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reassure me about iPhoto - Printable Version

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reassure me about iPhoto - Mr Downtown - 03-30-2012

When it first came out, I remember some grumbling that iPhoto saves multiple copies of photo files. Because my home computer is a MacBook Air with an SSD, efficient storage is still relevant to me. Before I jump in: When I put a picture in three albums, is it making three copies or just saving a database pointer? Is there a way to use an external drive to reduce how much storage iPhoto uses?


Re: reassure me about iPhoto - davester - 03-30-2012

Albums are just database pointers. However, when you edit a photo, iPhoto saves both the original and the edited version. however, I think this is true of all programs like this.


Re: reassure me about iPhoto - celliott - 03-30-2012

I believe Aperture only saves data when you edit a pic. It keeps the original and then creates data "versions" of the edits. Supposed to take up less room.


Re: reassure me about iPhoto - jdc - 03-30-2012

You can put your iPhoto library on an external drive.

What you are referring to is non-destructive editing -- no matter how much your crop, color or tweak a photo in iPhoto -- it will always save the original file for you. So the only way for iPhoto to "take up a ton of space" is that if you modify all of your photos after importing. Then you will have 2 versions of every photo.