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view iphoto external drive

I'm trying to view an old iPhotos library on an external drive. I do NOT want to import it into my Photos Library. I opened Photos and selected the iPhotos library. The screen currently says "Updating Library ... 64% complete" ... I don't understand what this means; i.e., what is actually happening. Please tell me I'm not somehow messing up my existing Photos library.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 17, 2020 6:48 PM

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Posted on Sep 17, 2020 9:10 PM

When you say "an old iPhotos library," do you mean a library created by the old iPhoto (no "s") application or just one created by a previous version of the new Photos (no "i") application?


Photos has no view-only access to an iPhoto library. It can migrate one into a new Photos library if there is enough room on the same volume (external drive in your case). I would expect to see a message like "Migrating Library" rather than "Updating Library".


The "Updating Library" phrasing suggests you were actually opening an old-format Photos library. (Apple changes the internal format of Photos libraries from time to time.) Again, Photos has no view-only access to a library from a previous version of Photos and must update it to the format it considers current.

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Question marked as Best reply

Sep 17, 2020 9:10 PM in response to pogo2299

When you say "an old iPhotos library," do you mean a library created by the old iPhoto (no "s") application or just one created by a previous version of the new Photos (no "i") application?


Photos has no view-only access to an iPhoto library. It can migrate one into a new Photos library if there is enough room on the same volume (external drive in your case). I would expect to see a message like "Migrating Library" rather than "Updating Library".


The "Updating Library" phrasing suggests you were actually opening an old-format Photos library. (Apple changes the internal format of Photos libraries from time to time.) Again, Photos has no view-only access to a library from a previous version of Photos and must update it to the format it considers current.

Sep 18, 2020 12:47 AM in response to markwmsn

Thanks for staying with me on this. Here's where I am now: the iPhoto library is now open as a Photos library. And I'm delighted because I thought I had lost these photos of my deceased brother. But I don't know "where" this Photos library is residing. I see no evidence of it on the external drive where the iPhoto library is. And I'm afraid to close it 'cause I don't want to lose these photos. Any idea how I might discover where this Photos library actually is?

view iphoto external drive

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