NickyBM
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Photos cannot find library (library is not known)

Beim Öffnen kamen bei mir immer Hinweise, dass die Mediathek repariert werden müsste, danach ließ sie sich auch öffnen. Plötzlich erscheint jedoch die Meldung, dass die Mediathek nicht erkannt wird. Ich habe keine Ahnung warum, denn ich habe Fotos ganz normal geöffnet wie immer.

 

Vorgeschichte: Die Mediathek liegt extern auf einer NAS, da wir so die Benutzerprobleme umgehen wollten. Als die Mediathek noch auf dem MAC (Yosemite) lag, konnte nur ein bestimmter Benutzer die Mediathek öffnen, andere Benutzer bekamen keinen Zugriff. Mit dem Umzug auf die NAS kam zwar immer die Meldung, dass etwas repariert werden müsste, aber sie ließ sich zumindest öffnen.

________________________________________________________________________________ _________

 

When I've tried to open the actual library several times the note appeared that I should repair the library. Today Photos could not open the actual library (Library is not known/is not recognized). There does not appear any possibility to repair the library or to get an number of the error message. I have no idea why, because I have pictures normally open as usual. How can I safe my library or open it again? The library file is on an NAS.

 

Background: The library is located externally on a NAS, because we so wanted to bypass the user problems. When the library was still on the MAC (Yosemite), only a specific user was able to open the library, other users could not get any access. Although there occurs the message that something needs to be repaired, but it could be opened at least.

iMac, null

Posted on Jun 9, 2015 3:46 AM

Close
NickyBM

Q: Photos cannot find library (library is not known)

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Jun 9, 2015 4:57 AM in response to NickyBM
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Jun 9, 2015 4:57 AM in response to NickyBM

    Apple does not explicitly support storing a Photos Library on a NAS, so this is almost certainly the cause of your problem, particularly if you are trying to allow access to it from multiple user accounts. Photos is not designed to support multi-user access to a Photos Library regardless of where it is stored -- iCloud Photo Sharing is intended for that purpose, using a creator/subscriber model to prevent access conflicts & provide reliable security/privacy support.

     

    If you can access the photos stored on the NAS by some other means, I suggest importing them into a new Photos Library stored on your startup drive or another conventional one of adequate size, making sure the format of that drive is MAC OS X Extended (Journaled).

  • by NickyBM,

    NickyBM NickyBM Jun 9, 2015 5:22 AM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 9, 2015 5:22 AM in response to R C-R

    Thank you for your quick response! I will try to import them into a new Library which is located on our start up drive.

     

    But then there will be again the trouble with different users (this was our first solution, which I tried to describe at "background". My husband has it's account and of course I have another user account on our iMac (It it helpful because of different mail accounts or calendars). Why is it not possible for me to open the library to import photos from my account (photos was not open at his account!). From my husbands account it was possible to import. We defined that his and my user account could read and write at the properties of the library.

  • by R C-R,Helpful

    R C-R R C-R Jun 9, 2015 6:15 AM in response to NickyBM
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Jun 9, 2015 6:15 AM in response to NickyBM

    Like most other modern operating systems & essentially all UNIX-like ones, OS X is designed to prevent easy access to one user account's data from another user account. This is done for privacy & security considerations, but it does make it difficult to share data when that is desired.

     

    Apple has created various workarounds & solutions for this over the years, including File Sharing, Family Sharing, the user "Public" folder, & the top level Users/Shared folder, but changing the access privileges for the regular folders in a user's home folder or of items in it via Finder's "Get Info" or with Terminal commands has always been problematic, particularly when it involves items (like user library packages) that are not specifically designed for multi-user access.

     

    One reason for this is these packages contain much more than just photos & videos. Among other things, they include user preferences & a variety of interrelated database files, all designed with the assumption that a single user will be using them.

     

    Without going into a lot of technical details (many of which I myself do not understand very well) that is the best answer I can give you for your "why" question.

  • by NickyBM,

    NickyBM NickyBM Jun 9, 2015 6:26 AM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 9, 2015 6:26 AM in response to R C-R

    Thank you very much for your explaining. This will not solve my problem, but it helps me to understand it much more better. 

     

    We first saved the library at the folder "for all users", but it didn't work. I hope Apple or somebody else will find a solution for "families". Fotostream is not a solution, because it cannot show all photos we made in the last years. 

     

    By the way: I can open all other (older) libraries from our NAS, but not the actual one. I will give you a feedback, if your first suggestion (saving it at the start up drive and importing all photos in a new library) will help.