Problems emptying iPhoto trash

I've cleaned up my iPhoto library and am trying to empty the iPhoto trash to get rid of the 33k photos in there.  It quits with an error before finishing.  What can I do?  Is there another way I can get these off my computer so iPhoto won't be so slow and bogged down?  Thanks for any tips and advice!

iPhoto is known chocking when trying to delete large numbers of photos at a time. It's best to do them in batches of 100 or so at a time. 
First try going into iPhoto's General preference section and deactivating the Item Count option and then try again.  Another user reported that fixed it for him. 
If that doesn't work iPhoto is known to lock up if you try to delete a large number of photos at a time.  Here's how to get out of the predicament you're in:
If you don't use the Rating stars you can do the following: select all of the photos in the trash and Control-click to bringup the contextual menu.  There will be the 5 stars for the ratings.  Select either 5 or 1 to apply that rating to the photos.
Next create a smart album with the criteria:
selecting the number of start you applied to those in the Trash bin.
Move the photos from the Trash bin to the Library and the Smart Album will immediately be populated with those photos. 
You can now select about 100 photos or so at a time and use the Command+Option+Delete key combination to move them back to the Trash bin and empty it.  Repeat with groups of about 100 or so photos till they are all deleted. Then delete the Trash bin in the Dock to completely remove them from your hard drive.
OT

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  • I deleted unwanted photos from my iPhoto library, emptied iPhoto trash & Finder trash... this did not free up disk space. please help!

    I deleted unwanted photos from my iPhoto library, emptied iPhoto trash & Finder trash... this did not free up disk space. please help!
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    Thank you, Terence!
    Yes, I only emptied the trash when it was really full, once I waited until the trash cans contained 2,600 photos and then I emptied them - Oooops! In the future, I'll keep in mind your suggestion of deleting less than 100 photos at a time.
    I downloaded the iPhoto Library Manager and used it to rebuild my iPhoto. After a few hours of rebuilding, it generated a new copy of my iPhoto Library. This versions was nearly identical to the original (it was missing 5 photos and was therefore only 5 mb smaller). I guess my Library wasn't defective.
    I checked my storage stats, and interestingly, using iPhoto Library Manager did help with the problem that developed after I re-indexed my hard drive. My hard drive is able to properly recognize data categories again, instead of listing almost everything as "Other". Understandably, my free disk space changed from 120 GB to about 60 GB, because my hard drive now contained a second copy of my iPhoto Library as well as iPhoto Library Manager. It seemed like all I needed to do was throw these away, but when I emptied the trash, my problem was not solved. My Hard drive now looked like this:
    It appears to me that when I empty the trash, the things I throw away are just hanging around as backups instead of leaving! I went into System Preferences and turned of my time machine OFF. Now my hard drive looks likes this:
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  • Cannot empty iPhoto trash can why ?

    i have 70000 images in trash can but cannot empty iPhoto trash can why ?

    If that 70,000 is your entire library just drag the library to the Trash bin in the Dock and empty it.
    However, if you have other photos in the library that you want to keep the try this:  go into iPhoto's General preference pane and uncheck the Show item counts checkbox:
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    If that fails and you don't use the Rating stars you can do the following: select all of the photos in the trash and Control-click to bringup the contextual menu.  There will be the 5 stars for the ratings.  Select either 5 or 1 to apply that rating to the photos.
    Next create a smart album with the criteria:
    selecting the number of start you applied to those in the Trash bin.
    Move the photos from the Trash bin to the Library and the Smart Album will immediately be populated with those photos. 
    You can now select about 100 photos or so at a time and use the Command+Option+Delete key combination to move them back to the Trash bin and empty it.  Repeat with groups of about 100 or so photos till they are all deleted. Then delete the Trash bin in the Dock to completely remove them from your hard drive.
    OT

  • IPhoto stalls attempting to empty iPhoto trash

    iPhoto 9.3.2, OSX 10.7.4 on Mac Pro with 4x2TB internal drives RAID0.
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    iPhoto will not empty a trash with that many images in it, and attempting to do so may damage the database.
    Experienced users suggest trashing in batches of about 100 or so.
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    TD

  • Empty iPhoto trash on imac

    I am trying to empty iphoto trash on my iomac (apparently I have 119,811 items to delete). However, whewnever i do, it crashes the application. Any suggestions? Thanks a lot

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  • Am having problems emptying my trash. Takes forever and then the contents don't delete. What must i do?

    a) Am having problems emptying my trash.
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  • Can't empty iPhoto trash

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    and then try emptying the iPhoto Trash bin again. This method is iffy and doesn't work for everyone.
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    Move the photos from the Trash bin to the Library and the Smart Album will immediately be populated with those photos. 
    You can now select about 100 photos or so at a time and use the Command+Option+Delete key combination to move them back to the Trash bin and empty it.  Repeat with groups of about 100 or so photos till they are all deleted. Then delete the Trash bin in the Dock to completely remove them from your hard drive.
    OT

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    Greetings all, first post.   Trying to remove a bunch of photos off my Macbook Pro (OS X 10.6.8, iphoto 09 8.1.2).  I have over 3000 photos in my trash bin within iphoto.  I select and click 'empty trash,' it prompts me to confirm this, I click 'okay,' and then iphoto freezes and shuts down.
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    and then try emptying the iPhoto Trash bin again. This method is iffy but might work for you. 
    2 -if that fails and you don't use the Rating stars you can do the following: select all of the photos in the trash and Control-click to bringup the contextual menu.  There will be the 5 stars for the ratings.  Select either 5 or 1 to apply that rating to the photos.
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    selecting the number of start you applied to those in the Trash bin.
    Move the photos from the Trash bin to the Library and the Smart Album will immediately be populated with those photos.
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    OT

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