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Level 1

4 points

Where have my photos gone?

I use my desktop - albeit an old on to store all my photos and videos. I had not used it for a while and when I went on recently every photo and video after 2016 has simply vanished. There were literally hundreds of video clips of my kids playing soccer and photos. It is devastating that these have gone and no idea where or why? I could not have accidentally deleted 1000's of images. Can anyone offer an explanation. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on May 20, 2021 7:17 PM

Best reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,867 points

Posted on May 20, 2021 11:01 PM

Possibly you have more than one photo library on your Mac, and are opening an older one.

If your library might be on an external volume, make sure it is connected and mounted, then:

First try opening photos while holding the option key. Is more than one library listed. If so, open them in turn to see if any contain your photos.

If not, then use the spotlight search to see if there are any other libraries (search in finder). Put photoslibrary in the searchbox.

Make sure "this mac" is selected.

If you click on the found libraries in turn, the location will be shown at the bottom of the finder window. Open each one to see if they contain your images. (Use the option key to start photos then select the library)

If neither of these give any results you may have to rely on your backup.

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Where have my photos gone?

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