iPhoto organization confusion (PC to MacBook transfer)

If you open up Picasa - is there an iPhoto section on the left hand side columns - is it populated?

Apple App Store shows 13 different apps under the category "photos duplicate cleaner"!

@joy:I don't see an iPhoto section there. (I had deleted the iPhoto library)

Interestingly, I've been comparing the countless pairs of duplicated photos using Picasa Properties. It appears that the pairs differ in "modified date." The only thing I can think of is that the modified-date photo might reflect the date that the original photo was backed up to the external hard drive. But that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Why would backing up create two versions of the same photo?

What program did you have on the PC for photos?

It's probable that whenever you edited the images the app made a copy and changed that and not the org.

The PC had Windows Gallery and also an old software program that came with a camera (Canon or Sony, I forget which). But the great majority of duplicated images are photos I never touched.

For example, I haven't done anything yet with some 600 photos I took on a recent vacation. Yet, it appears that the vast majority of them are duplicated. So strange!

unicorn33 said:

Apple App Store shows 13 different apps under the category "photos duplicate cleaner"!

I'm using the Araxis app, and it is not specific to photo files. The name of the app is Araxis Find Duplicate Files.

@Tom: I decided to give Photos Duplicate Cleaner a try, because my issue is specifically related to photos I brought in from my PC-linked external drive. It's a free app in the Apple store and received good reviews.

Near as I can tell, the app pretty much did what it was supposed to do. It eliminated 1,640 duplicates--nearly 18% of the total number of photos (& 5GB). I still don't understand why so many duplicates were created, but whatever. There are still some remaining dupes, but I think that's in part because the app views rotated images as different from the un-rotated versions.

The other oddity I've discovered in the transition is that the structure as re-created on the Mac has a few aberrations. For example, one folder (containing only pictures from a single trip) was inexplicably split into two different folders and grouped under two different years. Another folder containing "2013" pictures became a subfolder under "2011."

But these are things I'm sure I'll figure out how to reorganize. Overall, I'm pleased that for the most part the organizational structure and the great majority of file names was preserved.

(And as my kids cheerfully say: "Look at you, Dad, finally using an Apple computer!")

Good for you! This stuff isn't perfect, and to get the best use, you have to put in time. And you're doing it, so good. My photos are badly organized, but I'm getting there, slowly.