Deleting Photos

[JML_UK]

Hi, I'm a recent convert from Windows and would be grateful for some advice

I have a macbook air with only 128gb memory, so need to manage it carefully, so I have been uploading images from my iPhone into iPhoto then, when I can archive them safely, copying them onto an external hard drive, deleting the photos from iPhoto and emptying the iPhoto trash.

There appear to be no photos in my photo library, and finder shows just 282 Mb - guess that's just system stuff.

BUT in about this Mac/storage it shows 70GB of Photos...

Now, I can account for some 10gb of those in message attachments, and another 5Gb in my Dropbox folder, and there must be a few more hanging around in the system... but where are the other 50-odd GB hiding? I've tried searching for .jpg in spotlight, but that only threw up substantial numbers in the locations above (dropbox and messages).

And I HAVE emptied the main trash folder

Now, I'm seriously worried about running out of space: can anyone please suggest where else I might look, or why the about my Mac is reporting such a high volume of photos

I DO prefer my Mac to my old windows machine, but I never had this kind of issue with the PC system... would be very grateful for any suggestions

Many thanks in advance
John

 

[chscag]

Download the free Disk Inventory X from here. That will tell you where the photos or files that are taking up space are located. You didn't mention which version of OS X you're running but assuming you're running at least Lion or later.... the user library is hidden from view by default. That makes it even more difficult to locate files and folders that are no longer needed.

 

[cradom]

I have a macbook air with only 128gb memory, so need to manage it carefully,

I'm assuming you really mean drive space, memory is totally different.

so I have been uploading images from my iPhone into iPhoto then, when I can archive them safely, copying them onto an external hard drive, deleting the photos from iPhoto and emptying the iPhoto trash.

If all you're doing is storing them temporarily, why import them into iPhoto? Just drag them into the Pictures folder, save a lot of work.

 

[JML_UK]

@chscag - many thanks for your suggestion... have just completed the analysis and it looks as if it's iLifeAssetManagement that is hogging the drive space... drilling down it looks like photostream... so that's easily managed

Many many thanks for your help, much appreciated

 

[JML_UK]

@cradom - many thanks for your suggestions, and apologies for my sloppy terminology, yes, of course meant drive space, careless of me.

And I'm intrigued by your suggestion of dragging the photos into the picture folder... unlike in windows my iPhone doesn't appear in the explorer/finder app... do you mean from the myiPhone folder in iPhoto? I've just tried that and it doesn't seem to want me to do it... I can drag a picture into a folder in finder, but it just 'springs back' again without any copying taking place... naive Mac newbie, do I have to hold down cmd/alt or something while doing it - I think I've tried the obvious ones

Grateful for any help with these issues while I'm learning the ropes!

 

[MacInWin]

Look for an application in the Applications folder called Image Capture. It will see your iPhone, let you copy the photos you want from it to the Mac into any folder you want.

 

[JML_UK]

@MacInWin - that's brilliant Jake, thank you, just the job: I'd NEVER have thought about trying that app by just experimenting. I'm enjoying the Mac experience, but I don't think it is as intuitive as some folk make out... you still have a fair amount to figure out/be told.

Grateful for your help

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for confirming that Jake. I was on the iPad yesterday and couldn't confirmed that this worked. I've used Aperture for a while IIRC.

 

[JML_UK]

Now, while I've got the attention of you smart guys, I wonder if you can tell me how, having copied photos from my phone to my Mac using Image Capture, I can delete just some, say all but the last week's worth of photos from my phone?

Using iPhoto it offered to delete ALL the photos, but I could see no way to keep a selection. In windows you can open the phone in explorer, sort photos by date taken and then select and delete the dates you no longer want. Could someone please suggest how you could do something similar on the Mac?

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks for confirming that Jake. I was on the iPad yesterday and couldn't confirmed that this worked. I've used Aperture for a while IIRC.

I don't use Aperture or iPhoto, I just copy the files from the iPhone through Image Capture. The one feature I'd like is to be able to delete from the iPhone through Image Capture, but you can do that on the iPhone itself.

 

[cradom]

Use list view in Finder. You can sort by Date modified.
Command-select the ones you want to delete.

 

[JML_UK]

@cradom - but my iPhone doesn't show up in finder. When I plug a USB device in it usually shows up under devices... but that doesn't happen with the iPhone... am I doing something wrong, just plugging it into a USB slot?

And @MacInWin, yes, I know you can delete photos individually on the phone, but what if I want to delete several hundred? That would take ages one at a time, can you do it in a batch on the iPhone - am I missing something there too?

So much to learn, so little time

 

[cradom]

Not talking about phone. When you copy to Mac, then select which ones to delete.
I know nothing about iPhones. We're talking about using Finder to manage files, after copying them to Pictures folder (or wherever).

 

[MacInWin]

Yeah, several hundred is going to be a bit of tapping. But you can open Photos, open the Album and then tap on "Select" in the upper right corner. Now you can tap multiple icons for the images you want to delete and finish with tapping the trashcan icon and they all get deleted. It's a lot of tapping to select 100's, but at least it doesn't require TWO taps per image, just one, plus one at the end. Note: in the latest incantation of IOS, the images are actually held in the trash for a time, so if you need the space recovered immediately, you'll have to go to the Recently Deleted album and delete them from there using the same process. However if you just don't want to see them and are willing to wait, eventually they'll disappear completely.

EDIT: Oops, Cradom got in there before me. I was responding to this

And @MacInWin, yes, I know you can delete photos individually on the phone, but what if I want to delete several hundred? That would take ages one at a time, can you do it in a batch on the iPhone - am I missing something there too?

 

[JML_UK]

Ah sorry cradom, yes, I'm confident with managing the files once they are on the Mac, what I'm now looking to do is manage the photos on the phone via the Mac. The option in iPhoto seems to be either delete all you've copied across on the phone or delete them all from the phone. I'm looking for a way of making a more detailed selection, as you can on a windows machine.

Sorry for the confusion

 

[Slydude]

Give this article a read. it has methods for deleting batches of photos using the Mac or directly from the iPhone. I think I prefer doing it from the Mac but your mileage may vary. How to bulk delete images from your iPhone | Macworld

 

[JML_UK]

Hi MacInWIn, thanks for the suggestion, yes, I was aware of the multiple selection, but it takes ages to delete several hundred (as you say multiple taps!)

What I'm looking for is a way of selecting on the Mac images ON THE PHONE and managing them from the Mac in the way you can on a windows machine. I can't see the photos on my phone in finder as I could in the windows equivalent... and though I can see the photos on the phone in both Image Capture and iPhoto, it won't let me delete them via those apps.

 

[Slydude]

Follow the link I posted. It explains how to delete large numbers of photos from your phone using the Mac. Basically you connect the phone to your Mac and launch Image Capture. Select your phone in the device list then select the files to be deleted. At the bottom of the Image Capture window is a small red "No" symbol. Use that to delete the photos.

 

[JML_UK]

Ah, thanks @slydude... I think that link has cracked it... the key in Image Capture is to use the "circle-with-a-slash icon" to delete selected photos on the phone... and a few minutes experimenting shows that you can cmd+A to select and delete all or shift+click to select a batch (having sorted by date). Again, I wouldn't have thought of (or dared) to just click on that icon (it does ask "are you sure", but I don't think I'd have risked it!). I'd been trying right clicks and looking for "send to trash" (hangover from my windows days!) or edit/delete in the menu bar, neither of which worked

So that's perfect: I can now copy across from iPhone to Mac and then selectively delete the photos on the iPhone via the Mac, EXACTLY what I was after

Thanks everyone for your friendly help and patience - much appreciated. I'm sure I'll be back when I hit the next snag!

 

[JML_UK]

Sorry for cross-posting slydude... I was experimenting with your first link!