Keep getting message "Photos cannot find library photoslibrary". This library was last found on a drive named “My Book”. Please attach that drive and click “Try Again”.
It is in my iCloud and can open from other devices. This is more than frustrating.
How do I attach it from "My Book"?
Thank you for your help. I've been working on this for a month.
Margi
iMac 24″, macOS 13.3
I don't understand this" "It is in my iCloud and can open from other devices"
Do you mean the Photoslibrary is on your iCloud Drive? Or do you mean that you have your pictures synced with your devices using iCloud.com/Photos?
Yer_Man asked about your external drive because Photos Libraries cannot be used from the iCloud drive or any networked drive. To get full functionality (and to avoid damaging the Photos Library) an external drive must directly connected and must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted. See this:
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
If you have the Photos Library on your properly formatted My Book, then you can double click on it and it will open in Photos.
If your pictures are synced with iCloud.com/Photos, then you can create a new library with he option-click that Yer_Man referred to. You can even tell Photos to create the new Library on your properly formatted My Book. Then, in Photos/Settings, you should set the new library to be your System Library, turn on iCloud, and sit back and wait for Photos to download all our pictures from iCloud.com. It'll take maybe days. I'd keep the computer on over night and have Photos in the background so the computer doesn't think you're busy with the app.
I don't understand this" "It is in my iCloud and can open from other devices"
Do you mean the Photoslibrary is on your iCloud Drive? Or do you mean that you have your pictures synced with your devices using iCloud.com/Photos?
Yer_Man asked about your external drive because Photos Libraries cannot be used from the iCloud drive or any networked drive. To get full functionality (and to avoid damaging the Photos Library) an external drive must directly connected and must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted. See this:
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
If you have the Photos Library on your properly formatted My Book, then you can double click on it and it will open in Photos.
If your pictures are synced with iCloud.com/Photos, then you can create a new library with he option-click that Yer_Man referred to. You can even tell Photos to create the new Library on your properly formatted My Book. Then, in Photos/Settings, you should set the new library to be your System Library, turn on iCloud, and sit back and wait for Photos to download all our pictures from iCloud.com. It'll take maybe days. I'd keep the computer on over night and have Photos in the background so the computer doesn't think you're busy with the app.
Hold down the Option key and launch Photos. From there you can choose the library to open.
Is "My Book" an external drive? How are you connected to it? What format is it?
I have tried the option key hold down several times. It shows no libraries from which to select.
"My Book" is my external drive.
Thank you.
What format is the MyBook?
Is it a NAS?
I don't really know why, but now I can view my photos on Mac.
Thank you for your assistance.
Margi
I don't really know why, but now I can view my photos on Mac.
Thank you for your assistance.
Margi
Well, that's great! Sometimes computers are just weird...
Unable to open Photos
