Consolidating all photo collections across drives into a single clean archive.
Principle
Do not touch Immich — it manages its own library at /mnt/hd/immich/ (40K photos, Dec 2024 – Jan 2025). All other photos get consolidated into one archive.
Delete SmartDrive copy — recovery .img is source of truth
D — temp_transfer + misc
#2, #6, #8, #9, #10
Merge into archive — these are unique
Proposed Archive Structure
Target Location: .13 — /mnt/data/archive/photos/
This is on the always-on NTFS drive (accessible to network, has 416G free).
/mnt/data/archive/photos/
│
├── by_date/ ← The master date-organized collection
│ ├── 1990/
│ │ └── 01-Jan/
│ ├── 2003/
│ ├── 2004/
│ ├── ... (years 2005–2023)
│ ├── 2023/
│ │ ├── 02-Feb/
│ │ ├── 03-Mar/
│ │ ├── 04-Apr/
│ │ └── 05-May/
│ └── 2024/ ← From temp_transfer (sorted into months)
│ ├── 03-Mar/ → footy_round_5_2024, etc.
│ ├── 04-Apr/ → fin round 7, etc.
│ └── ...
│
├── by_subject/ ← Topic-based albums (no clear dates)
│ ├── baby_harry/
│ ├── wedding/
│ ├── grandma_funeral/
│ ├── bruges/
│ ├── byron_bay/
│ ├── footy/ ← All footy games combined
│ ├── dad_80th/
│ └── ... (others from PICTURES_GROUPED_SUBJECT_OLD)
│
└── phone_dumps/ ← Raw phone exports (keep original names)
└── pixel_6_pro_2023/
├── 2023-05/
└── 2023-06/
Explanation
Folder
Source
Rationale
by_date/
sorted_pictures_holder/ + temp_transfer/ (sorted into dates)
Primary — date-organized is the most useful for finding photos. temp_transfer events will be sorted into year/month folders
by_subject/
PICTURES_GROUPED_SUBJECT_OLD/
Secondary — some photos make more sense grouped by event (weddings, funerals, trips)
phone_dumps/
Photos-001 (1-4)/
Raw exports — useful to keep original PXL_ filenames for reference
Consolidation Steps
Step 1 — Delete Obvious Duplicates
# These are identical to PICTURES_GROUPED_SUBJECT_OLD on .13:# Delete from .27 Back Up drive after confirming .13 copy exists# /mnt/backup/old_photos_backup/pictures/ ← DELETE SAFELY# These are already extracted and match recovery .img:# Delete SmartDrive integral300_backup_20260305/ ← DELETE SAFELY
Step 2 — Build the Archive (on .13)
# Create archive structure
mkdir -p /mnt/data/archive/photos/{by_date,by_subject,phone_dumps}# A) Copy sorted_pictures_holder as the foundation of by_date/
cp -a /mnt/data/ALL_TRANFERS/Pictures/sorted_pictures_holder/ \
/mnt/data/archive/photos/by_date/
# B) Copy subject-organized albums into by_subject/
cp -a /mnt/data/ALL_TRANFERS/Pictures/PICTURES_GROUPED_SUBJECT_OLD/* \
/mnt/data/archive/photos/by_subject/
# C) Copy phone dumps
cp -a "/mnt/data/ALL_TRANFERS/Pictures/Photos-001 (1)/"\
/mnt/data/archive/photos/phone_dumps/2023-05/
cp -a "/mnt/data/ALL_TRANFERS/Pictures/Photos-001 (2)/"\
/mnt/data/archive/photos/phone_dumps/2023-05/
# ... etc# D) Copy temp_transfer events — needs manual sorting into by_date/2024/
cp -a /mnt/data/ALL_TRANFERS/Pictures/temp_transfer/ \
/mnt/data/archive/photos/temp_transfer_to_sort/
Step 3 — Sort temp_transfer into by_date/2024/
The folder needs manual review. Photos can be filed into:
by_date/2024/
├── 03-Mar/ ← footy_round_5_2024, fin round 7
├── 04-Apr/ ← fin round 8, harry round 8
├── 05-May/ ← harry round 9
├── 06-Jun/ ← whatever dates are in there
└── ...
Each file has timestamps — use exiftool or file timestamps to determine the right month.
Step 4 — Verify & Clean Up
Run du -sh on the archive to confirm all photos arrived
Spot-check a few folders with ls
Delete source directories from ALL_TRANFERS only after confirmed
Unmount recovery .img + delete SmartDrive copy
Additional Photo Sources to Check
Source
Where
Action
.35 My Passport /mnt/hd/data/
.35
Check if any photos exist in the data folder
Immich database
.35
Already managed — leave alone
Integral300 recovery .img
.27 /mnt/tempbackup/
Data is in the archive already — keep for now?
Obsidian attachments
.27 ~/obsidian/
These are notes, not photos — keep in vault
What to Keep vs Delete After Consolidation
Item
Keep?
Reason
sorted_pictures_holder/ on .13
🗑️ Delete
Moved to archive
PICTURES_GROUPED_SUBJECT_OLD/ on .13
🗑️ Delete
Moved to archive
temp_transfer/ on .13
🗑️ Delete
Moved to archive
Photos-001 (1-4)/ on .13
🗑️ Delete
Moved to archive
old_photos_backup on .27 Back Up
🗑️ Delete
Duplicate of PICTURES_GROUPED_SUBJECT_OLD
SmartDrive integral300_backup
🗑️ Delete
Already in archive + recovery .img
Recovery .img (298G)
❓ Keep for now
Matches archive + extracted backup
Immich
✅ Keep
Live service, managed separately
sam rolfe/previous years/ on .13
❓ Check first
Mixed content (photos + documents)
grandas_wake/ on .13
❓ Check first
Only 7 photos — may overlap
.27 Back Up drive (the disk itself)
❓ Repurpose
Once photos are archived, 224G freed
Discarded Approaches
Merging into Immich: Immich handles ingestion well, but it's running on .35 and the archive target is .13. Better to keep a simple filesystem-based archive.
Deleting all duplicates immediately: Too risky. Only delete after confirming the archive copy is intact.
Keeping everything on .27: The NVMe drive is fast but limited (490G free). .13 has more space (416G free on Data, 2.6T on ubuntu_storage_3TB) and is always-on.
