Photos unable to open library after Catalina update (error 4302)

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Level 1

17 points

Photos unable to open library after Catalina update (error 4302)

Hi there,

Yesterday I updated OSX to Catalina and since then I am unable to open my photos library, facing the error 4302 as shown in the first attached picture.

When I tried to open Photos the first time after the update it was not recognizing any library at all, so I tried opening the library by double clicking on it. Then I was shown the "Updating library" screen. It started normally, 2%, 3% after a couple of seconds it jumps to 68% and then, inmediately, shows the error as in the first picture.

I tried several times. Nothing. I tried loading in safe mode. Nothing. I also tried by the repair tool, but I end up in a similar issue with the same error code, second picture.

Any suggestion?

--------------------

Background info:

I am running a Macbook Pro from 2016.

My library is located in a external drive and sizes nearly 40 GB (if it matters, the empty space on the drive is slightly smaller that the library).

It is not an iPhoto library. I converted it from iPhoto to Photos with the first version of Photos, at least 4 years ago. I am also not syncing my pictures in Cloud.

While opening:

When trying to repair:

Posted on Oct 9, 2019 11:26 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

egmac

Level 1

15 points

Oct 16, 2019 2:01 AM in response to ermoya

Found a WONDERFUL solution! Just create a new Libray in Photos. Open the package of your OLD Photos Library and drag the "Masters" Folder on your desktop. Then drag this Folder just on the Photos Symbol in the dock and all your pictures will be imported!

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,241 points

Oct 9, 2019 3:15 PM in response to ermoya

Then all is as it should be. Have you tried to check the external volume with Disk Utility? You could run the First Aid from on the drive.

And then try to set the "ignore ownership" flag on the volume as described in this document:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

Perhaps this will make it possible to repair the Photos Library.

One possible reason for Photos not being able to open the library may be incompatibe image files or videos in the library. Photos on Catalina cannot process all media formats that have been supported on older systems.

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Answer 3

0tto_

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2019 4:09 PM in response to skiwi44

A reinstall did not help for me. But this fix posted here did solve this issue for me: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250715231?answerId=251497034022#251497034022

Just delete the files referenced there. Then try to upgrade the library again. It worked for me.

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Answer 4

ermoya Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 9, 2019 9:47 PM in response to léonie

Thanks for your interest, Léonie. However, I am starting to think that there's nothing wrong with my drive nor my library (or at least, it wasn't before the first trial to open).

Yesterday I kind of gave up. After all the library is a container; I can open it and my pictures are there. Therefore, I could create a new library and reimport the pictures (I would lose the metadata, tags, albums, etc, but the important thing are the pictures after all). But then a new error appeared:

I chose to create a new library, and before the library actually opened I saw the following screen. I tried in both internal and external drive. Later today I will try to do it running OSX in safe mode and see what happens.

The current status is: I cannot use Photos app at all. Unable to open my library as well as unable to create a new one.

Sadly, my current assumption is either a bug in new Photos app itself, or something went wrong during Catalina update.

Any suggestion? :(

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

195,241 points

Oct 9, 2019 11:58 AM in response to ermoya

My library is located in a external drive and sizes nearly 40 GB

Is the file system of the external drive compatible with Photos? It should be MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFs, the external drive must not be used for Time Machine backups, and and it should have a wired connection.

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Answer 6

ermoya Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 9, 2019 12:02 PM in response to léonie

The external drive is MacOS Plus (Journaled), and it have been working with Photos before the update. It is not used for Time Machine and it is connected by wire (direct usb-c, not through hub or similar).

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Answer 7

Oct 10, 2019 12:30 PM in response to ermoya

I'm experiencing the same issue. I have my library on the 2nd hard drive internally in my Mac mini. Worked fine before the update.

The library is large (240GB). Get the 4302 error each time and other times I get "PHPhotosErrorInvalidState".

I've tried creating a new library, which works fine. Holding Option on open and selecting the original library still brings about the error eventually after some time attempting to load it.

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Answer 8

ermoya Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 10, 2019 2:32 PM in response to Morsalmararc

Hi Léonie, hi Morsalmararc,

My current status is:

I have my library that was working fine before the update in an external drive with MacOS (Journaled) format, that threw no error while running first aid and with the ignore property check marked (and I also tried unmarked).

I am totally unable to open the library, facing all the time (one way or another) the 4302 error.

I tried repairing it, in both normal and safe mode. Nothing.

On the other hand, I am able to succesfully create libraries in both the internal and the external drives.

Any other idea, check, etc?

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

195,241 points

Oct 10, 2019 4:10 PM in response to ermoya

When I could not open a library after the upgrade, the only thing that helped has been to download the library from iCloud to a new, empty library. But that will not work in your case, since you are not using iCloud Photos.

Do you have a backup copy of the Library, that you could use as a starting point to recreate the library?

Or access to a mac running Mojave, so you could try to open the library in Photos 4.0 with Mojave? If there are media files in your library, that are not compatible with Photos 5.0, you might be able to remove them in Photos 4.0 on Mojave, if Photos 4.0 still can open the library after the failed attempt to open it in Photos 5.0.

When you look at the package contents of your Photos Library in the Finder - does it still show the Masters folder with yearly subfolders, or has it already been converted to a flat "Originals" folder?

package contents of th

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Answer 10

Oct 10, 2019 4:17 PM in response to léonie

I'm currently attempting to restore it from a Time Machine backup. I don't have the library in iCloud (only my iPhone photos there). It is interesting to see some of the photos services burning away at the processor despite not being able to get Photos to load. Seems there's still a lot of background activity from those related services even with iCloud Photos turned off.

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Answer 11

ermoya Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 10, 2019 9:29 PM in response to léonie

Hi Léonie,

When I open the Library in Finder I can see the Masters folder. I can see a link to a Originals folder, but it points to nowhere; double clicking on it throws a "the folder does not exist" message.

Sadly I am not using Time Machine either, and my old macbook can only run up to El Capitan (so, no Photos app).

Somehow I am calmed, my pictures are there. I hope, all of them. My whole point of not losing this Library, is about all the metadata, albums, tags, etc that would take me months to rebuild manually.

I am actually thinking of the possibility of setting up a Mojave virtual machine. But then, what are those media files that are incompatible. Is there any documentation somewhere? I mean, if I open my library in Mojave's Photos, and everything looks fine. How can I spot those problematic files?

Thanks again!

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Answer 12

Oct 11, 2019 5:28 AM in response to Morsalmararc

I was able to resolve my issue by deleting the original library and restoring it with a copy from Time Machine. It took hours to update the library but it was all loaded and seems to be functioning now this morning.

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Answer 13

léonie

Level 10

195,241 points

Oct 16, 2019 11:17 AM in response to Dzunku

If you drag the Masters folder to the new library, you will just import the unmodified originals, no albums, no titles or keywords, no adjustments. But at least you will have your original photos back.

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Answer 14

Dzunku

Level 1

9 points

Oct 16, 2019 12:52 PM in response to léonie

Thanks for your reply. That is a great option if you don't have any other way, but it is too much for me to lose all the tweeting to my photos. Fortunately for me, I have an entire library (420 GB) with full resolution on iCloud, AND my other Mac has not been up grated yet. Since I know that downloading the library from iCloud will be too much time consuming, I can wait for Apple to release a patch while working on the other Mac. Thanks.

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Answer 15

ermoya Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 16, 2019 1:57 PM in response to Dzunku

Hi all.

I basically gave up almost a week ago. As Léonie says, the pictures are there but by reimporting them, you just have the pictures, without any metadata (albums, gps positions, faces, tags...), but this is basically what I am doing it. Manually rebuilding it. Slowly.

I didn't give up so quickly. I still spent a few days more, looking at the error console. And I found an error message that, according to the developers forum, basically means that the app is trying to retrieve as a folder, something that is a file (or the other way around, I do not remember well). So, even though my library can contain files that are not supported or are corrupted, to me that error sounds like an unhandled exception and, therefore, something that they might address and solve in the future. But I simply cannot wait an uncertain amount of time. :(

Thanks everyone for your interest, comments and suggestions!

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Photos unable to open library after Catalina update (error 4302)

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