Upload vs External Libraries

[jjspierx]

I have been playing around with Immich for about a month now and I am REALLY loving it. I have taken ~170GB out of Google to import into Immich. My plan is to be 100% Google free by 2024, and thanks to Immich I can now do this as Photos was my remaining hangup to getting out.

My current Immich setup is using an external library for all of my photos exported from Google, and using the upload library for all new photos going forward. I guess what I am wondering is if that is a good idea, or if I should upload all of my files into Immich using the upload library.

For the most part, I don't need to edit/delete the files in the external library, but I would like that option and I don't currently have that with the external library.

The Immich docs mention how external "libraries have a lot of potential for future development beyond what is documented here". I guess I am curious what some of those developments might be.

Are there other pro's and con's about having my older files be part of an external library with my new files being part of the upload library? Ideally, I would like a single library, and to be able to edit/delete all of my assets, but it isn't a huge deal not being able to edit/delete my older assets in the external library via Immich.

Are there any issues with partner sharing that I might not be thinking of related to external libraries? I plan to use partner sharing with my wife, and want to make sure she is able to view all my assets in both the external and upload libraries.

Is there any difference in efficiency/resources from Immich perspective whether or not an asset is from upload or external library?

[jrasm91]

In my mind it comes down to mostly:

1. How you want to make the files available to the immich containers and
2. How you want to have the files organized on disk.

If you want to use a read-only volume mount you'd have to use external libraries.
If you already have photos organized on disk by project and want to keep using that structure you'd have to use external libraries.
If you want to upload everything and have immich auto-organize it, use upload library.

The upload libraries have all the features and functionalities of external libraries (and more). External libraries have less features at the expense of being able to use a read-only volume and self-managed file/folder structures. This gap may lessen in the future.

[jjspierx]

Thanks @jrasm91 . That is helpful. I think I went with external library initially, because it seemed easier to just point to an existing location,, but my volume is not read-only, and I do not need to have a specific organizational structure. Also, keeping everything in a single library seems easier for backing up, since I don't have to backup multiple locations. I think I will work on uploading my external library into Immich, and removing the external library.

[anexas]

Hi guys. I just started an instance of Immich and successfully connected my photo archive as external library. Everything works perfectly exept for the limitations mentioned above by you.
I am curious to know if you figured out an easy way to upload in bulk into Immich as against scanning an external library?
Thank you for the information provided by you.

[nothing2obvi]

@anexas Immich CLI

[ai30328348]

I believe that images should be uploaded to a specific album, not put together in a chaotic manner, and an image can have multiple tags, but not in multiple albums. The image view is too simple, and perhaps a file manager that makes it easy to navigate the images is the best choice.