iPhoto organization confusion (PC to MacBook transfer)

Well, I was so proud of my non-techie self for figuring out how to transfer about 9,000 photos from my old PC to my new MacBook until I viewed the results. I was led to believe that iPhoto would preserve my PC's folder/subfolder structure. However, the transfer has resulted in some sort of chronological mishmash bearing only superficial resemblance to the logical PC structure. In addition, there seems to be lots of duplication of photos and lots of folders mysteriously designated "101MSDCF." What did I do wrong? And how do I fix it?

I hate iphoto. I don't use it because it has a very weird proprietary data base thingy that makes no sense to me.

How do you fix it?

Do you still have the pix on the PC? Do you have a back up of those pix? If the answer to both is yes - then delete the iphoto library and all the images from the Mac.

Download Picasa (free) and then either copy over the pix to the mac and have Picasa find them or import them into Picasa.

Google Picasa, which is owned by Google. Watch some of the how to videos.

While I have Lightroom and use it for 99.99% of what I do - there are times when I use Picasa - like finding a specific photo I somehow managed not to keyword, but remembered it had red in it and with Picasa, I can search for 'red' pix.

@joy: Isn't Picasa online-based? That is, doesn't it require the pictures to be stored in the cloud?
Also, if I were to upload to Picasa, would it preserve my folder/subfolder structure?

Those folders named 101MSDCF, etc? That is actually how they exist on your PC. The software on your PC then uses an alias to let you name them whatever else you prefer. Apple software cannot open that software and learn what you've named them.

@unicorn33 -

that's picasa web albums now google photos - or whatever they've named it now. This is different.


Picasa is merely a catalog of sorts. It can import your folders are you have them.

To be sure that your folder structure is maintained - you can merely copy over the files - or your entire 'my pictures' folder with all the subfolders - onto the Mac and then Picasa can 'find' them - preserving everything. This is what I did years ago when I moved from PC to Mac. In fact, it's still named 'my pictures' because I would need to repoint over 250K images in Lightroom. No time for that...

Things to know:

Macs can read FAT32, etc drives from Windows PC's. There may a type of file formatting for drives that it may have issues with - but it's not too common. I'm blanking on it. Tom/Monster pls correct me.

I would copy over the pix to an external hard drive - and then plug that HD into the Mac and copy the entire thing over to the Mac. Just drag the folder over to wherever you want it on the Mac.

Download Picasa.

When Picasa asks to scan your computer - let it scan the whole thing. Make yourself a cup of tea. Come back every once in a while to check on it.

When done - it should look like what it looked like on the PC.

Really important: Picasa 'points' to where the image is. If you delete the image in Picasa - you delete it.

Picasa is non-destructive image editing software. If you make corrections in Picasa - they can only be viewed in Picasa - you will need to either export (make a copy and save it) or 'save' it in Picasa to see the changes outside of Picasa.

@Dave: Thanks. That makes sense, though I'm still not sure why there is so much duplication. (When I moved the pictures to iPhoto, supposedly more than 9000 were transferred, but I don't think I actually have anywhere near that many.)

@Joy: Thank you. I'm trying hard to wrap my non-techie brain around all this. (Windows gallery, or whatever it was called, seemed a lot simpler and more logical.) When you said to delete the iPhoto library, do I simply drag that "folder" (?) to the trash?

Also, when I transferred the photos by dragging from my external drive to the iPhoto icon, did that remove them from my external drive or just copy them?

The Picasa app on your Mac will respect your folder structure. I suggest you make folders under your Pictures folder. This is what I do. It works well for me. Then yes, it publishes stuff that I select in the Picasa service on the web.

@unicorn33

I think you copied them and yes, drop the folder into trash.

Are you local? If you promise you're not a sociopath, I'd be happy to stop by for 15mins at no charge to help.

@joy: That is such a kind offer and very much appreciated. I just need to think things through a bit more first and decide how to proceed.
This morning I watched a long online video about iPhoto (part of David Cox library) to get a better understanding of the program. Five minutes after watching it I came across an announcement that Apple is discontinuing iPhoto and replacing it with a new program "in early 2015"! Seems rather pointless now to spend more time on iPhoto if it's being discontinued.
What I want to do next is get a clearer understanding of Picasa--I'll follow up your earlier suggestion and look for some Picasa videos online...

@Tom: When you say "make folders under your PIctures folder, I understand how to do this on my old PC but not on the MacBook. If I drag the Pictures folder from my external drive and drop it onto the Pictures folder of the MacBook (as opposed to the iPhoto icon), will that automatically create/preserve the existing folder hierarchy?

unicorn33 said:

This morning I watched a long online video about iPhoto (part of David Cox library) to get a better understanding of the program. Five minutes after watching it I came across an announcement that Apple is discontinuing iPhoto and replacing it with a new program "in early 2015"! Seems rather pointless now to spend more time on iPhoto if it's being discontinued.

The current iPhoto program is going to be replaced sometime early this year with a new program called Photos, in an effort to make it more consistent/compatible with the iPhone/iPad Photos app. If we can believe what we read, this new program will honor any folder structure you might have in iPhoto.

(I'm not necessarily advocating that you use iPhoto. I'm just saying if you do, supposedly any sorting you have done will carry over when the change is implemented.)

Yes, dragging the contents from your external drive into the Pictures folder should do the trick.

@tom: Thanks. ...Dumb question #101: If I can do that and have my folder/subfolder hierarchy preserved on the MacBook this way, wouldn't that actually eliminate the need for iPhoto or any similar program?

No, because those programs offer some abilities that just addressing the files directly doesn't do. You'll see the light when you try it.

@joy: I've now had a chance to watch a couple of Picasa videos and read about the program. It does indeed sound like Picasa would better suit my purposes than iPhoto. Thanks for the suggestion. Before I do anything dumb, let me outline my next steps. Please tell me if I'm off track on anything:

1. Drag my iPhoto library to the Trash; then empty the Trash.
2. Reconnect my external hard drive to the MacBook, and drag my "Pictures" folder from that drive into the Mac's "Pictures" folder. Just to confirm: Doing this will copy all my picture folders and subfolders to the Mac and preserve the hierarchy structure. Right?
3. Download Picasa, which will then scan all the photos I've imported.

Sound right?

1 - Empty the trash after everything else is done and confirmed.
2 - Yes. It should.
3 - Yes.

You didn't ask me, but your plan looks good to me.

@joy, @tom: Thank you. I'll let you know how it works out.

So, I followed the plan, and it's pretty much worked! The outcome, particularly when I use the tree structure display, is very close to what I wanted. Goodbye iPhoto, hello Picasa!

One observation and one question: When I display "tree structure," the mysterious "101MSDCF" folders seem to be replaced by correctly named folders. But if I use "flat structure," the mystery names return. Weird, huh? Guess I'll just stick to tree structure.

Here's the question: I'm seeing numerous duplicate photos. In fact, sometimes I see three or even four of the same photo. No idea why that has happened. Is there some way to remedy that problem?

Thanks again for your help.

just downloaded Snapselect from Macphun - there's a special on it - and you get Focus for free.

I couldn't care less about the free app - but Snapselect has one thing that made me buy it - it finds dupes and you can then send them to a folder that if you want - you can delete.

http://macphun.com/snapselect

I do 99% of everything in Lightroom.
But this app has the duplicate pix issue solved - I think. I have to find 5 mins to play with it.

It's on sale - 40% off now and if you email their support with a screenshot of it in your purchased app list - they send you a code to get Focus for free.

No idea what Focus is yet. But it was free...And I can delete it if need be.

I think Focus is some sort of do-not-disturb app, blocking out distractions.
I'll look into Snapselect. I guess the dupe problem is not uncommon, if they're making apps for it!

Its a photo app. It may be a blurring tool.

Maybe there's more than one with similar names?

Just discovered in Picasa: Tools>Experimental>Show duplicate files

Learn something new every day.

I usually use it for finding colors - so all the red pix, etc.

Just downloaded the Focus app - it's photo app that tries to recreate a $2K+ lens.

It was free.

So, I'm still trying to figure out why so many duplicates. I picked out one photo that appears four (!) times, one next to the other. I traced their location through finder, and this is what I found:

file:///.../Pictures/2014%20Pictures/New%20Mexico/20141022_142555.jpg
file:///.../Pictures/2014%20Pictures/New%20Mexico/20141022_142555@87cbb8b6c4e44f46aacb3b504dd86967.jpg
file:///.../Pictures/2014%20Pictures/New%20Mexico/20141022_142610.jpg
file:///.../Pictures/2014%20Pictures/New%20Mexico/20141022_142610@f804bcc1bdce44e795bf72219112c369.jpg

Does this make any sense? These are all the same picture! I'm mystified.

did you empty the trash yet?

Yup.
Program seems to be working fine, and tree structure is there (though slightly out of order), but there are hundreds or even thousands of duplicates!
I did a Google search, and duplicates seems to be a common problem. The solutions are complicated and would require hours of tedious work. I may just have to live with all the dupes. Still 1,000% better than iPhoto hodgepodge.

You may want to buy the Araxis app Find Duplicate Files. I bought it and consider it worthwhile. It still takes time and considerable thought.

I'll check it out, Tom. Thanks.