Photos app - masters folder is gone

@ Tony: Yes, Catalina replaces "Masters" by the new "originals".

@ Schelfhout

Compared to "Masters" the new folder is no longer human readable. It is no longer possible to find an image in the library package based on the original filename or based on the date of import. For me, it is a deal-breaker. It has been different in iPhoto and Aperture and the early versions of Photos.

Normally it should not matter, as Photos can find the files for us we want to access .

But it will matter in a case of an emergency. For example, if the Photos Library should get damaged and Photos can no longer open it, because repairing the library fails. Or, if we want to downgrade to a previous system version, or switch to a different platform, for example Linux, where we can no longer run Photos.

Then we will be stuck with our photos in a folder "originals", all image files renamed, so we cannot even sort them by the filename to get them into some reasonable sequence. It will be hard work to recover our photos and videos from this structure. Up to Photos 4 we could rest assured, that we could always easily recover our photos from a Photos Library, even if we are unable to open the library in Photos.

My strategy to protect myself against such an emergency to keep a backup of all original image files with their original filenames. Whenever I import new photos I archive them also on an external drive, by exporting them to folders named like the Moments - location and capture date in the format yyyy-mm-dd.

> It is no longer possible to find an image in the library package based on the original filename or based on the date of import

> Normally it should not matter, as Photos can find the files for us we want to access

> But it will matter in a case of an emergency

> Then we will be stuck with our photos in a folder "originals", all image files renamed, so we cannot even sort them by the filename to get them into some reasonable sequence

One option is to use the date as a filename (like 2022-0121-2025-00.m4v) and also set it as metadata date for images (ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal) and movies (QuickTime:CreateDate or Keys:CreationDate). Then import to Photos (and adjust the date only outside Photos...).

Then even if you have to grab imported movies like 912DC577-B1B8-40EE-9FF9-0F341EEB517E.m4v from the library package, you can still revert them to their original names very fast with 3rd party apps.

...yes, this is clumsy...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253334517?answerId=256242284022#256242284022

Hi - Why do you need it? You should be accessing your photos via the app, not by looking around in the library folders. They are not intended for end user access, which is why they are hidden by default.

In more recent versions of photos, the "masters" folder has been replaced by "originals". I'm not sure exactly what version the change was made, but I think it was with Photos 5/Catalina

It is not wasteful to have a copy of the originals, it doubles as an additional backup.