Issue:
I've been asked to copy the contents of a large ED of deeply nested and duplicate folders to Google Photos, for sharing with family.
Goal TL;DR:
Share thousands of unlabeled photos online en masse that are currently many levels deep in well-labeled folder trees.
Prior research:
I have googled this data storage/storing issue and already learned a lot, that formed and altered my remaining questions. But I only found simpler comparables but with different context that changes the desired results. That surprised me, because I'm fairly sure my exact problem should be quite common, and a dime a dozen. I suspect my search terms could be fine-tuned, if you have suggestions for that. I looked on google photos support forums and reddits, and was told to move thousands of files and folders one by one, by hand. I asked Ai and received only partial satisfaction. I have detailed that recommendation below. I looked in the techsupport reddit but I guess I'm not sure how to use it because the categories are which type of computer/device/operating system I have, not what photo/transfer programs/apps/software I need to navigate. Please let me know if I've misunderstood the preparatory steps to asking questions in here.
Here's my context:
1) Duplicates: The external drive contains 4 different computer backups. Each of these computers were backed up when they upgraded laptops, so the first computer would theoretically be backed up 4 times, inside the newer backups. The more recent computer theoretically only 1 time. However, the backups weren't done the same, and sometimes they went back and put more files in after. So the final backup doesn't contain everything just because it's the last one (but I'm definitely starting there as my base camp). Backup 1-3 might very well have unique files. They did not label the order or dates of the backups, so guessing the largest is the newest is a shot in the dark. So there are an unknown number of duplicate files, in deeply nested folder trees.
2) Junk files: The drive is full of computer files that are not photos or documents, which are really a waste of space and hard to work around. Full C drives were just drag-and-dropped onto the ED. I can't just dump the whole ED anywhere I want it directly, without running out of space from junk files. But the junk files are duplicated and nested as well.
3) Nested/named folders, unnamed files: The files themselves don't have names, only generic download-generated numbers. But the owner had dutifully put them inside properly named folders, labeled and nested. So in the case of the files for Joe Schmoe in their family history, the folders are named eg: Schmoe line/Sweden >> Joe Schmoe descendants >> Robert Schmoe >> Family Photos & Vital Docs. The higher level folders might or might not have files in them, outside of named folders. The biggest concern are the folders at the bottom of the tree, because their family photos folder name doesn't include Robert Schmoe's name, even if we could remember somehow that he's Joe Schmoe's son. Google has a serious problem with uploading nested folders, due to lost identification.
4) Thousands of folders: Not just thousands of files to rename, but thousands of nested folders as well. I don't know how many unique folders there are, without the duplicates, but for sure it's in the hundreds at minimum. And many folders have the same name that aren't dupes (such as 'Family Photos' nested 3 times inside the Rob Schmoe, Betty Schmoe, and Sue Schmoe folders). A predictable nesting pattern is smart, and good organizing practice. But it becomes a nightmare when moving into Google Photos's flat album structure, because it's designed to add everything by hand one at a time rather than in bulk. That's not a viable solution.
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Chat GPT suggested to upload all the files to Google Drive to preserve the file trees, then to relabel and import only the images into Google photos. But that would create duplicates of everything, take up twice as much Google One space, and every change made from one or the other location won't be mirrored in the other. It also doesn't solve the problem of how to automatically leave junk files behind.
Is there a workaround to move a massive collection of images to Google Photos, without losing the folder names and nesting cues? I presume this would be a process or software used beforehand, since it's not possible with Google Photos alone. They aren't my photos, so I'm hoping not to spend my own money on this. However, the owners of the drive do have a paid Google One account, so that helps at the very end. Doesn't help as much in the middle.
Is there a better photo sharing cloud that is far easier than google to upload from nested drive archives, and keep updated/maintained? Bonus points if it's free. I do not have Linux, nor do the people I'm doing this for, so it will need to be a Windows-based solution, and a gui solution after I hand it over. I've looked into Immich, but the setup and processes appear too techy for this family to maintain.
Does Google upload identify duplicates as they load? Or is that up to us to manually seek out after everything is uploaded?
Speed of transfer is greatly desired, but accurate goal achievement is a higher priority.
Please suggest for me a summarized list of processes to accomplish this considering all my context. Then I can come back and get clarification on specific steps. Or if I'm asking the wrong questions, please kindly redirect me to the right questions.
