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How to merge iPhoto and Photo libraries on a Mac

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Christoph Stork’s photo libraries are overflowing. He owns a MacBook Pro with a 750GB drive, but has an iPhoto library that weighs in at 190GB and a Photos library that takes up 250GB. His drive is almost full and he’s not sure how to proceed.</p>

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How can I know whether the pictures in the iPhoto library are also in the Photos library? How can I move a portion of the older images away while keeping the last few years on the laptop?</p>

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If you followed the steps to import your iPhoto library into Photos whenever you started using Photos, all of the library’s full-resolution images weren’t duplicated. Instead, Apple chose to use “hard linking,” which Jason Snell explained (http://www.macworld.com/article/2910321/software-photography/automator-actions-geotagging-and-more-advanced-tricks-for-photos-for-os-x.html) back in April 2015. Instead of creating a copy of the iPhoto media, hard links just allow the same file to be linked in two or more places. Unlike an alias, which has a special icon and just points to another file, the hard link reference looks and acts exactly like it is a file.</p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="/article/3132980/photography/how-to-merge-iphoto-and-photo-libraries-on-a-mac.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here[/url]</p></section></article>

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