Very ODD happening to Photos on iMac

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Level 1

80 points

Very ODD happening to Photos on iMac

Access and use Photos daily with no problem. This morning, however, I am hit with concerns... Yesterday I took a number of pics with iphone. I cropped and added to a new album. It all shows as normal as can be, both on iphone and MacBook. However, when I opened photos on iMac, it indicated the library would not open. I quit & reopened with option, chose the only library but still unable to open. Reopened with option/command to rebuild and now I am seeing a library of photos that does not match my iphone or MacBook-the photos showing are those from a few days ago, ones that have been deleted on iphone are there are not the newer photos taken a yesterday. I open icloud photos on imac and initially see all photos in the library, but then they turn gray. When I choose albums, they are OK, but back to library and they turn gray. I fear that something is going to happen to my photos in icloud as I try to correct what is happening to my photos on iMac.

Should I rebuild the library with option/command or create a new library , or what? Help please...

iMac 24″, macOS 13.3

Posted on May 13, 2023 4:40 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

léonie

Level 10

195,539 points

May 13, 2023 5:46 AM in response to DJMc

What has been changed between yesterday and today? Did you install a system update on your Mac?

It looks like photos were using a different Photos Library from before. Where has your Photos Library been. stored? Photos may not be able to open your library, if it is stored on an external drive, if the external drive is not compatible with Photos, even if Photos could use the library previously on older system versions. If the library has been on an external drive, check, if it compatible as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

In particular:

The external drive needs a wored connection- it must not be shared on the local network
The file system format should be APFS or MacOS Extended (Journaled)
The volume with the library must not have been used for Time Maschine backups.

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Answer 2

DJMc Author

Level 1

80 points

May 13, 2023 7:41 AM in response to léonie

léonie

No new updates or anything else. OS is 13,3,1, the same as my macbook. The library is located in Pictures on the iMac HDD. Should I just create a new library and let it all get downloaded from icloud? The current library, when opened, says "restoring from icloud" but nothing changes.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

195,539 points

May 13, 2023 8:40 AM in response to DJMc

" Should I just create a new library and let it all get downloaded from icloud? "

That is what I am doing, when Photos stops syncing with iCloud and is hanging on "restoring from icloud" for several days. For me this has happened after each major new system upgrade.

Rebuilding the library this way is usually working very well. The drawback will be, that the projects will be missing, so you need to save the current library, if you have to save projects. Also, some of the manually added faces may not sync back from iCloud.

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