RTC133
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Photos library will not open from external hard drive

Hello,

I just transferred my Photos Library onto an external hard drive. When I try to open Photos Library from the external hard drive, I get a message saying that my library could not be opened. I've used this hard drive for my iPhotos Library and never had a problem, so I'm not sure why it's unable to open my Photos Library.

Thanks

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Sep 11, 2015 2:54 PM

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RTC133

Q: Photos library will not open from external hard drive

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  • by lescornwell,

    lescornwell lescornwell Sep 11, 2015 3:43 PM in response to RTC133
    Level 3 (502 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 11, 2015 3:43 PM in response to RTC133

    Could you tell us how this ext HD is formatted (should be Mac extended, journaled) and how it is connected with your Mac (cannot be a network drive or NAS, but hard-wired such as USB, firewire, Thunderbolt...)

  • by RTC133,

    RTC133 RTC133 Sep 11, 2015 4:24 PM in response to lescornwell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 11, 2015 4:24 PM in response to lescornwell

    Thanks for your reply. It's a Toshiba Canvio Connect 2TB, connected by USB. I'm not very computer literate but it says "The drive comes with a NTFS driver for Mac allowing you to store and access files from the PC and Mac® without reformatting." There's more information on this website:

    http://www.toshiba.com/us/accessories/Storage/Canvio-Connect-Portable-Hard-Drive /2TB/HDTC720XK3C1

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 11, 2015 5:12 PM in response to RTC133
    Level 10 (84,632 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 11, 2015 5:12 PM in response to RTC133

    That is the reason - the Photos library can only be on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) - this format can not be used by a PC without special software on the

     

    You either need to get another drive properly formatted or use Disk Utility to erase and reformat this drive for photos to use

     

    LN

  • by lescornwell,

    lescornwell lescornwell Sep 12, 2015 1:10 AM in response to RTC133
    Level 3 (502 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 12, 2015 1:10 AM in response to RTC133

    May I congratulate you for the detailed information that you gave when I asked.

    So my suspicion was justified. As Larry says: wrong formatting to store your Photos library.

  • by RTC133,

    RTC133 RTC133 Sep 12, 2015 5:20 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 12, 2015 5:20 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks for your reply, Larry. I'm still a bit confused though because the product description seems to indicate that I can store Mac info without reformatting, so I thought that meant it was journaled. I'm also confused because I never had this problem with iPhoto, and I used the exact same hard drive.

    If I do need to get a new hard drive, how can I be sure it's journaled?

    Thanks.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 12, 2015 7:06 AM in response to RTC133
    Level 10 (84,632 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 12, 2015 7:06 AM in response to RTC133

    Obviously the only reason you need

     

    a NTFS driver for Mac

    is that the drive is formatted NTFS  --  you can verify this be right clicking on the drive in the finder snap getting info - the format is there

     

    as to why Toshiba gave you incorrect information you would have to ask them  --  it is true that both Macs and PCs can read NTFS drives as long as the Mac has the special NTFS drivers it is also true that the Photos library can not be stored on an NTFS drive - it must be only on a drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) as you have found.

     

    You do not have to get a new drive - you can reformat that drive

    You either need to get another drive properly formatted or use Disk Utility to erase and reformat this drive for photos to use

    You can purchase correctly formatted drives - Other World Computing and Apple sell them as do others I'm sure - those are the only dow drives I use - and you can reformat any local drive using Disk Utility

     

    and if space on your Mac is an issue another option is to use iCloud Photo library with optimized photos on your Mac

     

    LN