Catalina Photos Problems

Adding that I also keep my Photos library on an external drive, which seems to be a common thread here.

I've noticed that the file size of my Photos library in the Finder is woefully incorrect. I have over 400 GB of photos and Finder shows it as 4 GB. I know it's not a standard "file" but a "package," but I'm pretty sure the file size of the package in the Finder was correct under Mojave.

I have made several posts here regarding the problems I had with Photos in Catalina when I first installed this new OS on my MacBook Pro. I had waited until all my major apps were Catalina-ready before making the change but still I experienced horrendous problems so was reluctant to install Catalina on my iMac (late 2013). However, not installing Catalina on my iMac led to all sorts of other difficulties particularly not being able to work between the two machines. I undertook more research and in the end I installed CleanMyMac X and Gemini 2 on my iMac, ran them a couple of times then installed Catalina. Sine when no problems at all. Everything works exactly as it should. I purchased a two-machine license, so ran these two new apps on my laptop, too, and that machine also now works without a hitch. Nonetheless, this awful experience has propelled me to make a back-up copy of my entire photo catalogue (55 thousand images) for use in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and will maintain both the Photos version and the Adobe version. I don't view this as extra work but as a task I should have done some time ago as good housekeeping practice.

I deleted Adobe Flash and Java (Java actually suggested that as it had not been used for six months).

I went methodically through all the apps on the Hard Disk and clicked on each one to view available Updates. I did the same plod through the System Preferences.

I opened KeychainAccess and deleted all the saved passwords that were out-of-date; if you have two identical items in the list with different dates, bin the earlier one.

In both my Browsers, Safari and Chrome, I went over the Preferences updating where necessary.

In my Bookmarks, I got rid of old ones and created new ones if I was really still interested.

In the Dock, I removed each item in turn and created a new Alias.

A lot of these actions were probably more guided by superstition than knowledge but I reckon I got rid of dead wood which might or might not have been the problem.

I too have problems since I've moved to Catalina (a late night, whisky infused really bad decision). I resolve the frozen edits by just quoting and restarting Photos

BTW There is absolutely no way an anaconda installation can cause the problems you have reported. Catalina is, unfortunately riddled with bugs. Even if Phots and the print driver were written in python the Anaconda installation is always local and will never clash with the OS default python.

Don't let Apple fob you off with any tales about Python.

I took the nuclear approach: wiped my hard drive and started with a clean install. Then I created a brand new Photos library and restored over 60K of photos using iCloud Photos. It took over a week for it to download all the originals. I still ran into problems with Photos, which leads me to believe it's shoddy coding with Photos 5 and Catalina and not an existing problem that carried over.

Advanced users who have third-party software might have more problems than I do. Users need to check whether a programme is 32 Bit (whatever that means) as it might not work properly with Catalina. Also, I know a lot of graphic designers have used ripped-off copies of Photoshop etc. Problems might be due to such products being easier to detect retro-actively.

I am happy now with Photos; I wish I could explain what has changed.

countless troubleshooting posts on this forum has conclusively shown Clean My Mac is a problematic disaster that conflicts with macOS's ability to maintain itself correctly.

32 software is compiled to run on 32 bit CPU's. As 64 bit CPU's became mainstream it allowed software to utilize system resources better, or in the case of System RAM it could use far more. 32 bit software must be recompiled by the developer unless it is open source to run in 64 bit environments.

Really? Wow! I've never seen anything about it. I was looking around for a solution to my problems with Catalina and came across an article - can't remember where, but I know it was a Mac-oriented publication, not an advertorial - and and was taken by what I read. I have to say that it cleaned up both my iMac and my MacBook Pro and I've not had a single problem with Catalina ever since. The version of Clean My Mac X that I have bought is the version that is Catalina-ready. Maybe this made a difference? But in any case, from the experience I've had, Clean My Mac has really sorted out the problems I was experiencing with Catalina and Photos etc.

I have used apple for the last 15 years. Since the last two updates, I have lost all my files in the cloud and now I can't use photos. Lightroom is a nightmare and so is Final Cut. I have to use external drives because of the volume of work I do. I think it is a third party, external thing that needs to be addressed by Apple. I have had to switch to pc's to finish my work...this is the final blow for me.

During the installation of Catalina we were asked if we wanted to activate iCloud Drive and what we wanted to include in it, i.e. Desktop and Documents folders, etc. Unless one was paying attention it was easy to accept both and end up with documents in iCloud. 

I have the same problem my 1.27TB photo library has 80,000 images - it shows on my external drive as 3.9gb and never increases in size. however if I right click and open package contents then I right click on originals and select get info I can see the originals has a size of 1.27TB - Catalina is not reporting the sizes correctly to the main package container.

All my originals are downloaded and all are available for editing. so in most respects the library is intact and working but........

It is very slow to open several minutes

It always show size as 3.9gb

it always shows original modified date

the library when viewed in finder always shows its file extension even though finder is set to hide extensions.

I just spent 3 hours on a screen share with ever increasing levels at apple support. Got high up in Photos and Meia support - no other ideas and no solution. She did suggest I open a support call with Catalina support about finder and other than that suggested I create a new library and re-download 1.2tb from the iCloud again. I am reluctant to do that because I don't think it will make any difference having just spent 7 days creating this library.

I have 80,000 photos it takes an age to scan peoples faces it only scans when photos is not open.

start your Mac,

open photos

close photos

leave it alone for several days for a large library.

I have just been through this after taking 6 days to download my 1.2tb originals to my MacBook Pro external drive.

the routines that analyse photos run in the background once they are started and don't run if you are using your photos app.

I have just spent a couple of screen sharing sessions with Apple Support trying to sort out this mess. After initial discussions we then restored the Photos Library and also put the PC into Recovery Mode to reinstall Catalina. Photos is much more responsive and whilst quicker it is still clunky and not as fast as Mojave. I was assured that Apple are aware of this issue and are trying to fix it - we shall see.

I just let photos take its time to load all the photos I have, cleared my cache, removed 16 software, re indexed the hard drive and then took it to get a SSD and doubled the ram to 16gb. Works fine. I have about 20,000 photos and it just took a long time for photos to go thru all of them.

is that an external SSD or upgraded internal.

i have 80000 photos and it does take a long time. But it runs even slower on an external drive - my 2018 MacBook Pro takes 10 times longer to load the library than my 2011 Mac mini also reading from an external drive. Both drives have all the originals on them. Catalina photos is the issue every time. I just spent hours on to high level Catalina photo support team being passed higher and higher with no resolution.