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Lost Photos after Upgrading to Monterey

I didn't have enough room on my MacBook before upgrading. I did a backup of my computer as well as copy my Photos App over to my portable hard drive. I also copied all of my videos and put them in a separate folder. After the update it no longer lets me get to my Photos App (has a circle with a line through it) and the videos I copied over are now all photos. Is there any way of getting my photos and videos back without going back to the older OS version?

Posted on Dec 23, 2021 11:11 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 24, 2021 1:17 AM

If you are dragging the app, that is why it won't work. The app is updated as part of the MacOS - so your version 7 app will be in the applications folder. You shouldn't be moving the app anywhere else.


The app does not contain your photos, the library (in your pictures folder) is what contains the photos.


Open the Photos app from the applications folder, and it will probably find your library. If it doesn't close it again, hold the option key while starting it a second time, and open the library (something.photoslibrary - normally photos library.photoslibrary) from wherever you have stored it (on the external drive? - or if you haven't moved the library, in your pictures folder)

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 24, 2021 1:17 AM in response to Harrybosch

If you are dragging the app, that is why it won't work. The app is updated as part of the MacOS - so your version 7 app will be in the applications folder. You shouldn't be moving the app anywhere else.


The app does not contain your photos, the library (in your pictures folder) is what contains the photos.


Open the Photos app from the applications folder, and it will probably find your library. If it doesn't close it again, hold the option key while starting it a second time, and open the library (something.photoslibrary - normally photos library.photoslibrary) from wherever you have stored it (on the external drive? - or if you haven't moved the library, in your pictures folder)

Lost Photos after Upgrading to Monterey

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