Photos library no longer "updates" since upgrading from Sierra to Mojave OS on Macbook Air

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Photos library no longer "updates" since upgrading from Sierra to Mojave OS on Macbook Air

I'm having a real problem with my Photos library-it's on an external hard drive (always has been). It was working fine ( and as expected) when my OS was Sierra, but since I upgraded to Mojave, the library won't "update". It *says* it is updating (see attached)-but no new photos/videos appear/download from the cloud. I have the box "optimise Mac storage" ticked.

Last week I decided to test things out a bit and create a brand new Systems Library in Photos, and I had a different set of problems (I had the box "download originals" ticked). A download began, and my photos between 2016-2020 (as an example) downloaded, but it seemed to get "stuck" & no further photos/videos downloaded...I left the drive connected for *days* and still...nothing. I don't know if the problem is with Mojave, or Photos.

I did speak to Apple and asked the very helpful advisor if I should upgrade to Catalina-he said no. My existing internal HD is not big and an upgrade to Catalina would mean I may run out of storage space. He did say I could do a back-up of my drive, and then wipe it clean and then restore/upgrade to Catalina on a fresh new drive-but this seems such a big task and one I am not keen to do if I can avoid it.

I feel reassured that iCloud has all of my photos, as does my iPad Photos App, but something is not right with my Macbook Air Photos library-and this is only since upgrading to Mojave. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 3:32 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Jun 30, 2020 4:20 AM in response to Psych13

Sometimes the external volume with the library is the problem.

Is the external volume compatible with Photos? Any external volume needs to be prepared as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

Does the volume meet the conditions? It needs to formatted MacOSExtended (Journaled), not can-sensitive, and locally mounted, not accessed over the network. It must not have been used for Time Machine backups.

If it is not possible to set the "Ignore ownership" flag, the volume is not suitable.

Your library is not small. With so many videos and photos in the library the updating may take much more than a week. Do not interrupt it in any way by changing the iCloud settings. Just make sure that the Mac is connected to Wi-Fi and no antivirus filter or firewall is blocking the connection to APple's cloud servers.

Restart the Mac and Photos occasionally.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Jul 14, 2020 6:42 AM in response to Psych13

Psych13 wrote:

Leonie-I have a question: when you wrote: "For example, the Mojave upgrade introduced new security measures; that is why some older volumes are no longer compatible with Photos"...what "volumes" are you referring to? Did you mean OS "version" or the volume of an external hard drive? It wasn't clear to me. Thanks for clarifying!

Best,

Psych13

I meant, that some older external disks may now no longer work. It has always been the case, that external disks or disk partitions, should be prepared as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support, if you want to store a Photos Library there. But Mojave and Catalina are now actively checking the external disks for compatibly and may not look on incompatible volumes for the Photos Library.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Jul 14, 2020 6:45 AM in response to Psych13

If you want to repair the volume, restart the Mac, so the volume is no longer in use by Photos.

The try the repair again.

If it is not possible to set the "Ignore Ownership" flag as described in Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support,, the external disk is not compatible.

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Answer 4

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jun 30, 2020 5:30 AM in response to léonie

Thanks very much Leonie-yes, my external drive is formatted correctly. As I mentioned (or perhaps I didn't)? I have been using this drive to store my Photos library for years-and everything was working fine, until the upgrade to Mojave. I will leave it for a few days and see what happens. Incidentally, I tested things by dragging a photo from my desktop, to Photos, and it arrived safely and the # of photos increased by one, so I'm not sure why it's taking so long to download the remaining photos and videos from the cloud. The Apple rep I spoke to said that I *could* have a corrupt photo or video-as I said, I'll leave it for a few days and report back:).

Thanks a million for your reply.

Best,

Psych13:)

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Jun 30, 2020 10:00 AM in response to Psych13

Thanks very much Leonie-yes, my external drive is formatted correctly. As I mentioned (or perhaps I didn't)? I have been using this drive to store my Photos library for years-and everything was working fine, until the upgrade to Mojave. I

After a system upgrade things, that worked before, may no longer work. For example, the Mojave upgrade introduced new security measures; that is why some older volumes are no longer compatible with Photos. And iCloud Photos does no longer update over a cellular hotspot.

Have you checked the external volume with Disk Utility? You may want to make a hardware check.

If the volume dismounts itself occasionally, the iCloud download may never finish.

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Answer 6

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jun 30, 2020 10:55 AM in response to Psych13

Leonie-I have a question: when you wrote: "For example, the Mojave upgrade introduced new security measures; that is why some older volumes are no longer compatible with Photos"...what "volumes" are you referring to? Did you mean OS "version" or the volume of an external hard drive? It wasn't clear to me. Thanks for clarifying!

Best,

Psych13

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Answer 7

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 14, 2020 12:52 AM in response to Psych13

Hi Leonie....so, Photos finally finished "uploading"...it then went into "updating" & as I feared might be the case=it has *not* started downloading my missing photos (between 11th May-today) from iCloud. The 10th May is when I updated my OS on my Mac from Sierra to Mojave. Ever since then my Photos library has not been downloading from iCloud. Not sure what to do.

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Answer 8

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 14, 2020 8:39 AM in response to léonie

Thanks very much Leonie for clarifying what you meant. I spoke to Apple earlier and they are of the belief that the external drive is working fine because it has uploaded a number of photos-they also said that I would know if the drive was not working. I *can* see my Photos in the library when the App is open so I presume the drive is working fine.

I'm going to have a look at your other message re-repairing my external drive....I don't know if it is safe to "repair" whilst the Photos App is open? and I have no intention of closing/quitting it just yet because it's in the process of uploading:).

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Answer 9

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jun 30, 2020 10:10 AM in response to léonie

Thanks Leonie! I don't think the latter two points apply here, but I will hold them in mind. Reason I say that is because something seems to be happening now, at long last! Will keep you posted:).

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Answer 10

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 14, 2020 12:59 AM in response to Psych13

Just to say I just tried to run first aid on my external drive and got this message:

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Answer 11

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 14, 2020 8:44 AM in response to Psych13

Not sure if this helps but this is the screenshot of "Get Info" of the external drive:).

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Answer 12

Psych13 Author

Level 1

26 points

Jul 14, 2020 8:49 AM in response to Psych13

Leonie...I just found the "ignore ownership on this volume"-unlocked the key and ticked the box.

Question for you...why is this important to do? Should I leave it ticked (as in screenshot below)?

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Photos library no longer "updates" since upgrading from Sierra to Mojave OS on Macbook Air

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