrepancy, who knows, but I think the solution lies somewhere in iTunes. But maybe iPhoto. But that is for another time.

After admittedly only a quick read the one thing you don't say is how you are trying to make this move. Most people with moving library issues do it the wrong way. Plenty of web sites tell you how to do it the wrong way.
If the iTunes application is started before the drive with the library is fully mounted and awake iTunes will revert back to the internal drive.

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

This is a tricky one.
Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....." You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
Once the libraries have been moved over the new external hard drive, you will likely need to "point" Aperture and iMovie to the location of the libraries on the new external hard drive.

We have two apple ID's and two libraries. My daughter's IPOD is syncing with my library and I need to change this, but I can't figure out how.

We have two apple ID's and two libraries. My daughter's iPOD is syncing with my library and we really want to go to just one library--Mine for ease and we can't figure out how to do it. Please help!!!

Apple does not transfer content bought with one Apple ID to another Apple ID. Apple will not merge two Apple IDs.
If most of your content was bought with the Yahoo! Apple ID but you now want the Gmail address for your Apple ID, the trick will be to change the address used for the Yahoo ID with the Gmail address. However, to do that you must first free the Gmail address from that other Apple ID. Use the instructions from Apple to substitute another address that is not used as an Apple ID for your Gmail address in the Apple ID with the Gmail address. Then, when the Gmail address is no longer used in an Apple ID, you can use the same instructions to substitute the Gmail address for the Yahoo address in the Apple ID with the Yahoo address.
Changing the email address you use for your Apple ID -
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5621

Merging and moving libraries

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