Apple File System

[joewatt]

From 1994 until 2015 I used Windows computers. Naturally, I became accustomed to the logic of the Windows file system using the "folder" metaphor. So all my images were filed in folders, organized in various ways that seemed to make sense to me at the time. They are stored on an external hard drive and backed up to the cloud.

In 2015 I acquired a Mac Mini with the OSX operating system. I enjoy the reliability, stability and elegant design of the Mac system. BUT -- the file system is absolutely opaque. I've decided to be ok with that except when it come to images. Where in the dickens does the Mac put images?? The Mac features a native program called "Photos," which I believe replaced iPhoto, and photos I've taken with my iPhone show up there, but with no discernable organizational logic.

I still have the external drive with my photos on it and that is where I put shots that I transfer from my camera. That drive shows up on my desktop. But it's as if I have two parallel file systems on my computer. And because I'm used to understanding very well how my computer works, this Mac drives me crazy!

Can anybody explain this to me? TIA -

[IzzieK]

I cannot explain the file system to you but I can relate and sympathize because I am the same...For someone who has been using a PC for almost my whole lifetime it seems, I bought a MacbookPro a few months ago. I still have my other laptop at the time. I tried to learn it because when I attend a course at a local college they use a Mac there so I thought I will transition easily. NOT. Anyway, my other laptop suddenly gave up on me and instead of using the Mac, I went out and bought a new PC/laptop/tablet. Then I went out two days later to buy me a large monitor because I was having a hard time trying to get used to Windows 10. My Mac? -- It is having a big rest on a table next to my desk. I touch it...every now and then.

[Black Pearl]

The images from your iPhone are synced via Apple's iCloud to the Photos app on your Mac. They are saved to Finder - Pictures - Photos Library though access is via the app itself.

Organisation within the app is fairly straightforward.

All Photos - a basic timeline with the oldest at the top and the latest at the bottom.
People - the app will pick up faces and you can name/organise pictures as you see fit.
Places - basically an interactive map that uses the GPS info from your phones photographs to places each shot.
Videos - self explanatory.
Last Import - for images from other sources (cards etc) that you have manually imported into the app.
Selfies - images taken with your iPhone's front camera
Live Photos - if your iPhone supports this type of image capture they will be saved here.
Panoramas - self explanatory.
Time-Lapse - self explanatory.
Slo-Mo - self explanatory.
Depth Effect - if your iPhone supports this the of image capture they will be saved here.
Bursts - if your iPhone supports this the of image capture they will be saved here.
Screenshots - Power Button/Home Button screen grabs
My Photo Stream - this is the last 100 images synced from your phone and updates as new ones are taken.

At the top of the Photos app is a search box - type in almost anything here and it should find the relevant pictures. You could search for cameras, trees, New York...whatever you think you have a photograph of and you should be shown it/them.

[joewatt]

Robin - thanks for your response. I see those categories down the left side of my screen in Photos - problem is that they are nothing like any categories I would ever use, except perhaps for People. I have imported my entire photo collection to Photos and I know where they are physically - I assume in Photos they are merely catalogued and not physically relocated. But there is no way to find out where all those iPhone photos are physically located on the computer. As a former Windows geek, that makes me crazy.

In another thread someone told me that when I import photos to my computer with Lightroom it is merely cataloging them. I understand the Lightroom catalogue, but surely it also physically copies files from my camera to my hard drive!

[Clactonian]

My filing system for my photographs is similar to that I previously used on a PC. The main point being everything is where I want it to be.
Mac software does like to automate the process and will put files where it chooses unless you intervene.
If you look in 'Photos' preferences there is an option to 'copy items to photos library' which is ticked by default. Untick the box. You should then only have the one set of images on your external drive.
You may find it a lot easier to use a third party editing program rather than the Apple offering which like most of the Apple built in programs is quite basic and has a mind of its own.
The Finder on the Mac really is very similar to Explore in Windows in both look and function, particularly if you use the list option rather than the icon view which can be rather confusing.
Opening multiple Finder windows makes the drag and drop process a breeze.
With regard to your query on Lightroom, no it doesn't copy files from your external drive unless again under preferences you allow it to do so on import. Lightroom copies the location and a small jpeg for cataloguing purposes but all editing is done on the original file from its stored location and the editing changes are held as simple editing instructions in a 'sidecar file' which has the file name *.xmp. You can read these instructions by opening the file in a text reader. If you are using Lightroom and keep your files stored in the original location i.e. on your external drive, open the folder in the Finder and you will see the *.xmp files of edited photos sitting alongside the original RAW or jpeg.

[billtils]

Joe

If you are using Apple Photos to edit and catalogue the digital images from your camera by importing from the memory card or via a USB cable, by default it will put them in the Pictures folder in your Home directory.

Also, you don't need to go with the default Apple names/structure - you can create your own. I don't use Photos myself but have helped a couple of family members set things up - the information on its Help menu is quite good - see the entires for "Import photos and videos" and "Organize photos in albums".

[Black Pearl]

Robin - thanks for your response. I see those categories down the left side of my screen in Photos - problem is that they are nothing like any categories I would ever use, except perhaps for People. I have imported my entire photo collection to Photos and I know where they are physically - I assume in Photos they are merely catalogued and not physically relocated. But there is no way to find out where all those iPhone photos are physically located on the computer. As a former Windows geek, that makes me crazy.

In another thread someone told me that when I import photos to my computer with Lightroom it is merely cataloging them. I understand the Lightroom catalogue, but surely it also physically copies files from my camera to my hard drive!

They are located in - FINDER - PICTURES - PHOTOS LIBRARY - however if you open that folder it will open the Photos app as its meant to be fully integrated and remove the user input required in manually filing images.

If you want to file your images in the way you would using Windows then you can. Create a folder in Pictures then import your images directly there from your memory cards etc. You can put whichever file structure you like within it in the same ways you have in the past. To get your iPhone images in a file structure you prefer within Photos click on FILE - chose New Folder or New Album, name it then drag/drop images into it. Failing that you could select them all/in batches/specific types then Export them to the folders you have manual created (above) within Pictures. As your iCloud syncs in the future all you'll need to do is export the latest files to your new structure. Now I appreciate this will mean you have two copies of each but its how iCloud works, automatically pulling them down in Photos and saving them in an Apple folder.

[charzes44]

They are located in - FINDER - PICTURES - PHOTOS LIBRARY - however if you open that folder it will open the Photos app as its meant to be fully integrated and remove the user input required in manually filing images.

If you want to file your images in the way you would using Windows then you can. Create a folder in Pictures then import your images directly there from your memory cards etc. You can put whichever file structure you like within it in the same ways you have in the past. To get your iPhone images in a file structure you prefer within Photos click on FILE - chose New Folder or New Album, name it then drag/drop images into it. Failing that you could select them all/in batches/specific types then Export them to the folders you have manual created (above) within Pictures. As your iCloud syncs in the future all you'll need to do is export the latest files to your new structure. Now I appreciate this will mean you have two copies of each but its how iCloud works, automatically pulling them down in Photos and saving them in an Apple folder.

Okay, so now I have organised my images into albums. How do I send the albums, complete with their photos, to an external hard drive?

[joewatt]

Many thanks to all for suggestions - they have been very helpful. Also, it's good to see I'm not the only one to have to creat a work-around for Apple's opaque system.

[shreds]

Okay, so now I have organised my images into albums. How do I send the albums, complete with their photos, to an external hard drive?

So Apple try to rule the Worlds and wind a lot of people up who like to remain in contriol.

Of course keep allowing it to back up to the iCloud and eventually you will run out of space but Apple will charge you for more capacity.

NO!

If you allow Apple to import stuff to iPhoto, clear it out to your external hard drive each time. Its far cheaper to have your own backup drives, preferably something that uses an exFAT file system that is compatible with both Macs and Windows.

(WD External HDDs come installed with this as standard, so you can plug it in to either system at will and it still works 'Hurrah'

Sorry Apple, despite having been with you for around a decade, your dominance of everything, is irritating and annoying. So for Photos and Music I avoid the Apple systems completely, especially as it then doesn't clog up your SSD/HDD if you manage it yourself!

Of course cloud storage is seen by many as a safety net, sure it is, but what if your internet connection is poor and who ultimately owns the pictures you have sequestered on a cloud? (Obviously you do, but you have no real control and you are the mercy of their 'charging' regimes for ever).

Whilst the big guys are not likely to go under, some well known photo sites have gone down and taken tens of thousands of photos with them, especially if you didn't keep originals or some form of copy ). Oops

[inkista]

From 1994 until 2015 I used Windows computers. Naturally, I became accustomed to the logic of the Windows file system using the "folder" metaphor. So all my images were filed in folders, organized in various ways that seemed to make sense to me at the time. They are stored on an external hard drive and backed up to the cloud.

Actually, OSX works the same way. They just added one extra level of idiot proofing when it comes to Photos.

...Where in the dickens does the Mac put images?? The Mac features a native program called "Photos," which I believe replaced iPhoto, and photos I've taken with my iPhone show up there, but with no discernable organizational logic.

All the photos are actually in files and folders, just like you're used to, but Apple didn't want you to mess up how the files are organized and screw up Photos [facepalm], so they used a weird wrapper around the directory to make a single-file "package" of everything. But it only looks like a single file in the OSX Finder. You can still see all the individual files and folders by right-clicking on the Photos library (typically Photos Library.photoslibrary) in your account's Pictures folder (e.g., ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary) and selecting "Show Package Contents". There's an Originals folder which holds the images you downloaded from the camera/card, and everything's organized by date in year/month/day folders.

See also: http://osxdaily.com/2017/02/23/where...s-located-mac/

They do this wrapper thing with apps, too. That's why just dragging an .app "file" to the trashcan will do a clean de-install.

Apple also hides system things from the Finder, in much the way Windows uses hidden files/folders, but you can always type in a direct path in the Finder with the Go -> Go to Folder menu command.

If you're command line savvy, you can see everything by using the Terminal app and going old school UNIX with cd and ls commands. That's mostly what I do. It's sorta/kinda equivalent to using cmd.exe with cd and dir commands. Only, I hated DOS, so I tended to load cygwin on any Windows box I had to use.

[Black Pearl]

So Apple try to rule the Worlds and wind a lot of people up who like to remain in contriol.

Of course keep allowing it to back up to the iCloud and eventually you will run out of space but Apple will charge you for more capacity.

NO!

If you allow Apple to import stuff to iPhoto, clear it out to your external hard drive each time. Its far cheaper to have your own backup drives, preferably something that uses an exFAT file system that is compatible with both Macs and Windows.

(WD External HDDs come installed with this as standard, so you can plug it in to either system at will and it still works 'Hurrah'

Sorry Apple, despite having been with you for around a decade, your dominance of everything, is irritating and annoying. So for Photos and Music I avoid the Apple systems completely, especially as it then doesn't clog up your SSD/HDD if you manage it yourself!

Of course cloud storage is seen by many as a safety net, sure it is, but what if your internet connection is poor and who ultimately owns the pictures you have sequestered on a cloud? (Obviously you do, but you have no real control and you are the mercy of their 'charging' regimes for ever).

Whilst the big guys are not likely to go under, some well known photo sites have gone down and taken tens of thousands of photos with them, especially if you didn't keep originals or some form of copy ). Oops

Personally I like that the contents of my various iDevices are backed up without any user input and that they are all synced seamlessly allowing me to access the relevant files from any device on any device. If other wish to do this manually that is fine but for me it is one of the core reasons I use Apple.

By the way you can move your Photos library or any of the other Apple app libraries to any part of any drive you require and they will still operate flawlessly so there is no need to have them 'clog up' your internal SSD.

In the case of Photos you simply move the library file then double click it to launch the app which will them note its new location for future operation. I have my entire FCP filing structure including all the built-in effects etc on an external drive, a process that took my a handful of mouse clicks.