Level 1

78 points

Very slow first iPhone and iPad photo sync over usb-a with Catalina

I updated to Catalina last night on my iMac. Today I've tried synching my iPhone Xr and my iPad Pro via USB/Finder (separately) to my iMac and the synch is very very slow. The iPhone never finished after a few hours and I'm trying my iPad now but I don't see any progress in the changes I had made to the photos (I deleted some before I synched, but the deleted ones still show on my iPad). I do have several thousand photos. Is the Photo Cache being rebuilt or something? Should I delete that and start again? Should I sync one photo folder at a time to start with? Is there anything else I should try? Previously I had posted issues with the latest iTunes in this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250270137

and solved that by using an older version of iTunes. I would hate to think that Catalina will be as problematic as iTunes for synching photos was before. Any help/advice would be appreciated, thank you.

iPhone XR

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 12:14 PM

Top-ranking reply

George_S3

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Oct 21, 2019 7:03 PM

I finally got (most of) my photos loaded... I split them into folders of 500 photos or less and processed them one at a time: I left a small (10 images) folder always on, and I'd add a new 2nd folder and let to process (by leaving most folders off, it processed in "only" 10 minutes). If they loaded okay, I backed up iPod Photo Cache to another folder. If most loaded okay and only a few were black, I moved them to a bad images folder that I don't sync. I then unchecked the new folder (leaving just the sample one) and synced again (this would just take a few seconds to send the delete command to the iPad). If the photos did NOT load okay (lots of black images), I deleted iPod Photo cache and copied the last good backup back into the main images folder. I then rebooted the Mac and iPad (rebooting the MBP is required to get images working for a while again, I don't know about the iPad).

Once I got to my iPhone X photos (.HEIC files instead of .JPG files), I never had any black images. I could have possibly processed them all at once, but I stayed to the previous method (folders of about 500 images each). Once all the photos were processed, I checked sync All folders, which took about 3 tries to get them all copied over.

(All that being said, I haven't dared sync another device with a different screen resolution and start all over again. But also, this time I remembered to back up iPad Photo Cache. (Hint: Time Machine does not back it up.).)

View in context

Similar questions

176 replies

EIET

Level 1

4 points

Apr 5, 2020 10:32 AM in response to Squiddz

When you say sync, sync, and sync, did you make any changes after every sync, or did you keep pressing sync after every sync and things would just get fixed by themselves?

EIET

Level 1

4 points

Apr 5, 2020 11:00 AM in response to Squiddz

Thanks for clarifying

Apr 5, 2020 11:12 AM in response to EIET

Not me. It didn't work straight off. I really did just sync over and over again until it got the hang of it. Now I only sync when I want to make a minor change and it seems to work. Steve

briccojc

Level 1

24 points

Apr 15, 2020 7:28 AM in response to W Stephen Wilson

In the meantime, I am struggling with the problem of multiple duplicates that are transferred to my iOS devices with every sync. As in the past 15 months, the sync is not running properly.

briccojc

Level 1

24 points

Apr 15, 2020 7:33 AM in response to Squiddz

Naturally. This workaround has saved me over the past few months. I will probably have to continue using this until Apple finally resolves the issue properly.

briccojc

Level 1

24 points

Apr 17, 2020 6:06 AM in response to Squiddz

Hi Squiddz,

are your photo files actually on the internal drive of the Mac or on an external hard drive or SSD?

Squiddz Author

Level 1

78 points

Apr 17, 2020 7:05 AM in response to briccojc

briccojc

Hi -they are all stored on my Mac's internal drive.

briccojc

Level 1

24 points

Apr 17, 2020 7:11 AM in response to Squiddz

I suspect my problem is the external SSD on which my photo files are located.

Squiddz Author

Level 1

78 points

Apr 21, 2020 7:21 AM in response to briccojc

briccojc

Oh what a bummer! I'm really sorry. It's a mystery to me how the last updates fixed things for me but not for others!!!! Frustrating.

Squiddz Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 8, 2019 3:51 PM in response to Squiddz

Oh I see - and this is just my experience - when I was in the app and clicked on "sync settings" it opened a Finder window - which is not the Music app. I believe that is what you are showing in your screenshot as well, you have the app in the background and Finder in the foreground. (this is my opinion).

Nevertheless, I started using Finder this morning to sync and it certainly isn't working properly for me. Photos are not synching as I mentioned above.

Hopefully this discussion will help someone, thanks!

Squiddz Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 8, 2019 5:28 PM in response to Old Toad

Just so I'm clear, are you asking about the Photos app? I have never used the app, and have been able to sync to all my i-devices from my Mac for several years (pre-Catalina). I have my photos in a folder called "Pictures" and then have several folders within that main folder. I've always just used "sync all photos" as the screenshot shows.

Oct 8, 2019 6:01 PM in response to Squiddz

Wanted to also get on this thread so I'll hear what happens. I too "upgraded" to Catalina today in hopes that it will fix my problem with syncing. I was hoping that we could sync audiobooks and photos independently, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I haven't tried syncing yet though because Catalina broke so many other things that I've been busy patching things up. I would expect the first sync to take a long time, but after that, it should be quick, like it was for years. Since iTunes photos sync has been broken for 6 months or more, I doubt they fixed it here. I'll give it a try tonight while I"m asleep not using my phone. Do you have a case number with apple already? If not, will you push it with them? My guy tried really hard but left and then I was told it was supposed to take hours. A better rep and or engineer might get you somewhere. Steve

Squiddz Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 8, 2019 6:09 PM in response to W Stephen Wilson

Hi & thanks for posting. I was able to solve the previous iTunes sync problem by installing an earlier version of iTunes. I was enjoying fast and accurate syncs for all my photos after that (until yesterday when I installed Catalina).

I have not filed a report with Apple yet. Will do so tomorrow morning. I want to see what the replies are overnight before I file it.

Squiddz Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 8, 2019 6:45 PM in response to LightYear12

So, this tells me that it apparently doesn't matter if the Photos app is being used - the issue is similar. Now, to find out what the solution is/solutions are - come on Apple!

Thanks for posting, Lightyear12.

Oct 9, 2019 5:02 PM in response to JPEWBDEN

Well, just discovered that "upgrading" to Catalina deauthorized my computer for audible books. The consequence of this is that the 5+ hours of syncing done last night took all my audible.com books off my iPhone. Since that is actually the main use of the iPhone, I am not happy. I have supposedly reauthorized the computer, and, with luck, when I sync tonight, the books will come back on. Probably won't remember where I was in them though.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Very slow first iPhone and iPad photo sync over usb-a with Catalina