Error opening Photos after upgrade from Mojave to Catalina

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Error opening Photos after upgrade from Mojave to Catalina

I recently upgraded my 2013 late model iMac OS from Mojave to Catalina (10.15.7). Upon launching Photos in Catalina, a dialogue shows a migration in process. It goes as far as 7% then jumps to 100% and gives the error:

I have not found a solution except to try creating a bootable Mojave environment and then attempt a repair of the Photo Library with Photos 4.0. Has anyone had success with this approach.

I have a flash drive with the Mojave Installer and have attempted to install Mojave onto an external HD. The installation appears to be successful, but the external HD with Mojave will not appear as a bootable drive upon restart and holding down the Option key.

Please let me know if you can help me with my solution approach or creating a Mojave bootable external HD.

Thank you.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jan 13, 2022 12:00 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

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Jan 14, 2022 1:02 AM in response to SWL1015

Is your Photos LIbrary in iCloud?

If you previously stored your Photos LIbrary in iCloud, you can create a new, empty Photos Library by launching Photos while holding down the options key ⌥. Release the key, when the Library Chooser appears. Select to create a new library.

Does Photos open correctly on a new library?

If you can get Photos started on a new library, enable this library as the system photos Library (Photos > Preferences General: Use as System Photos Library).

Then make it your iCloud Photos Library in Photos > Preferences > iCloud. Enable iCloud Photos.

Then wait for your library to download back to your Mac from iCloud.

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Answer 2

SWL1015 Author

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Jan 13, 2022 1:15 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi Tony

Yes, I have 2 backups of the photo library created from Carbon Copy Cloner plus I have a Time Machine backup.

The library that is being migrated (it's happening automatically when I launch Photos) is the system Photo library on my iMac SSD.

Thanks.

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Answer 3

Jan 13, 2022 1:25 PM in response to SWL1015

Good news on the backup front.

First thing I would try would be to copy one of the carbon copy backups back into the pictures folder to a new name, then open that by starting photos with the option key pressed.

If that fails, I'd restart in safe mode and try again.

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Answer 4

SWL1015 Author

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Jan 13, 2022 3:32 PM in response to TonyCollinet

I copied a backup Photo Library to the system SSD. I named it Photo Library and renamed the original library to Photos Library Orig. I then launched Photos and selected the Photo Library. I encountered the same error "An error occurred while migrating the photo library. I tried in Safe Mode and received the same error again.

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Answer 5

SWL1015 Author

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Jan 14, 2022 7:01 AM in response to léonie

My Photos Library is not in iCloud but I have enabled iCloud Photo Sharing so some photos are in iCloud. I will try some older (or other) photo libraries to see if they will open with Photos in Catalina.

Do you have any thoughts on the approach I was taking create a Mojave environment and attempt a repair on my Photo Library there?

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Answer 6

SWL1015 Author

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Jan 14, 2022 8:20 AM in response to SWL1015

I was successful opening a Photos Library temp file that had a small number of photos (<50).

For the error I am receiving when attempting to open my System Photo Library, are there some logs I can share that would be useful to know what is going on?

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Answer 7

SWL1015 Author

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Jan 17, 2022 5:18 PM in response to SWL1015

Update: I visited the Genius Bar at the Apple Store today. They ran tests on the system SSD and on the software. All tests passed. The recommendation was to create a new Photos Library and drag all photos in the Masters folders of the then-current Photos Library to the new Photos Library. I was successful dragging the photos over and the new Photos Library opens as it should. My next step is to see how I can reclaim all of my photo albums that existed in the corrupt Photos Library. Anyone have ideas on that?

Thanks.

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Answer 8

Jan 13, 2022 12:52 PM in response to SWL1015

Hi

First - do you have a backup of the library from before the migration attempt?

Second - where is the library that you are migrating stored? If on an external drive, what is the format?

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Error opening Photos after upgrade from Mojave to Catalina

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