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Is there a way to repair a photos library if it won't open in Photos?

I have a Photos library that is over 110GB. It won't open, it always hangs at some percentage, and since I can't open it I can't us the repair function within Photos. Is this library dead or can I save it somehow?

MacBook Air 11", macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 4, 2019 10:59 AM

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Posted on Dec 4, 2019 12:21 PM

Are you holding down the option-command keys firmly and log enough? You need to hold them down, until the Repair message appears. And you need to double click the library you want to open.


Has your external volume with the library been used by Time Machine? Photos cannot open a library, if it is on a volume that has been used for Time Machine backups. Try to set the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" flag for the external volume. If it is not possible, the volume cannot be used for Photos.


11 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 4, 2019 12:21 PM in response to pinchvalve

Are you holding down the option-command keys firmly and log enough? You need to hold them down, until the Repair message appears. And you need to double click the library you want to open.


Has your external volume with the library been used by Time Machine? Photos cannot open a library, if it is on a volume that has been used for Time Machine backups. Try to set the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" flag for the external volume. If it is not possible, the volume cannot be used for Photos.


Is there a way to repair a photos library if it won't open in Photos?

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