I keep my Apple Photos library on an external drive.
Suddenly I'm finding they are automatically being copied back to my Desktop into a folder automatically being created titled "untitled folder".
Went ahead and re-linked my Photos app back to my external drive photos library, but to no avail. It keeps wanting to copy back to my desktop, even after trashing it!
Fixed permissions too. That didn't help.
What gives?
Mac Pro, macOS 10.15
Are you using iCloud Photos?
Is the external drive compatible with Photos 5 on Catalina?
If Photos cannot use the Photos Library on the external volume, it will try to open a new local library.
Photos 5 cannot use the library on an external volume,
See: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Are you using iCloud Photos?
Is the external drive compatible with Photos 5 on Catalina?
If Photos cannot use the Photos Library on the external volume, it will try to open a new local library.
Photos 5 cannot use the library on an external volume,
See: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
I have been running this setup for over 2 years without an issue.
But what is the set-up? We are still left in the dark about the external volume.
Catalina has changed the rules. It has new security measures and is now refusing to work with a photos library on an incompatible volume. Previously, Apple has just been warning about the possible data loss in the documentation, but now Photos is checking actively if an external volume is compatible.
Compare your set-up to the recommended setup from the link I gave you in my first post:
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Is your external volume compatible?
In answer to most of your questions, I have been running this setup for over 2 years without an issue.
Two years ago, you could not have been running Catalina, so at least that aspect of "this setup" has changed.
The external Volume is a 3TB G-Drive formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
My current OS is Catalina 10.15.4 on a Mac Pro.
That is correct. And each time I delete the folder and empty the trashcan the folder is rebuilt and the Photos library file starts rebuilding again.
Oh, it is a whole library that is being built there, not just the photos. That actually makes a little more sense.
I think we now need the answers to more of léonie’s questions and comments, especially whether you use iCloud Photos and whether your external disk has ever been used for Time Machine.
If Photos is giving up on your external library for some reason, and it cannot rebuild in your ~/Pictures folder for some other reason, it might be downloading from iCloud Photos onto the Desktop as a location of last resort. No idea why it would feel the need for a containing folder, but not naming it is not entirely surprising.
Just to confirm, this "untitled folder" is located on the main Desktop of your Mac (the Desktop folder inside your user home directory, shown on the background image in the Finder)?
apple photos library suddenly copying back to my Mac
