Access migratedphotolibrary that doesn't appear in Photos

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Level 1

35 points

Access migratedphotolibrary that doesn't appear in Photos

I've discovered that I have an "iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary" that contains old photos—I can see them if I "Show Package Contents". Photos.app refuses to open this library, with error message implying that they should already be visible in Photos.app, which would make sense if they have been migrated.

The problem is, the photos do NOT appear in Photos. In fact, in this account, Photos.app contains no photos at all. How can I re-migrate this library into Photos.

(I do not have iPhoto.app, and I would prefer not to have to get it, since I plan to only use Photos.app.)

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 18, 2020 9:43 AM

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Answer 1

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Old Toad

Level 10

207,829 points

Aug 18, 2020 10:44 AM in response to James6M

The photos in that migrated library should be in your Photos library. Check the file name of one or two in the migrated library's package and search for them in your Photos library to verify they weren't migrated the first time.

To remigrate the library change the extension from .migratedphotolibrary to .photolibrary and migrate again. Then you can either export the originals of the photos that are missing in your original Photos library or use the paid version of PowerPhotos to merge the second library into the first and set PowerPhotos to not import duplicates.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,151 points

Aug 18, 2020 11:08 AM in response to James6M

In fact, in this account, Photos.app contains no photos at all. How can I re-migrate this library into Photos.

You may want to check, if you have more than one Photos Library. You should be seeing all Photos Libraries, if you hold down the options key ⌥ while launching Photos.

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Answer 3

James6M Author

Level 1

35 points

Aug 20, 2020 12:37 AM in response to Old Toad

Yes, they "should be," but they aren't. Clearly, somewhere in the past, something got scrambled or deleted. As stated, the Photos.app contains nothing at all, so this clearly searching isn't going to help. However, I'm happy to report that just changing the file extension did the trick! I was afraid there would be more behind-the-scenes trickery.

Thanks!

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Access migratedphotolibrary that doesn't appear in Photos

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