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User profile for user: teconmara
teconmara Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Transferring Photos from System Library to External Drive Library

For a very long time I've been (successfully!) transferring photos from the system library on my MacBook Air to a photo library on my external drive, as follows:

  1. Open the System Photo Library, select 'all', export to a folder, I delete all the photos from this library and then close it
  2. Open the External Drive Photo Library, then the Import window
  3. Open the folder with all the exported photos, select 'all' then drag and drop into the Import window
  4. The little circle spins around and then all the photos appear as imported with todays date


However today - despite doing everything exactly the same - I received the error "Cannot import 389 items. Some items cannot be added to your Photo library because they may be an unrecognisable file format or the file may not contain valid data".


My files are .jpeg and .mov like they always are. I did nothing different in my process. My External Dive Photo Library is showing everything perfectly up until the last successful import.


The strange thing is that I can successfully import todays folder of 389 items back into the Systems Photo Library - presumably if the file format is 'unrecognisable' or the files doesn't 'contain valid data' this would not be possible.


I'd be most grateful for any kind advice. Many thanks ☺️



MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 20, 2021 8:42 PM

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User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
163,854 points

Posted on Aug 21, 2021 11:08 PM

  1. No you can't reformat without erasing the drive. So copy the Library to another drive (properly formatted) and then reformat that one.
  2. Because the drive in inappropriate. It goes this way sometimes: things seem to work fine until they don't.
  3. Make the Library on the external your System Library (which you can do in the Photos Preferences). Then the Cloud Photos will show up there instead.
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User profile for user: Yer_Man
Yer_Man
User level: Level 10
163,854 points

Aug 21, 2021 11:08 PM in response to teconmara

  1. No you can't reformat without erasing the drive. So copy the Library to another drive (properly formatted) and then reformat that one.
  2. Because the drive in inappropriate. It goes this way sometimes: things seem to work fine until they don't.
  3. Make the Library on the external your System Library (which you can do in the Photos Preferences). Then the Cloud Photos will show up there instead.
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User profile for user: teconmara
teconmara Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Aug 21, 2021 6:12 PM in response to teconmara

Many thanks for responding Yer_Man and Old Toad ☺️


  1. Format is ExFAT
      1. Am I able to reformat to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or apfs without losing all my photos & videos?
      2. A curiosity, can you suggest why this would have stopped working all of a sudden?
  2. The ‘why' I’m doing this is possibly a bad process on my part! The situation is that I take photos and videos on my iPhone, which I view on my Mac Air through the system library (they automatically appear there through iCloud I think). I then export from the system library to a folder then reimport to the external library. I don’t do any editing or anything in the system library and just use it to get the photos & videos from my iPhone to the external drive.
      1. Your suggestion to import directly to the external drive - does this mean having both libraries open and copying from system to external? Or does it mean opening the external library and importing direct from the iPhone plugged in?
      2. As the end result is photos & videos from iPhone to external drive (without any editing or managing in between) and I don’t store anything in the system library maybe I don’t need the PowerPhotos or an App?


I have a feeling I’ve been making a simple process a lot more complicated than it needed to be! Your kind help is very much appreciated, thank you ☺️


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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,609 points

Aug 21, 2021 10:39 AM in response to teconmara

Besides making sure the the external HD, as Yer_Man pointed out, is formatted either one of these:



use the paid version of PowerPhotos to copy new photos and their metadata from your System library to the library on the external HD. It will also copy any edited versions, albums, etc. The only item it can't copy is a project. Those are converted to albums with the same name and photos as were in the project.


OR:


use an app that does incremental backups, i.e. only copying the new or changed files, like ChronoSync. It will keep both libraries identical.


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Transferring Photos from System Library to External Drive Library

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