asked on help with duplicate photos in Mac Photos app
I recently imported a ton of photos to my Photos app in the Mac. There were about 12,000 photos. But when importing them, I've ended up with 36,000. ack! So I realized that this is what happened:
I used to have a Windows Vista computer. That's where these old pictures used to be stored. Now they're on a portable hard drive, but I wanted to add then to my Photos App so they will back up in the cloud.
Anyway,...
Here is what is see. If I have a picture name IM004244.JGP. Then there is a folder named IM004244.JPG.files in this folder there are two pictures as "vcm_s_kf_m160_160x120.jpg
I want to get rid of all that crap. Good grief, Vista sure knew how to mess things up.
This is what I'm seeing (see screenshot)
![screenshot]()
Messed up, isn't it?
This is what I've tried so far. I bought Gemini 2 to remove duplicates. The software just crashes after working a couple hours.
Also, I did a search on the SSD for all files called vcm_s_kf_m160_160x120.jpg and vcm_s_kf_repr_640x480.jpg and deleted them. (Note: I did this directly on the SSD and not via the Photo app). I don't think that has helped. My Photos app is very unstable now. It's probably trying to retrieve the lost files from iCloud.
What should I do next?
I'm thinking the best would be to restore the Photos app from the Time Capsule and start. If that's what you recommend how do I actually go about that? Or maybe there is some software that can help me here.
Can't think of anymore details at this point. Shoot me questions if you need clarification.
Thanks.
I used to have a Windows Vista computer. That's where these old pictures used to be stored. Now they're on a portable hard drive, but I wanted to add then to my Photos App so they will back up in the cloud.
Anyway,...
Here is what is see. If I have a picture name IM004244.JGP. Then there is a folder named IM004244.JPG.files in this folder there are two pictures as "vcm_s_kf_m160_160x120.jpg
I want to get rid of all that crap. Good grief, Vista sure knew how to mess things up.
This is what I'm seeing (see screenshot)
Messed up, isn't it?
This is what I've tried so far. I bought Gemini 2 to remove duplicates. The software just crashes after working a couple hours.
Also, I did a search on the SSD for all files called vcm_s_kf_m160_160x120.jpg and vcm_s_kf_repr_640x480.jpg and deleted them. (Note: I did this directly on the SSD and not via the Photo app). I don't think that has helped. My Photos app is very unstable now. It's probably trying to retrieve the lost files from iCloud.
What should I do next?
I'm thinking the best would be to restore the Photos app from the Time Capsule and start. If that's what you recommend how do I actually go about that? Or maybe there is some software that can help me here.
Can't think of anymore details at this point. Shoot me questions if you need clarification.
Thanks.
Windows VistaImages and PhotosMac OS X
Last Comment
gregholl
It is a tough question.
Do you have another computer or can you borrow a computer from a friend?
Do you have another computer or can you borrow a computer from a friend?
First and foremost, everything may seem somewhat unstable now because you are probably uploading all of those photos to the cloud and while I don't have a clue as to how many GigaBytes they represent in total, expect it to take as much as a month (possibly longer) to upload all of them. And; because the PC (Mac) is busy as h*ll uploading everything, it will be very slow (which can seem like unstable) until it is done.
Second, Vista didn't create all of those duplicates; you must have run some utility that created smaller copies of each photo at some point in the past and that is where they all came from.
Personally, I don't know of any utility that would automatically delete the folders with the smaller images inside so I think you're in for a grueling manual cleanup.
Second, Vista didn't create all of those duplicates; you must have run some utility that created smaller copies of each photo at some point in the past and that is where they all came from.
Personally, I don't know of any utility that would automatically delete the folders with the smaller images inside so I think you're in for a grueling manual cleanup.
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I won't object; but, it was the Vaio Content Manager software that created all of those thumbnails and it was, therefore, exactly what I said it was, a utility you ran on the Vista PC which created them. Windows Vista had nothing to do with it.
ASKER
Davis McCarn: The question wasn't "who made the duplicates?". The question was: "How do I get rid of the duplicates?" How they got there is immaterial. It was 10 years ago. I'm on Mac now. I don't really care how they got there; that doesn't solve anything; but thanks anyway.
You said "Good grief, Vista sure knew how to mess things up" But it was Sony who made the mess not Microsoft.
Agreed.
The problem is not related to Windows Vista at all.
It was how legacy digital camera saved the photos in SD card to create thumbnails photos.
If you only use the import photos features of Windows Vista, the OS will only import any photo found on the SD card and all thumbnails photos are imported at the same time.
Normally, users shall know the duplicate photos immediately and will do manual copy and paste of the photos from the SD card afterwards.
To conclude, dirty in dirty out principle of data processing shall apply and even with the latest OS, if user will not care about what have been imported, the same problem will occur again and again.
The problem is not related to Windows Vista at all.
It was how legacy digital camera saved the photos in SD card to create thumbnails photos.
If you only use the import photos features of Windows Vista, the OS will only import any photo found on the SD card and all thumbnails photos are imported at the same time.
Normally, users shall know the duplicate photos immediately and will do manual copy and paste of the photos from the SD card afterwards.
To conclude, dirty in dirty out principle of data processing shall apply and even with the latest OS, if user will not care about what have been imported, the same problem will occur again and again.
ASKER
see remarks in the comment
But, if the library contains the pictures which you do have only in this library - then this approach is not for you.