Level 1

32 points

Photos app stuck on "Restoring" Screen after Catalina Update

After updating my 2018 MacBook Pro to Catalina, I let the Photos app run the process of updating my photos library (which is slightly larger than 1TB). This process took just under 24 hours to run, so I was very happy when it finally finished running. However, the next time that I launched the Photos app, it just said "Restoring..." and a progress bar underneath at 0%. I have let it sit and it never progresses past 0%.

Beyond frustrated at this point that after updating my library for Many hours, I'm still unable to access my photos library. Please help!

MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 21, 2019 8:31 AM

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SenseOfLife Author

Level 1

32 points

Posted on Dec 2, 2019 8:30 AM

@AVADHOOTGUPTE Have you tried the solution that ended up being a fix for me? Here's what I posted a couple weeks back:

The new step I was instructed to do this morning was to edit the permissions on the external hard drive which stores the photos library. Even though my user account was set to read and write, and the checkbox to "Ignore ownership on this volume" was checked, she had me add Administrators to have full read & write access to the hard drive, and then click on the gear icon below permissions to select "Apply to enclosed items..." That part can take a long time to complete if it's a large hard drive. However, after that completed, I restarted the computer and opened up Photos. It had a little delay in opening, but not long and it's now going through the curation process. I was told to let that keep running...if I do have to stop it (which I will for going to work tomorrow) it should start back up from where it left off. She said that this process shouldn't take more than 48 hours, and at that point, fingers crossed...I'll be back up to running normally.

Since then I've been able to again use my Photos library normally. Try this out, I hope it works for you too!

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79 replies

rmgman

Level 3

538 points

Jan 1, 2020 8:51 AM in response to SamJam55

SamJam:

Which steps exactly? I'm seeing different solutions listed.

In my scenario I have my photo library on the same hard drive as my operating system and not an external.

I've always used either iPhoto or Photos to manage my library and also use iCloud Photos.

I have a progress bar, but it does not show a "percentage" number and does not seem to be moving since the screen shot I show above.

Did you actually leave your Mac on and powered up for "four days"? Or did you quit and shut down your Mac in between sessions?

Jan 5, 2020 8:44 PM in response to drpv

Photos curating stuck at 90% since Catalina update. Curation been going for 3 months. Tried numerous things.

1) all photos on external hard drive. ( tried multiple hard drives, the main hard drive and a brand new hard drive that I copied photos over to.

2) tried creating a new user, to see if issue with a specific user. No luck.

3) erased my iMac hard drive and reinstalled operating system, hooked up external hard rive with photos, and same problem of curation stuck at 90%.

4) I have admin added on the permissions with ignore ownership checked. No luck.

5) external hard drive was formatted in Mac OS extended (journaled) and the photo library is the only thing on the external drive. 285000 photos and 13000 video clips. (1.7TB)

6)did a disk utility repair. No luck.

7)rebuilt photo library. No luck.

I am curious about one post that said maybe metadata or camera info might be missing and won’t allow completion? How do I find photos missing something the curation process might need to complete? Please let me know how to find and eliminate those photos.

thanks!

vozniak

Level 1

4 points

Jan 30, 2020 1:21 AM in response to SenseOfLife

I have the same issue, Photos launch repairing process after every new launch and it can take 18-24 hours. My photos are on an external hard drive with all permissions indicated in the first post of that topic. Apple please fix that.

Old Toad

Level 10

215,298 points

Oct 21, 2019 1:48 PM in response to SenseOfLife

Don't know what's involved in the restoring process but it could be confirming faces, objects, grouping moments, etc.

SenseOfLife Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 24, 2019 6:15 AM in response to Davekondus

Exactly what I was worried about happened. The next time I tried opening Photos, it was back to the Restoring screen. Apple really better be working on a fix to this problem!

samgy84

Level 1

4 points

Oct 28, 2019 3:03 PM in response to Old Toad

My external drive is connected by usb and is formatted to mac os extended

Old Toad

Level 10

215,298 points

Oct 28, 2019 3:56 PM in response to samgy84

That's how is should be.

SenseOfLife Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 30, 2019 6:51 PM in response to SenseOfLife

One more update...I was very excited to see a Catalina update last night and did the update right away. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to fix this issue at all. Does Apple know this is a problem!?

Oct 31, 2019 9:20 PM in response to frostyswe

No time machine involvement on mine. Only thing on my external hard drive is Photos (the photo library). I have no time machine involvement with the photo library.

Dec 11, 2019 12:08 AM in response to SenseOfLife

How come I'm missing the "Ignore ownership on this volume" on my external drive?

Its formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), connected through thunderbolt, RAID drive

Dec 25, 2019 3:39 AM in response to veltliner1

Yes, I am aware of that but it's not present there, even if I unlock the disk it will not appear.

Maybe because this is used for time machine, not sure.

SamJam55

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2020 8:38 AM in response to rmgman

Mine stayed on restoring for four days. After I did the steps in this thread it finished after an hour or so.

drpv

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2020 12:57 AM in response to SamJam55

Hi.

What steps did you took exactly?

Thanks.

*nevermind. I have later seen your response. Thanks

Old Toad

Level 10

215,298 points

Jan 30, 2020 9:08 AM in response to vozniak

I don't know what topic you're referring to but the EHD should be formatted as shown in this screenshot and directly connected to your Mac via cable:

tplopres

Level 1

4 points

Dec 17, 2019 9:41 AM in response to jrcchicago2

I do have same type of issue. I have :

1 iMac 27 (end 2014) now with Catalina 10.15.2.
1 iPhone X with 13.3
1 iPad Pro with
1 iCloud subscirption 2T
1 Photo library of approx 70.000 photos in the internal main 1T SSD of the iMac

All of a sudden, coinciding with the upgrading to Catalina, my Photo App in the iMac stopped importing from iCloud the pictures taken with the Iphone or the iPad. This happend more than 1 month ago and after suffering a lot in terms of reading articles, uninstalling iCloud, reverse, etc etc, nothing has changed !!!! All other iCloud functions work perfectly in all senses.

Somebody can help ? Thank you so much... getting mad with this very annoying problem from Apple !!!

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Photos app stuck on "Restoring" Screen after Catalina Update