Picasa v iPhoto

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I just downloaded Picasa. I think it's copying ALL my photos into the program, so that the photos exist TWICE on my hard drive, filling up its space. Is that right? Are the pix now double on my hard drive?
 

bobtomay

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No - Picasa does NOT copy photos - they do not exist within the app.
 

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What you see is likely Picasa doing what it needs to do the first time it runs which is index items. It's doing nothing more than looking over your pictures so that it can display them.
 
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picasa not bad but i wouldn't use it i prefer using a app that keeps the files in jpg vs converting them into a database
 

bobtomay

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Picasa does not convert any of your files and it does not put them into a database.
 
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if it's looking at files and organizing them it is technically placing them into a database so it can quickly access them i didn't say it was creating a database i just said not bad but i wouldn't use it because if they update it to support a database structure for even better security it would suck
 

bobtomay

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picasa not bad but i wouldn't use it i prefer using a app that keeps the files in jpg vs converting them into a database

Picasa indeed keeps your files in jpg if that's what they are and does not convert them into a database.

if it's looking at files and organizing them it is technically placing them into a database so it can quickly access them i didn't say it was creating a database i just said not bad but i wouldn't use it because if they update it to support a database structure for even better security it would suck

It is not "technically" placing them into a database. It indexes them so that it knows where they are located - nothing more. It accesses your existing pics in the existing format without changing anything and opens the pictures from their existing location on the drive without moving anything.

Picasa has been around for several years - Personally, can't foresee any possibility they are going to move to importing your pics into a database - for example the way iPhoto does.

Sorry, but saying you wouldn't use something because some future version of it "might" do something you don't want it to is just plain fill in the blank.
 

vansmith

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if it's looking at files and organizing them it is technically placing them into a database
It's placing the names of the files into a database, not doing anything else. If anything, this is less work than any other photo manager that might actually move pictures. The only thing you could do less is ask for a directory each time someone opens the application.
 

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