How to dump photos from iPhoto?

[Raven]

I've got 2 partitions on my G4/1.25GHz - OS and Working files. OS10.3.8.

I have about 2000 photos in my iPhoto folder that take up 5 gb of space. It's getting close to filling up my OS partition. Which is creating a problem with other working files. There are many photos that I would like to delete. I thought initially I could just delete them from the iPhoto window until I realized those were thumbnails only and the original JPEG 3 mb images were still stored.

Each "roll" of film gets down loaded into a Folder - USERS /MY NAME /PICTURES /IPHOTO LIBRARY /YEAR / MONTH / DAY.
Then there are folders called DATA and THUMBS. (can you dump those?)

So, how to easily dump certain photos I don't want in order to save space?
The only way I think it can work is to...
open the iPhoto window,
find the roll (with its date),
find the photo number,
open that long trail of iPhoto Folders,
and delete the specific photo out of there?

Times a few hundred photos that I want to get rid of?
What a process! There must be a better way.

Please tell me there is and walk me through it.

Much thanks :-)

[Xairbusdriver]

Do not, I repeat, do not delete images from those 'long trail of iPhoto Folders'. Most of those are basically databases pointing to where the actual images are, others are pointers to what's in other databases. So, deleting an actual image will not update the database or any that point to its records. The result may be as simple as iPhoto not displaying any images or it could even fail to launch.

Deleting images that you have told iPhoto to 'see' should only be done from within iPhoto, no matter what version you are using. I assume that you are using an earlier version since you are in Panther. I never used that version ( and seldom the newer one ) but there should be a "Delete" this image/selection in the Edit menu. It may be easier to simply create a 'dump these images' album and move all of them to there. Then select that album and use the delete function.

In my version ( 6.0.5 ), one selects the images to delete and presses the delete key. Then, in the iPhoto menu, select the "Empty the Trash" menu item. As you suggest, the hard part will be finding, selecting all those images.

Hopefully, a real expert will come to your aid shortly.

[Mrious_be]

I think what Raven wants to point out is, that when you do delete the pictures from within iPhoto itself, they do get out of the software but they do NOT get deleted from your iPhoto Database folders.

I have noticed this myself also, and it's kinda weird yes.
I guess in one way it's good since you do keep all the pictures ever loaded onto your system, but when you want to delete one, you most of the time want to be sure it's deleted and not taking anymore space on your drive.

I would say that some sort of system like iTunes uses would be nice for iPhoto also.
When deleting a file within the iPhoto window, you should get a prompt asking you if you would like to delete the the picture only from iPhoto or if you really want to put the original into the trash also.
Even doing so will still not delete your picture (as iTunes not deletes it but really puts that song in your trash) so you can still check it out and change your mind if you like.
At that point I guess you will have to import it again into iPhoto, but that's a different story.

I do not have a direct answer on Raven's question though.

[Xairbusdriver]

May have changed in version 6. Description is that they are permanently deleted ( and I assume the databases are corrected ) when you use the "Empty the Trash" command. This is also stated in David Pogues iPhoto 6, the Missing Manual. I have no info on earlier versions. Nor any real experience. I can try adding/deleting later tonight and observe the file sizes.

[Mrious_be]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Mar 3 2007, 12:27 AM) [snapback]120707[/snapback]

May have changed in version 6. Description is that they are permanently deleted ( and I assume the databases are corrected ) when you use the "Empty the Trash" command.

Ooooh... ok
Didn't know that, and I had been using version 5 or maybe even 4 in those days.
So it's all up to what version Raven is using.

[gunug]

I can tell you that things are different in newer versions of iPhoto.  I have used and have suggested to other people iPhoto Buddy (free download) to help with the library tasks that are needed:

http://www.iphotobuddy.com/features.html

Locking and unlocking libraries is definitely worth it in an environment with multiple users.

[Raven]

Thanks for the reply. Now I've got more questions! Bear with me, please...

I'm using iPhoto 4 in OS10.3.8. I'm the only user on my Mac.
If v6 allows for a simple one-step deletion of thumbnails and database photos, that would be much better.  I'm guessing I can't upgrade to v6 unless I upgrade to OS 10.4? Which means I have a lot of other software that needs to be upgraded - InDesign, Photoshop, etc. All this WILL happen, but not for a while.

As a trial, I deleted two images (thumbnails?) from the iPhoto window. I did notice that the info changed - 2303 to 2301 photos. And 5027 mb to 5025 mb. Which means the HD space was reduced. Which is what I want.
I then emptied the iPhoto Trash which made no difference to HD size.

BUT... when I looked in the OS  USER/PICTURE/IPHOTO Folders, the two images are still there! As 2.2 mb JPG images each. Which means only the thumbnails are deleted from the iPhoto window.
So, each thumbnail is 1mb and the real image in the database folder is 2.2 mb in size. Not hard to see why each time I import a "roll" of digital film, I'm adding hundreds of mb of files.

Which brings me back to my first question of how to get rid of excess photos?
I dump each thumbnail first, mark down the file number, find it in the iPhoto Folder and dump it there again. Times several hundred images?!
But Xairbusdriver says it's too dangerous to do???

How else can you get rid of excess photos in v4?

[RHPConsult]

FWIW

In iPhoto 6.0.5 last weekend, I cleaned up the curiosity of having, in many instances, 3 copies of pictures appear in a restoration following re-partitioning of the drive in my PwrBk. Who knows how . . . . ?

Yet, with invaluable help from the TeeEss Gang, I created several sets of successive Library sortings, followed by deletions, from just under 6000 pics to a "proper" roster of approximately 1500.

At no time was I "prompted" on varieties of "deletion". They were just gone, "poof".  

Raven: it might be easier to get 1Photo 6.x. Perhaps the other updates won't be as complicated as you anticipate. Alternatively, and I have NO idea if thos would work, could you partition your drive with Panther on one partition and Tiger on another. The later would allow you to use 6.x, I assume. Someone a lot more knowledgable than I would have to advise you if this might work to get your "job" done.

Unless PhotoBuddy can do it with Panther.  

[Raven]

RHP,
Right now I cannot upgrade to Tiger and iPhoto 6. So I have work with iPhoto 4 in OS10.3.8.
Which means I need to find out how to dump iPhoto photos... those in the Lbrary, AND in the database Folder. Each photo there is about 2.5 mb size. And I have 100's of excess ones.

So, how to easily dump certain photos I don't want in order to save space?
Is there a simpler way than this...

Open the iPhoto window,
Find the roll (with its date),
Find the photo number of the image to delete,
Open that long trail of iPhoto Folders,
Find and delete the specific photo out of there.

Times a few hundred photos that I want to get rid of?
What a process! There must be a better way.

[Xairbusdriver]

If you want to try that method, I suggest you test it on a duplicate or at least save a copy of the files before starting the deletion process. And, if you are successful, you might want to share it with the rest of the world of version 4 users.

Secondly, this sounds like exactly the kind of task that AppleScript ( and computers ) is made for; repetitive, tedious, boring, time-consuming tasks.

Did you have any responses at the Apple Forums?

[krissel]

Bunch of stuff:

Try rebuilding the database. Hold down the apple and option (or alt) keys and launch iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild.

Option-delete to delete from album, empty Trash

If you want to remove a photo from the Library, and not just an album, select the photo and press Command-Option-Delete. This will move the photo to the Trash and remove it from all albums (including Smart Albums in Tiger).

iPhoto should delete them from the HD when deleted from the library. You must move the photos from the main library to iPhoto's Trash bin and then empty it via the iPhoto->Empty Trash menu option.

If you have imported the photos by hand you may not be able to delete them the normal way. If you have selected iPhoto to not import the files into the library when imported (see iPhoto's Advanced preference section) then they cannot be automatically deleted. They must be deleted via the Finder. But that's only if you're not importing the files into iPhoto upon import. So before you trash a pic in iPhoto, Right-Click on it and choose Show File from the menu that appears. A Finder Window will pop open with the File Selected. Trash the pic in iPhoto and trash the pic the Finder.

More info:

http://murphymac.com/slib/give-me-some-space.htm

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?m...33&#4056233

http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster/iphotolibrarymanager.html

[Mayo]

Is it necessary to upgrade to 10.4 in order to use iPhoto 6?  I would check that out first... And just because iPhoto is upgraded doesn't mean that all your other image apps need upgrading too.  iPhoto can be upgraded by purchasing a current version of iLife, which retails for around $79 but is likely available for less money.

There have been changes in iPhoto since version 4, one being that you can prevent iPhoto from importing "original" images that wind-up in the Library folder.  Instead of using iPhoto to manage imports you use Image Capture, which allows you to designate the folder where the imported images wind up, as well as preview images before importing from a digital camera so you can select images rather than having to import everything.

A good book on iPhoto 6 can be downloaded here.

Krissel, your second link doesn't work... And a note about iPhoto Library Manager: beginning with iPhoto 6 users can create and manage multiple libraries, so I believe that the app is only needed for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions.

EDIT: link fixed - Thanks  kris

[Xairbusdriver]

Actually, one could always use Image Capture rather than iPhoto to download you camera's images, that's exactly what I still do, always have. As Raven has found, images/photo's are usually large files and can soon engulf your hard drive. I don't have room to keep all of them on my internal drive. Heck, I don't even see a need to keep them on an external! Download them, view them, cull them, edit a few, get rid of the 'chaff' ans store them on removable disks. What's the point of have five years worth of images in iPhoto? It's not a very good editing app, so you'll likely do any editing, cropping, printing in a real graphics program, anyway. Do you really want to watch a slide show of 1,735 images? It can be used to print out some nice 'contact' sheets of a 'roll', store than page with the CD holding the images and dump them from memory. Just depends on what you want to keep at your fingertips, I guess...

So, Raven, does version four even have an "Empty Trash" menu item? If it doesn't, it might be a lot easier to buy a newer version of iLife. It should still be able to read all those images in the iPhoto Library and you can then easily dump the ones you don't need/want in iPhoto. Of course, if that's the only originals you have, you may have more serious problems! Perhaps you can retrieve them from the "trash" before the OS deletes them. Just another complication of using iPhoto, IMHO. Apple made it easy to use but hard to adapt as your needs change. But that is usually the case when we demand simple rather than comprehensive.

[krissel]

You don't need Tiger to run iPhoto 6. I have it and I'm using 10.3.9

You can get the present versions of iWork and iLife for nearly half price if you order through the education store.

I'm betting the next versions due out soon may not work with earlier OSes. Or at least some features won't. There are some themes that are not usable in iDVD while running Panther.

[Raven]

Thanks Krissel.
Yours seems the best suggestion yet. I will upgrade to v6 for OS10.3.8 and see how all this shakes out. I appreciate everyones suggestions, but I gotta stay with the KISS philosophy.

By the way, I've stayed at 10.3.8 because two people told me they had issues with 10.3.9 and some of their other apps weren't working properly. Is it safe to do one more update???

I use Photoshop 7, InDesign CS, Freehand 10, Keynote 1.1, Font Reserve 3.1, Appleworks 6 as my main apps. They are all wonderfully stable compared to OS9.

Out of town for a month and will check when I am back.
Have a good one! :-)