NAS (Linkstation) is endlessly creating copies of contents of graph folder in it's "trashbox"

I hope we’ve got it. Key was finding out from Sloth that Photos was still accessing the library on the NAS and then throwing out the original library. (I do wonder, do libraries that are not the system library get any attention to the processes like photoanalysisd and photolibraryd for facial ID, indexing, etc?  I guess not. Even when you are using another library that is not the system library? It seems like they are in use then.) 

I could have gotten further with this faster if I had found the original file sooner. I thought I had deleted it; I’d only forgotton where it was. And then to know that I should trash that file since the items showing up in the trash were coming from it. So, I’ve learned alot.

Everything is deleted, the original library and the re-created libraries from it. Let’s see if they or anything else comes back on its own. So far, so good and it’s been overnight which is encouraging.

I will probably turn AFP off. It was on when I brought the library over to the NAS. I turned it off during this research and then back on again. I don’t plan to use Time Machine with this NAS as it had problems when I did. Is there any reason to have it on? SMB is on.

One last test will be to see if adding the share to the login items will bring the problem back. I shouldn’t think so but taking it off seemed to help while we were figuring out what to do.

I’ll mark this as solved if all is well by the end of the day today.

Thanks for your help.

markwmsn wrote:

Are you sure the deleted library came from that MBP?

I think so. 

I have taken screenshots of what has been created since yesterday.

FIrst, an overview showing the trashbox with the library package.

Then, looking inside the package, all of the folders and some of the files, starting from the top:

One thing I discovered last night: Using the Sloth app, it showed that the photoanalysisid (1) process was the cause of the share being automounted and the sole process my MBP was involved with on the NAS. Also interesting perhaps is that it was dealing with the private folder. The database folder is the only other folder at that level.

Many of the copied files are .sqlite files. Does Photos use them?

I did use some other picture viewers and catalog apps a few months ago so I’m guessing one of them left something that is causing all this. Now to find out which one.

Update: I found the original photo library on the NAS and tried to delete as much of it as I could. There were both a Graph and PhotosGraphs folders in it:

Two seemingly empty folders, database and one other one I can't remember, gave me this message saying they couldn't be deleted.

(Then I accidentally opened the library... and quit it very quickly. Then I accidentally started to delete the wrong library. Now I have to finish that. No big deal, just unfortunate.)

So, I have to finish up deleting the second library. I'll try rebooting to see if the message saying I can't delete some items doesn't come back.

Update. Support for the Linkstation say it must be some software outside of the NAS causing this. I thought it might be CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper but it started before I started using them.

I used to have the NAS as a log in item. When I took it off that, these files have, so far, not been created. When it is a log in item, they are.

That's where I am now. What does this mean?

Plus, I should change the title of this post to just endlessly creating copies of files within the Photoslibrary package. Some of the folders and files created are not just in the graph folder or in that one at all.

PS This is on my MacBook Pro that has 10.15.6 on it. I have several MacBook Pros and Apple doesn't distinguish them when I have to choose which one this applies to. (I still need to get the list Apple has of my devices straightened out.)

I don't remember exactly. I probably deleted it on my MBP and the NAS at about the same time. I don't seem to have a copy of it anywhere now and that's ok. I created it on a whim.

I did have a power outage while I was transferring files over to the NAS on 8/4. The problem didn't start until 8/9. I may have deleted the problem Photos library on 8/6...

Yes, the trash on the NAS is continually filling with various files from that Photos library. Graph and PhotosGraph within it usually are the largest folders. New copies of files I haven't seen before turn up every day.

The "fix" I mention above of taking it off the login items stopped working. I found a large quantity of files and folders today. They seem to have started being created at 9:43 pm last night and ended at 1:47 am. The "trashbox" (as they call it) seems to have been created at 4:39 pm yesterday. I deleted its contents this morning and so far, it hasn't re-created anything.

That's where I'm at.

An Adobe app is looking like it may be the culprit since they use sqlite files... (I have a few and this is only after a quick look.)