Imported RAW images and now sync is broken - help...

Question

Imported RAW images and now sync is broken - help...

About a week ago I imported images from a Nikon D7000 SD-card into Photos (running Catalina 10.15.7) I didn't notice that the D7000 had shot the images in JPEG+RAW so half of the files were actually RAW-photos.

The import and upload seemed to have been working fine initially, but yesterday I noticed that my Mac and iPad no longer syncs new photos. My iPhone still syncs fine (meaning I can see the recent photos on icloud.com but they don't show up on the other devices.)

Both my iPad and Mac said "transferring" stuck since September 7 (the day I imported the images).

Yesterday I tried to repair the Library on the Mac as indicated here - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204967 - and Photos on the Mac has been stuck on "Restoring from iCloud..." since then.

My library contains ~7000 images and the Library file local on the Mac is 28 GB in size so it can't be super slow to download over a 250 MBps fiber.

What should I do and what can I do not to lose my images?

Any help greatly appreciated!

/Mattias

Posted on Sep 16, 2021 9:58 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

24,050 points

Sep 17, 2021 12:00 PM in response to Mattias Sandstrom

Hi

Your repair has probably triggered a complete new sync - and yes, it can take days. Your full internet speed is not used.

For example, my 5000 image 50GB library took 48 hours full time

You need to leave your mac powered on connected to power until it completes.

two other things you should check.

Do you have an "unable to upload to iCloud" automatic folder. If so, what is in it.

Create a smart album with the condition - photo - is unable to upload to iCloud.

If you have items which cannot upload, then that can stop the process completing.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,621 points

Sep 19, 2021 12:53 AM in response to TonyCollinet

TonyCollinet wrote:

Do the error descriptions tell you anything? (We can't see them)

...

Tony, to see the full error message in the posted code block, scroll it to the right. You can scroll the panel with the trackpad, if you have not the scrollbars enabled to be always shown. I have System Preferences > General > Show scroll bars set to "always", even if I do not use them frequently. But I like to be able to see at glance, if a panel needs scrolling. Sometimes it is hard to guess, that a pane or panel needs scrolling.

Matthias, you may be having items in iCloud, that Photos on Catalina cannot download, so "Restoring from iCloud" is stuck in an endless loop. Items "unable to download" do not appear in "Unable to upload"., if the are not yet on your Mac. The files may be simply too large (do you have huge videos?) or are in a legacy format, that can no longer be processed on Catalina.

Try to identify one of the items, that is is iCloud, but not restored to your Mac from iCloud. I'd start by comparing the videos in iCloud to the videos in your library. Look particularly for videos using an older codec. The problem may also be PDF files, or other files edited with a graphics software.

To compare your Mac Photos Library to the iCloud version, open it both at www.icloud.com in Photos and in Photos for Mac.

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Answer 3

Sep 18, 2021 6:41 AM in response to Mattias Sandstrom

So, back to leaving your mac on, Photos open, powered 24/7 until it completes.

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Answer 4

Sep 17, 2021 9:49 AM in response to Mattias Sandstrom

Hey Mattias Sandstrom,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!

We hear that you're having issues with your Mac restoring iCloud photos since repairing the photos library. We can help!

Does this still happen in safe mode?

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Let us know!

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Answer 5

Sep 19, 2021 12:12 AM in response to Mattias Sandstrom

Do the error descriptions tell you anything? (We can't see them)

Are you running any firewall/security/VPN software? If so, try turning them off.

I also haven't asked if your library is stored on your system drive, or on an external (if external what is the format)?

And are you using a referenced library (copy items to library under importing not checked)?

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Answer 6

Sep 19, 2021 12:43 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Thank you for your patience!

I can't find a way to see what the "<private>" tag hides in the logs. Is there a way to toggle this? (Like finding a filename there would be extremely helpful!)

Running Bitdefender AV but it has been disabled since starting to troubleshoot this. It's been running fine for over two years though.

Library stored on internal SSD on my MBP 16" 2019.

The checkbox to copy on importing is checked.

Will uninstall Bitdefender and restart the machine and let it sit for a day.

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Answer 7

Sep 20, 2021 5:14 AM in response to léonie

FWIW - I started my old MBP 13" running Big Sur and enabled iCloud Photos. All items downloaded in less than 15 minutes and the Mac syncs just fine with my iPhone (meaning photos from the iPhone is immediately appearing on the Mac).

Sure - different OS:es (Catalina on the non-working and Big Sur on the working). The old one started completely fresh because it was reinstalled when I stopped using it and now I just setup an account and enabled iCloud Photos.

I have to quote Ripley from Aliens - is there a "way to nuke (Photos) from orbit" to maybe get the iPhoto Library and caches in shape?

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Answer 8

Sep 20, 2021 2:29 AM in response to Mattias Sandstrom

Downloaded all and imported them back into a new Library without any problems. Most of them are short (< 30 sec) so I could try playing them.

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Answer 9

Sep 18, 2021 12:56 AM in response to DanielleM182

Thank you for the suggestion but could you explain what I should be looking for while in Safe Mode?

The only noticeable change was the missing "Photos" item under Library while in Safe Mode, I could find the photos under "Recent"

I allowed it to sit in Safe Mode overnight on power and have now restarted normally since I couldn't detect any activity.

Restarting - the "Photos" item is back, still showing restoring and one change is that the "People" item is now blank showing "0 Photos Scanned". Before Safe Mode I had People identified there. It's now been idle for an hour on power adapter and still 0 photos scanned.

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Answer 10

Sep 19, 2021 1:06 AM in response to léonie

As I said in the original post - I imported several RAW (.NEF) images from my fried's SD-card into Photos (this was on September 5th after a trip) and that's what I think started this mess because no sync after that.

She has a D7000 and shoots in JPEG+RAW so there are both JPEG and NEF versions for each image. The NEF-files are 25-35 MB in size each and about 40 images. I simply inserted the SD-card and allowed Photos to import the batch - my bad!

I have cleaned the entire import batch from icloud.com and emptied the "Recently Deleted" items there.

I have also deleted the entire import batch from Photos on the Mac and emptied Recently Deleted there as well.

Regarding videos - yes there are some videos in the library on iCloud. Longest about 4 minutes. I cannot see the format on icloud.com so I'm not sure about the format. I have 146 videos in icloud.com and in Photos.

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