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Can’t get iPhoto’s on external drive on to current Mac

My MacBook is a 2020 model. I found an external hard drive I thought I had lost. It was synced to an old MacBook from 2009. I was able to transfer everything onto my current MacBook except for all photos in iPhotos. I cannot view them or export them at all. I really want these photos. Any ideas how to get them on my Mac?

MacBook Air 13″

Posted on Jan 10, 2023 1:41 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 10, 2023 2:25 AM

You may want to copy the iPhoto Library from the external drive to your Pictures folder.

Then try to migrate the library to Photos .

  • If your Mac is running macOS 12 Monterey or an earlier system version, you can launch Photos while holding down the options key and select the saved iPhoto Library from the dialog to select a library to open it in Photos. This will create a new Photos library with the photos and albums from your iPhoto Library.
  • On macOS Ventura we can no longer convert iPhoto Libraries, but you can try to import the photos: Launch Photos, then use the command "File > Import" and select the iPhoto Library you copied to your Pictures folder. Then click the button "Check for Import" and import the photos to your Photos Library. This will only import the photos, not the albums and the keywords, however.
1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 10, 2023 2:25 AM in response to nrc1990

You may want to copy the iPhoto Library from the external drive to your Pictures folder.

Then try to migrate the library to Photos .

  • If your Mac is running macOS 12 Monterey or an earlier system version, you can launch Photos while holding down the options key and select the saved iPhoto Library from the dialog to select a library to open it in Photos. This will create a new Photos library with the photos and albums from your iPhoto Library.
  • On macOS Ventura we can no longer convert iPhoto Libraries, but you can try to import the photos: Launch Photos, then use the command "File > Import" and select the iPhoto Library you copied to your Pictures folder. Then click the button "Check for Import" and import the photos to your Photos Library. This will only import the photos, not the albums and the keywords, however.

Can’t get iPhoto’s on external drive on to current Mac

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