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Upgrading Photos 5.0 library to Catalina

When I try to open my Photo library from an external harddrive in Catalina, it starts by "updating library..." but after 60%, it stops and says, "The library can not be opened. Photos was not able to open library (4302). Can someone guide me? This library has never been opened on this computer before.

Posted on Apr 26, 2020 2:45 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 27, 2020 7:29 AM

Can you tell us something about the external volume?

Photos 5.0 on cannot open a library on a volume, that is not compatible.

  • The file system format should be MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS, and not case-sensitive.
  • The volume must not have been used for Time Machine backups.
  • The volume should be locally mounted, not accessed over the local network.

Is the volume prepared this way? Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 27, 2020 7:29 AM in response to Fariso

Can you tell us something about the external volume?

Photos 5.0 on cannot open a library on a volume, that is not compatible.

  • The file system format should be MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS, and not case-sensitive.
  • The volume must not have been used for Time Machine backups.
  • The volume should be locally mounted, not accessed over the local network.

Is the volume prepared this way? Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

Apr 28, 2020 4:50 PM in response to léonie

My library is on a 500GB Samsung T5 solid state external drive. The format is ExFat. The Photo Library is 140GB, which is why I moved it to an external drive. I've opened the library in Photos on my office iMac and am now trying to view it on my 12" MacBook (2015, 1.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3).

Upgrading Photos 5.0 library to Catalina

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