So frustrating

[Bootinks]

Hi all as a new switcher to mac (macbook pro 13") from my full on gaming pc 4k bells and whistles,i am having real issues with "photos" app . I have a external drive with all my photos on from my pc some 300gb but when i import them to photos i get a file called photo library and its only 172gb and doesn't look like the folders that the photos came from its just one file nothing inside where are all the rest of the 300gb .

I have checked the copy on import box on preferences but the file size don't match up , i have Lightroom 5 and used just on pc as it was best for pc but i love the simple "photos" app but importing was so simple compared to this

can i drag and drop from external drive to my photos folder then import without the copy option , or is there any other way of doing it they are priceless photos and i don't want to risk them

 

[762999]

When you import them into Photos, it creates a copy in the Photo library. From memory, you cannot reference them on the external drive. It's possible that the 300gb also contains the preview copy & thumbnail information.

If you compare the photo count between Lightroom and Photos, it should match.

Within Lightroom you can also optimize the catalog and purge the preview copy it has generated. It would give you a better size estimate. On your external drive you also waste a lot of space in relation to all the files in contains. Depending of the disk cluster size, holding possibly several thousands files also mean that you waste space for each file. Storing a 1k file on a 8k filesystem would means a 7k loss, multiply that by thousands of files and it takes a huge chunk.
The Photo library is not managed the same way.

I'm sure it the cache of the thumbnail & the preview copy.

 

[Bootinks]

When you import them into Photos, it creates a copy in the Photo library. From memory, you cannot reference them on the external drive. It's possible that the 300gb also contains the preview copy & thumbnail information.

If you compare the photo count between Lightroom and Photos, it should match.

Within Lightroom you can also optimize the catalog and purge the preview copy it has generated. It would give you a better size estimate. On your external drive you also waste a lot of space in relation to all the files in contains. Depending of the disk cluster size, holding possibly several thousands files also mean that you waste space for each file. Storing a 1k file on a 8k filesystem would means a 7k loss, multiply that by thousands of files and it takes a huge chunk.
The Photo library is not managed the same way.

I'm sure it the cache of the thumbnail & the preview copy.

am i best of just copying and pasting them into photos folder in my home folder then adding them to photos , it just not seeing them all there is very disconcerting

cheers

 

[762999]

am i best of just copying and pasting them into photos folder in my home folder then adding them to photos , it just not seeing them all there is very disconcerting

cheers

I personally use Lightroom and I was wrong about Photos. There is an option in the preference, you can either reference the pictures or have them fully imported inside Photos. Is it possible that you could have pictures/videos saved in a format not supported by Photos?


http://www.imore.com/how-import-images-and-folders-photos-os-x

Photos supported medias
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205272