I am trying to designate a Photos Library on a network drive as my system library. Every time I choose it the App says the library is in use by another program. So I tried rebuild and that only works on the current library. How can I unlock the remote file?
Mac Pro, macOS 12.6
The problem turned out to be that another computer had mounted one of the volumes on the NAS. As soon as that was ejected, I was able to designate the Photos library.
The problem turned out to be that another computer had mounted one of the volumes on the NAS. As soon as that was ejected, I was able to designate the Photos library.
and is hung off a Mac Pro server and is shared on our local network. I don't see the difference between an external drive and one shared over a network except perhaps speed of read and write.
Except Apple tell you not to do that in this article (emphasis added): Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
You can't store your library on a storage device used for Time Machine backups. And to avoid possible data loss, don't store your library on a removable storage device like an SD card or USB flash drive, or on a device shared over your network or the internet, including over a cloud-based storage servic
Again, a Photos Library on an inappropriately formatted disk and/or a Network Share will be prone to corruption and dataloss. This is not an appropriate location for a Photos Library. It needs to be on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or apfs and directly connected to your Mac.
You will risk to lose your photos by keeping the library on a NAS. Even if it appears to be working, the library may silently become damaged in the background. The only way Apple guarantees that a library will be save on an external volume is described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Photos Library must be stored on a Mac OS Extended or APFS file system format. There is not other way it will work correctly.
Not easy because the network volume may come back in under a different name.
It also is very slow because how Photos works, is it manages all the files as an XML file mapping of your files even if you tell it not to manage the library. So adding a network file path is going to be dependent on the speed of your network to your network file share. Now the good news is, if your network drive is a Mac booting drive that has the same AppleID assigned to it, or has one on Family File Sharing, you can see the photos on another boot drive on a different computer by sharing the library on the external network drive. Though you won't be able to make changes to the library unless you remote into the library's home location with Screen Sharing or Anydesk.
Sorry, the network drive is a shared network storage drive hung off a 5,1 Mac Pro. The Photos app is on the Mac Pro and the existing library is on the NAS box. The app has defaulted to the user/Pictures/Photos Library and I can't change that. When I go to change the library to the existing library on the NAS, Photos tells me the file is in use by another app and is locked. I don't have another app running on any devices with the file open. How can I unlock the file or rebuild the library when the app does not permit me to select any other file to rebuild? Do I need to change permissions on the file?
The drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and is hung off a Mac Pro server and is shared on our local network. I don't see the difference between an external drive and one shared over a network except perhaps speed of read and write.
The drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and is hung off a Mac Pro server and is shared on our local network.
That's not a NAS.
I don't know if a network share is an appropriate location for a Photos Library. I don't know of an article that lists the required storage locations other than it needing to be a modern Mac disk format.
Photos Designated Library
