I am trying to download my images from Google Photos and I need help!

[JwSam]

I love to take photos and I have 100 Gig of zip data files I downloaded from Google Photos, and I desperately want to download and view the photos on a backup drive. I have a Surface Pro 6 so I need to use an external hard drive for the space. I downloaded the files, using Takeout, but the files are in *jpg and *.json formats. So, I downloaded exiftool and installed and ran the program, but the CMD window shows it is working, unpacking the files, but it just disappears without any useful data. 

 

I have also tried shift clicking multiple photos but apparently, I am not doing it right.

 

Help?

[computerwiz]

Is it a single ZIP file that is 100 Gigs large?  Because that's absolutely massive!!!  O_o

 

You'll probably have to download your photos in much smaller chunks, like 1 GB zip files....

[JwSam]

15 hours ago, computerwiz said:

Is it a single ZIP file that is 100 Gigs large?  

Thanks for the reply cw. No, Google Takeout separates the massive content into 45, 2 Gig zip files. I have the files downloaded, my problem is that the meta data and the images are separated into *.json and *.jpeg files, for whatever reason. I am trying to find out how to join the 2 back together onto a hard drive. I have tried exiftool but I can't quite seem to get the hang of it, and it's been awhile since I worked in DOS, I'm weak in DOS command lines. I'd like to knnow I have those photos and files before Google Archive goes offline. 

[computerwiz]

On 7/4/2023 at 5:17 AM, JwSam said:

Thanks for the reply cw. No, Google Takeout separates the massive content into 45, 2 Gig zip files. I have the files downloaded, my problem is that the meta data and the images are separated into *.json and *.jpeg files, for whatever reason. I am trying to find out how to join the 2 back together onto a hard drive. I have tried exiftool but I can't quite seem to get the hang of it, and it's been awhile since I worked in DOS, I'm weak in DOS command lines. I'd like to knnow I have those photos and files before Google Archive goes offline. 

 

I have to get my own photos too, it's just a bunch I'm not super worried about, so I haven't bothered with it yet.

 

I'll try tomorrow when I'm back in town and see what it looks like for me.  If you don't hear from me by Friday, gimme a nudge... 

[computerwiz]

On 7/4/2023 at 5:17 AM, JwSam said:

Thanks for the reply cw. No, Google Takeout separates the massive content into 45, 2 Gig zip files. I have the files downloaded, my problem is that the meta data and the images are separated into *.json and *.jpeg files, for whatever reason. I am trying to find out how to join the 2 back together onto a hard drive. I have tried exiftool but I can't quite seem to get the hang of it, and it's been awhile since I worked in DOS, I'm weak in DOS command lines. I'd like to knnow I have those photos and files before Google Archive goes offline. 

 

Just an update, I have my export running.  It's been a few DAYS but it's still running....

[computerwiz]

On 7/4/2023 at 5:17 AM, JwSam said:

Thanks for the reply cw. No, Google Takeout separates the massive content into 45, 2 Gig zip files. I have the files downloaded, my problem is that the meta data and the images are separated into *.json and *.jpeg files, for whatever reason. I am trying to find out how to join the 2 back together onto a hard drive. I have tried exiftool but I can't quite seem to get the hang of it, and it's been awhile since I worked in DOS, I'm weak in DOS command lines. I'd like to knnow I have those photos and files before Google Archive goes offline. 

 

Ok, I finally got the export for me to look at.  Looks like the ".json" files are just information about the pictures.  You do not need these files at all.  You can safely just delete them.

 

This is what one looks like:

 

[JwSam]

Thank you for looking into this Jeremy, I'm glad you have your images. You are correct, the data is not needed. I use the dates to remember the event. Because I have decades of images on G.P., I would like to find a way to preserve that data. 

 

To that end I purchased a program called Metadata Fixer, that claimed to put the .jpg.json. and *.jpg files together, did not work with my setup. The demo version worked great, but the full version came up short. MDF needs 45GB to run and the Files were 95GB zipped. It would unzip 11 files at first, then up to 15 or 16, but never all of them. They could not provide technical support, so I am back to square 1. 

 

I have a Surface Pro 6 with a My Book 4 TB external HD with USB A cable.

[JwSam]

So.., a few work arounds from rooting around on the web. One is to select about 500 images and then download, GP will zip these. Unzip to favorite media and viola, .jpg with all the data. Two, for albums, go into the album, to the three little dots, choose Download to your favorite media. All the images in that album will extract without being separated.   

Edited July 13, 2023 by JwSam

[JwSam]

I was able to download ALL of my thousands of photos. It took days. In Windows 10 on a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist, I went to Google photos website, started at the most recent, clicked or tapped the checkmark in the upper right corner of the first picture I wanted and then used the page down key to navigate to approximately 500 images. There is a counter on the top left of the webpage. When I got to 500, I held down the Shift key and clicked or tapped the checkmark of image 500. Then I went to the 3 dots in the upper right corner and chose "Download". The images were downloaded. I extracted the images to the ThinkPad and then copied them to a folder on an external hard drive, always have more than 1 backup. 

Success! 

In order to keep track of where I stopped, I would end on a day, then write down the day so I could go back to where I left off. Once, I could not remember if I downloaded a year's worth of photos because I had deleted the zip file. I had to download the images again and then apply them to the folders. I was half right, lol. I suggest not deleting the zip files if you have the room. They protect the images and are easier to move than the files. 

[JwSam]

A couple of hints. 1. Don't go too quickly using the Page Down key. Go at a pace of about a second per tap. Although it had not happened to me, I had read it will not select multiple images. 2. The "counter" will not show the number of images as the Page Down key is pressed. I had to guess at how many images I was passing and then shift/select the image I though was closest to the 500 mark. When I went over, I calculated the difference and used the Page Up key or scrolled up and shift/selected the image that was 500 or so. 

[JwSam]

4 minutes ago, JwSam said:

clicked or tapped the checkmark in the upper right corner of the first picture

in the upper LEFT corner...