SOLVED Organising multiple MAC photos libraries

[Jaygon]

Hi,
I am still using a late-2013 21.5" iMac on Catalina 10.15.7. Very std setup of 2.9GHz quad-core i5, 8gb RAM, but with the original 1Tb HDD replaced with an internal 1TB SSD installed (the original hdd is now an ext backup). Over the years I have stored about 15k of photos over several libraries stored on several ext drives. All libraries contain many different albums, some of which contain sub-albums, and, of course, more than their share of duplicates. I know its a bit late and I should have known better many years ago, but I would really like to restructure this mess more logically and remove the duplicates.
Is there an easy way to clean up my ridiculously messy structure spread over several libraries some of which have same sub-group names with a smoother structure of lbraries containing different sub groups of photos?
Could I use something like Photosweeper to remove duplicate copies of the images contained in those libraries with the same name, to a new different library set up on a separate hdd and delete the old libraries thus cleaned? Is there a faster or less cumbersome way to do this? Is there better software I should consider?
Thanks for your advice.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Sorry for the delayed response.

Honestly, there isn't really a quick and easy way to accomplish this. It will probably be best to manually go through everything and consolidate. There are several applications that find duplicates and merge libraries, but I haven't used any of them, and know that they don't always work as expected.

One way to do this, which is very tedious and time consuming, would be:
Start with a fresh drive that has enough free space for all of the photos
Export the originals from each of the libraries to the external
Create a new Photos Library on that drive
Import all the exported photos
Sort and delete duplicates
Recreate the albums

Maybe one of the other members here has more experience with this type of situation or applications that may help.

Sorry, just a few thoughts.

C

 

[Jaygon]

Hi Cory,
Sorry about delay in my response. Yes, I think that about covers it. I have started doing just that but it is certainly a long winding road (probably should say "winding gravel bush track") and I don't reckon I could say much about any of the applications I have tried either. I must say that most angst has risen from MY use of folders and albums. So, I shall just press on slowly as I am doing.
Thanks for your help.
J