what can i delete from my mac library folder

Now that you understand why you might want to delete an old iPhoto library, and why you don’t necessarily have to, let’s talk about how to actually do it.īefore you do anything like this on your Mac – that is, delete something potentially important – you should back up your software with something like Time Machine. you can safely delete either photo library – only if you delete both of them will you lose access to your photos.it can appear that your libraries are taking up more space than they are, thanks to the way hard links work.the libraries each link to a single copy of your photos, rather than storing each photo twice.if you had multiple iPhoto libraries (you would know if you did), you’ll need to copy them into Photos manually.if you upgrade your Mac from iPhoto to Photos, you’ll get a second photo library.Additionally, if you need to back things up, it can be hard to figure out where your files are. While having a second copy of your photo library doesn’t take up that much extra space on your computer, it can still be confusing – first of all, each library reports that it’s a certain size, which can make it difficult to figure out how much room is left on your Mac. You can delete either library safely only if you were to delete both libraries would you lose access to your pictures. As a result, each library can access the photos, but store separate information about them. Instead, they’re stored somewhere else on your hard drive, and each library has what Apple calls a “ hard link” to the pictures. Thanks to the way OS X (the software that powers your Mac, like Windows powers a PC) works, your pictures aren’t actually stored in those libraries. Here’s where things get a little bit confusing: you don’t actually have two copies of your photos. It doesn’t go back and delete the old one, though. The first time you start up Photos after upgrading, your Mac will copy over your photo library into the new software (if you explicitly set up more than one old iPhoto library, you’ll have to copy them over yourself).

Like it or not, however, that all changed when Apple first introduced the software, nearly a year ago. If your Mac came from Apple with Photos already installed, you don’t need to worry about old iPhoto libraries.Ī Mac that was upgraded to a new version of OS X that added the Photos app, however, can end up with what look like duplicates of their photo libraries.

IPhoto used to be the standard photo editor and photo management system on Macs, at least for the average computer user. Here’s how to delete iPhoto library and clear out some clutter. With the upgrade to Photos, many Mac users have been left with a duplicate iPhoto library on their Macs.

What can i delete from my mac library folder