"The Photos App needs to quit because the library is being moved, is unavailable or the data is corrupt."

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Level 1

9 points

"The Photos App needs to quit because the library is being moved, is unavailable or the data is corrupt."

I keep getting the error message "The Photos App needs to quit because the library is being moved, is unavailable or the data is corrupt." when I try and import images into my Photos app. I tried using Photo Repair Library and it went through and repaired but it did not fix the issue.

I also tried moving the library to my external hard drive and set it as my default but that did not work at all.

It seems many people have this question but there has been no answers.

Using new M1 Macbook Pro, up to date.

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on May 17, 2021 9:57 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Frank Miller2

Level 2

223 points

May 17, 2021 11:58 AM in response to MilesChisolm

There you go. A Photos library MUST reside on a spinning disk formatted Mac HFS+ (journaled), or an SSD formatted Apple APFS, either using a 'GUID' partition scheme. It appears that your library may be toast. Why you may have gotten an error message while the library was still on a Mac formatted disk (was it?), I don't know. Others may have suggestions for retrieving your photos. Having a Time Machine or clone backup would come in handy here if done while the library was still on a Mac formatted disk. Good Luck.

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Answer 2

MilesChisolm Author

Level 1

9 points

May 17, 2021 12:09 PM in response to Frank Miller2

Yes, originally the library was on my Mac local SSD running fine, the only issue happened when I tried to import photos in from an external ExFAT hard drive. That is when I tried moving it to the hard drive. I understand that the library must reside on a Mac formatted hard drive, but I dont understand why I wouldn't be able to import photos from an ExFAT which has been working great on a mac up until now.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,871 points

May 17, 2021 1:48 PM in response to MilesChisolm

What is the format of the images you are trying to import? Is the format supported by your current system version? If you are running macOS 10.15 Catalina or macOS 11 Big Sur on your Mac, your system may no longer support some image file formats or video formats, that you previously could import.

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