Do I have to use Photos? How do I

[PokerGuy]

Hi - just purchased a brand new iMac to replace my 2010 model - Up until today I have always used iPhoto for all my photo storage and editing - I did try Photos when it launched but didnt like the layout and found it harder to find things, so stuck with iPhoto. But I assume now I am moving to the new model that I will be forced to take the plunge? So I have a few questions:

Should I use Photos or are there any alternatives I should consider? I only do minimal editing so have found photoshop etc are too much for me

Can I/Should I try to import all my existing photos from iPhoto, or is there a way to just store these easily on my external hard drive? One of the things I dont like about iPhoto is how hard it is to find the photo you want WITHOUT opening the iPhoto program...

Any advice much appreciated...

Thanks

 

[techwarrior]

If you used Migration Assistance to import applications and settings, as well as user profiles and docs from the old Mac or a Time Machine backup, the iPhotos app should be on the new Mac.

in Finder, if you right click the iPhotos library, and choose Show Package Contents, the file structure of the iPhotos library will be navigable, so you can find individual photos and open in Preview, etc.

The best benefit of Photos is iCloud sync with iOS and tvOS devices. You could use other photo apps, I haven't, so can't recommend any.

If you want to use an external HDD to store your iPhotos, or Photos library, simply copy the entire Library file from /Users/[username]/Pictures to your external HDD with the app closed. Then, launch the app with Option key pressed and choose the library on the external drive. It will continue using that library until you change it.

 

[PokerGuy]

If you used Migration Assistance to import applications and settings, as well as user profiles and docs from the old Mac or a Time Machine backup, the iPhotos app should be on the new Mac.

in Finder, if you right click the iPhotos library, and choose Show Package Contents, the file structure of the iPhotos library will be navigable, so you can find individual photos and open in Preview, etc.

The best benefit of Photos is iCloud sync with iOS and tvOS devices. You could use other photo apps, I haven't, so can't recommend any.

If you want to use an external HDD to store your iPhotos, or Photos library, simply copy the entire Library file from /Users/[username]/Pictures to your external HDD with the app closed. Then, launch the app with Option key pressed and choose the library on the external drive. It will continue using that library until you change it.

Great thanks - I have never liked syncing photos with iCloud mainly because I take several hundred a day, 40 or 50 of which I keep forever, and there just isn't enough storage, or is there a cheap way to have say 1tb of storage on icloud?

 

[Kierikka]

Apple offers iCloud storage for 200GB for $2.99/month or 2TB for $9.99/month.
I use Photos to store and sync photos across my devices (iPhone, AppleTV and 2 Macbooks). That way I always know that I have a backup if something happens to my device. If you delete photos on one device it will be deleted on all when it syncs. Personally it is a perfect solution for me but there are other solutions using Google or other services. And I always do a monthly copy of the Photos library to an external drive. You can never have to many backups.

The thing I like with Photos is that it allows me to lower the quality on the device but still having the high res version in the cloud.