Jp2e

Q: Importing photos to Photos - get Unreadable File error

I'm trying to clean up my Photos library (58,000!!). I exported all the photos through Photos (using Unmodified Original file export process), went through them manually, and am now trying to import them in batches to 3 new Photos library - so each library will be smaller and more manageable. However, when I was importing the first batch of 5,000 or so, 2,318 said they were:

 

Unreadable Files - The following files could not be imported (they may be an unrecognized file type or the files may not contain valid data).

Next to each file its says the same thing - Unable to get Metadata

 

I tried shutting down Photos and the computer and restarting and that time I was able to import all but 1,700. But I still have over 40,000 to go in total and this is going to take me weeks if I have to keep shutting down and going through the steps again to get all the photos into the Photos Libraries I'm trying to create (assuming that even works!).

 

These files were all originally in Photos, taken on a variety of devices, some are movies, screenshots etc. Any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?

 

I'm on a 2011 iMac, running 10.11.6

Imac, iPad, iPod touch, iOS 4

Posted on Sep 7, 2016 3:09 AM

Close

Q: Importing photos to Photos - get Unreadable File error

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 7, 2016 3:22 AM in response to Jp2e
    Level 10 (105,575 points)
    iLife
    Sep 7, 2016 3:22 AM in response to Jp2e

    I exported all the photos through Photos (using Unmodified Original file export process), went through them manually, and am now trying to import them in batches to 3 new Photos library

    Did you export the photos to an external drive? The error message you are seeing may appear, if your photos are on an external drive with an unsupported file system.  If that should be the case, copy the photos to a folder on your Desktop and import them from there.

     

     

    To split your Photos Library into three separate libraries it might be easier to duplicate it three times and to delete two thirds of the photos in each copy. This way you will save your edits and the metadata you added, and your albums and projects.

  • by Jp2e,

    Jp2e Jp2e Sep 7, 2016 4:38 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 7, 2016 4:38 AM in response to léonie

    They were in a folder on my desktop - not on an external drive.

    It took me 3 days to go through all 58,000 and delete the ones I don't want - I just can't do that 3 times! Plus, when I try and delete them in Photos it takes so long as my library is so huge Photos is incredibly slow (which is why I'm trying to make the libraries smaller in the hope that will speed things up.)

    I would like to keep the albums, and that does seem the only way to do it, but I don't have that many albums so I've resigned myself to having to start from scratch.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 7, 2016 6:07 AM in response to Jp2e
    Level 10 (84,140 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 7, 2016 6:07 AM in response to Jp2e

    Actually smaller libraries usually are much less manageable and very prone to user error

     

    Generally one large library is far better than several smaller libraries - it is very common for people after separating libraries to then have to spend more time recombining them to make them manageable again - usually there are no advantages of making smaller libraries and many disadvantages

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 7, 2016 6:27 AM in response to Jp2e
    Level 10 (105,575 points)
    iLife
    Sep 7, 2016 6:27 AM in response to Jp2e
    Plus, when I try and delete them in Photos it takes so long as my library is so huge Photos is incredibly slow (which is why I'm trying to make the libraries smaller in the hope that will speed things up.)

    The library size does not make Photos slow, unless you are running out of storage on your system drive.  Do you have at least 10GB of working space left on your internal drive? Better 20GB?

     

    My Photos Library has roughly 250GB and Photos is very responsive.

    Have you already tried to repair the Photos Library?  See:  Repair your library - Photos Help

  • by Jp2e,

    Jp2e Jp2e Sep 7, 2016 6:29 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 7, 2016 6:29 AM in response to LarryHN

    Really? I'd never heard that before. Why would a smaller library be less manageable than a larger one?

    I'm doing this because I've been advised to separate my library by two different Geniuses at Apple stores, my Photos app is virtually unusable right now - it takes so long to load and move around in it - there are over 58,000 photos in it! - they said this was the best way to fix it....

  • by Jp2e,

    Jp2e Jp2e Sep 7, 2016 6:34 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 7, 2016 6:34 AM in response to léonie

    I have a 2TB hard drive and have 500GB left on it... My library is 204GB. I'll try repairing it... I did that a while ago, but sounds like it would be worth trying again!

    In general my computer runs fine, other than Photos, which is excruciatingly slow, the only other troublesome apps are Microsoft ones. But do you think rebuilding the Mac and installing a fresh version of Yosemite would help? I'd been considering doing that .... last time I did was over a year ago.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 7, 2016 6:39 AM in response to Jp2e
    Level 10 (84,140 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 7, 2016 6:39 AM in response to Jp2e

    why - because Murphy determines that no matter what you want to do you will need a different library to do it - and sometimes all of your "smaller" libraries

     

    For example if you separate your libraries into years and want all photos of your wife then you have to look in all libraries, if you want a photo  of her on yoru trip to France you have to figure out what year that trip was and you probably will have to open two or more libraries so find it - etc, etc, etc - no matter how you seperate the libraries it will be a problem

     

    and ten add to that the problem of forgetting to switch libraries prior to importing new photos and teh fact that ony one library can be used with iCloud Photo Library and you ahve a mess

     

    and as to Geniuses - beware - they often are the exact inverse of a genius - I have one Photos library of about 80,000 and it works just fine - it does take a bit (but not much) longer to load than a smaller library but it works fine

     

    seldom is library size the cause of anything - in fact I'm not sure it every has been

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 7, 2016 6:40 AM in response to Jp2e
    Level 10 (105,575 points)
    iLife
    Sep 7, 2016 6:40 AM in response to Jp2e
    Why would a smaller library be less manageable than a larger one?

    A small library is manageable, but  if you split your library you are losing some of the power of a library holding all your photos. Photos cannot search across all your libraries. You will continually have to switch between the libraries.

    And you cannot use photos in the same projects that are in different libraries. You will have to move all photos you need in a project to the same library. And that is the moment when you might make errors and end up with duplicates or missing photos.  It is so much more convenient to have all photos in one library. I combined all iPhoto Libraries into one library, while I still had Aperture, that can merge libraries.

    Apple did not publish a limit for the library size, but since Photos is supposed to be able to read and migrate  Aperture Libraries and iPhoto Libraries, it is clear that it can deal with 1000000 photos at least. That is the known limit for Aperture Libraries.