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User profile for user: Michael D-v
Michael D-v Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Photos library could not be opened after 11.5 upgrade of Mac Mini M1

And 11.5.2 upgrade doesn’t help either. I have my library of 150’000 family photos with tagged faces - huge work done. After upgrade to 11.5 the library could not be opened with error:

“The library could not be opened. Photos was unable to open the library “Photos Library.photoslibrary”. (4302)”

And another beautiful window: “PHPhotosErrorInvalidState”


No help from Apple last month (as always before). Now I’m stuck: no fix, no workaround, no way to downgrade.


Any ideas, please?


Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Aug 23, 2021 12:19 PM

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User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,909 points

Posted on Aug 24, 2021 12:29 AM

Hi


Every time I've seen this message in the last couple of weeks, associated with 11.5.1 or higher, it has been because the library is stored on an external volume with an incompatible format. Normally it is ExFAT, because that is the default for a new drive.


It looks to me that Apple have decided Photos will no longer work with libraries on ExFat drives, and possibly any other incompatible volume.


If this is the case here, you'll need to move your library to a compatible volume (Formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled) with the ability to set the ignore ownership flag. The volume must also be directly conneted (USB or Thunderbolt), not networked (No Ethernet, no Wi-Fi)

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User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,909 points

Aug 24, 2021 12:29 AM in response to Michael D-v

Hi


Every time I've seen this message in the last couple of weeks, associated with 11.5.1 or higher, it has been because the library is stored on an external volume with an incompatible format. Normally it is ExFAT, because that is the default for a new drive.


It looks to me that Apple have decided Photos will no longer work with libraries on ExFat drives, and possibly any other incompatible volume.


If this is the case here, you'll need to move your library to a compatible volume (Formatted APFS or MacOS extended (journaled) with the ability to set the ignore ownership flag. The volume must also be directly conneted (USB or Thunderbolt), not networked (No Ethernet, no Wi-Fi)

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Photos library could not be opened after 11.5 upgrade of Mac Mini M1

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