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I had my photo library backed up to an external hard drive and now trying to open it on a new MacBook, the library is opening and loading but the loading stalls out and everything is there except the actual images. It’s just square boxes. I’ve tried command+option with no success.
MacBook Pro
The format is ExFAT. I took it in to a local shop in 2017 or 2018 to have it done so I don’t know anything beyond that. The MacBook was supposedly beyond repair, something with the mother board and they transferred everything to the hard drive. Photos is the only thing I have a problem accessing.
> ExFAT
Photos.app (and Final Cut etc) require APFS (SSD) or Mac OS Extended (HDD), GUID. Otherwise data-loss or some other errors can happen. Non-Mac formats like FAT or network shares are not supported. Also Finder > Get Info > Ignore ownership on this volume should be set.
The library needs to reside on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or apfs. Copy the library to an appropriately formatted disk and try again.
What format is the external drive? What app made the back up? Did you restore it first?
Accessing photos from external hard drive
