About once a week, I transfer photos from my phone to Photos on my MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) running Catalina 10.15.7. Although my photos are well-backed-up, I still have a mini-heart-attack every time is says that my libraries are unreadable.
But if I restart, everything is fine. No rebuilding or updating. After a restart, everything works the way it should.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
What might have happened ist, that you accidentally tried to launch an older version of Photos. That can happen, if the icon in the Dock is still linked to an older version of Photos. The old version cannot run properly on the Mac with a newer version of Photos.
Or the Photos Library might still have been in use. Restarting the Mac fixes the "in use" problem.
If it should happen again, try to take a screenshot of the error message.
What might have happened ist, that you accidentally tried to launch an older version of Photos. That can happen, if the icon in the Dock is still linked to an older version of Photos. The old version cannot run properly on the Mac with a newer version of Photos.
Or the Photos Library might still have been in use. Restarting the Mac fixes the "in use" problem.
If it should happen again, try to take a screenshot of the error message.
The problem appears to be with automatically backing up to pCloud. My guess is that the pCloud synch process somehow locks the libraries. I shut pCloud down, and everything is fine.
Here's the exact message for reference:
Thanks for taking the time to try to help.
Unfortunately, I was so panicked by the message that I didn't think to record the exact wording. All I remember is that it said the library was "unreadable" and might have been damaged. I checked four different libraries and got the same message.
Initially, I tried to open the libraries using option-click with the Photos icon on my dock. Then I tried to open the current default by just clicking the icon, but got the same result.
The libraries are all stored in my Pictures folder. There are 7 in total.
After restarting, I was able to open all of them, but I got a very brief "updating" message before the files were "restored." 5 of the 7 files were restored. The two that weren't were relatively small libraries that I hadn't added to for several months.
Are you perhaps using the library from different user accounts? The library will be locked, if another user is using the library. Or if Photos failed to quit completely, the last time you used it. There may have been left background processes running, that keep blocking the library. It should suffice to log off and on to quit hanging processes.
Yes, I read your comment that pCloud has been enabled. It should not matter, if you do not keep your Photos Library on the pCloud Drive. You did not put your Photos Library on the pCloud Drive, right? A Photos Library must not be stored in any synced cloud storage other than Apple's own iCloud Photos Library, because the cloud syncing can damage the library.
I don't store my pictures on pCloud. I store duplicates. I automatically sync my Photos databases to pCloud. When I turn off the pCloud application, the problem goes away. Why look for a different explanation?
every time is says that my libraries are unreadable.
What is the exact error message? And when does it occur?
Where is your Photos Library stored? In your Pictures folder or on an external volume?
Thanks for commenting, but did you even read my last comment? It was pCloud.
Photos says my libraries are unreadable ... until I restart, then everything is fine.
