Can't open photos within the Photos app

Regardless if you've been using it for a year, you still need to check it is setup correctly. You've recently upgraded to Big Sur, and this version is much more particular about disk format than versions prior to Catalina. And even then - using an incompatible format might not fail immediately, but you will be storing up trouble for the future in the form of a gradual degradation in your library.

Having said that - you still have the problem on a new internal library. That suggests something loading at start up OR something particular about the files you have just imported. I suggest the following to try.

• Does the app freeze when you click on *any* photo, or only recently imported ones? If only recently imported, has something changed (eg camera, phone, format you are saving etc)?
• Another clean library - import some photos you know were previously working. Does it still crash?
• If so, try creating a new user account and import the same ones into photos in that account. Does it still crash?
• If so, try starting in safe mode. Does your library now work? If it does, restart in normal mode, and see if the issue is fixed (sometimes the clearing of caches and temporary files done by safe mode fixes some issues)

Hi

Is the external drive correctly set up for using with a photos library?

It must be formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled), and not be (or have been) used for time machine. It must have the 'ignore ownership" checkbox ticked. It should not be on a memory stick, SD or similar. It stands to reason that if you want any sort of reasonable performance it should be a fast drive with a fast connection.

It must also not be a network drive (a direct connection is required - eg USB or Thunderbolt)


See

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517

Excellent - thanks for letting me know. Glad it's sorted.