How to delete the originals of edited photos on iPhoto 11?

Question

I have a 200 GB iPhoto library. Using the tips from this website: http://james.wikidot.com/blog:69 I tried to delete all original photos on iPhoto that I don't need anymore.

I ended up with a 130 GB iPhoto library... amazing, isn't it? Well... not really.

1. 10 % of my videos are just black (thumbnails and video data, everything is just black).
2. All photos that I rotated have broken thumbnails.
3. Some of the photos are broken.

I'm getting my library back from time machine... but I was just wondering... Is there a safe way to delete all original photos from iPhoto and keep only the edited ones?

Answer 1

CleanMyMac 2

CleanMyMac 2 has an iPhoto Cleanup feature. It will scan your library and give you the ability to delete photos that have been cropped, resized, rotated, or otherwise edited.

By default, it will delete the photos that have been rotated and/or with fixed Red-Eye, however you can also choose to delete the originals of any photos that have been edited in any way.

I have used this multiple times, and it's worked great, although it's worth noting that in the Rebuilding Library stage, it might appear that it's crashed, but it's still going - it does take a very long time!

Answer 2

Just in case you want to reselect and delete photos from iPhoto, including the originals from the folder where they reside, I found a workaround. As you know emptying the trash in iPhoto does not delete the originals. For instance you can look at your photos and while you are doing it "flag" the ones you want to delete (see iPhoto's Menu-->Photos-->Flag Photo for a shortcut). Once you have "flagged" all the photos you want to delete, then go ahead and select them all (in the left hand column of the iPhoto window there is a "Flagged" icon, right above the "Trash" icon - click on it and you'll see al your flagged photos on the display window). Do a simple Edit-->Select All and then mouse-right-click on one of them and select "Show File". This will open a window with the folder where your originals are located, and in this case the ones you want to delete will be already and conveniently selected for you. Then simply go ahead and trash them with your mouse or with the "Delete" icon on the Toolbar and voilá!. (if the Toolbar is not showing then simply select from the Finder menu View-->Show Toolbar). You can save your $200 from Aperture.