On this subject only — Photos long predates High Sierra (2015, Yosemite). I run HS on my main machine, I still run iPhotos despite at lest two OS upgrades, and I continually attract rafts of * from peers about running obsolete software.
Initially, I declined to switch to Photos until it had at least the editing capabilities that iPhotos had (the initial release was sorely lacking). It's probably way better now, but I just haven't taken the time to switch, because iPhotos continues to run excellently; the only diminution is that it lost the ability to erase photos from my tethered iPhone as it used to be able to do, and I now have to do that by hand. And as for "totally incompatible" databases, way to the contrary — when you first launch Photos, it creates a database that is actually a hard-linked file structure into the existing iPhoto database, so that the photos "exist in two places at once" without taking up double the storage, and the old one can be deleted without losing anything. To my knowledge, that mechanism has never been removed from Photos; if I launched it today for the first time, it would still "adopt" my iPhotos database that way. > On Jul 1, 2021, at 4:34 PM, Carl Hoefs <newsli...@autonomy.caltech.edu> wrote: > > Oops, I just checked, and High Sierra did run Photos, but an early version of > the database. It did get updated often going to Catalina, though. > > -Carl > >> On Jul 1, 2021, at 4:31 PM, Carl Hoefs <newsli...@autonomy.caltech.edu >> <mailto:newsli...@autonomy.caltech.edu>> wrote: >> >> High Sierra ran iPhoto; Catalina runs Photos. The two photo database formats >> are totally incompatible, which is why it upgrades the database. And I know >> that somewhere along the way (from HS to Catalina) it did a forced upgrade >> of the mailboxes. >> >> So my guess is that your undertaking would be an exercise in futility... >> >> (And ditto your frustration with the iMac's gossamer-thin screen connection >> wires: What were they thinking?) >> >> -Carl >> >>> On Jul 1, 2021, at 3:51 PM, Macs R We <macs...@macsrwe.com >>> <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> wrote: >>> >>> I have a client running Catalina on an old 2013 iMac with a spinner. >>> There's no reason he needs to be running Catalina (he still uses Lotus 123, >>> for heaven's sake), he is apparently just a low-information victim of >>> Apple's antisocial robo-nag campaign to "Upgrade! Upgrade!! Upgrade!!!" >>> >>> His machine is now crawling. >>> >>> My preference would be to clone his machine to an external, wiping it, >>> install fresh High Sierra, and then migrate his files back in. But I'm >>> unsure whether there have been format changes between HS and Catalina in >>> personal databases such as Photos, Address Book, mailboxes, and the like >>> that would queer this… or whether File Migration might just arbitrarily nix >>> the importation out of principle. Not to mention knowing that the System >>> Settings category (WiFi networks, Apple IDs, Sharing, Accessibility, etc.) >>> would probably be un-migratable in toto, but that's less important as it >>> can be addressed manually. >>> >>> Can anyone say if this reverse-migration is doomed before it's tried? >>> >>> The alternative would be to swap out his HDD with an SSD and clone it over, >>> which would be a more costly job in terms of hardware fiddlery time (I hate >>> working on iMacs, having to disconnect all the fragile display screen >>> connectors to do the simplest things), pus the cost of a new TB drive. >>> >>> (Damn Apple's irresponsible pressure on typical consumers to upgrade their >>> OSes.) >>> >>> -- >>> Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support >>> in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas. >>> http://macsrwe.com <http://macsrwe.com/> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> MacOSX-talk mailing list >>> MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com> >>> https://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk >>> <https://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> MacOSX-talk mailing list >> MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com> >> https://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk >
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