Can't access my library because my device doesn't support Sonoma's photos 9 version application.

I have MacBook Pro 2017, I happened to plug my external hard drive with another latest laptop to curate my photos library(just to curate my files faster). But not now when I am plugging the same external hard drive back to my old laptop I can't access my library because my laptop only supports photos 8 version of photos app. My device is not compatible with Sonoma's photos 9 version update so I can't upgrade to latest version of photos app and I can't access my library now.Please help.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.6

Posted on Oct 5, 2023 7:32 PM

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3 replies

Oct 5, 2023 8:02 PM in response to himanshu49

Hi himanshu49,

sorry to say it that hard, but as far as I know there is no way to downgrade your photos library back to photos 8.

You should never ever switch hard drives between different MacOS versions, bad things can happen.


Here one option to recover your photos in version 8.


Buy a new hard drive, connect this to your older MacBook


Format this hard drive exactly as described!

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support


Create a new system photos library on the new hard drive

Create additional photo libraries in Photos on Mac - Apple Support


Setup iCloud on both MacBooks

Set up iCloud on your Mac - Apple Support


Get an iCloud plan that will fit all your photos

iCloud+ plans and pricing - Apple Support


Then wait a few days until all your photos moved from your current hard drive to iCloud and then down to your new hard drive. Time will depend on the amount of photos and videos that you have.


After you have verified that all photo are download to the new hard drive in photos 8 you could cancel / downgrade your iCloud plan.



A second option would be to export all photos and import them in the new library.

But that is complicated and you would loos your folder / album structure.


Hope it will help

Regards

Ralf





Oct 6, 2023 2:32 AM in response to himanshu49

As long as you are using your photos on two Macs with different system versions, consider to keep an iCloud+ subscription and keep your photos library in iCloud. That is exactly what iCloud Photos is best for - giving you access to your photos on all Apple devices, independent of your system version or the platform. I just love that I can access my photos and work with on my iPad, iPhone all my Macs with Mojave, Monterey, Sonoma. Particularly now, where we finally can add captions to our photos directly on the iPhone. When I take a photo with the iPhone or iPad, I can immediately add a caption to remember, why I took the photo and what it is showing, and then I can see this later on my Mac, when I want to organize the photos.

Can't access my library because my device doesn't support Sonoma's photos 9 version application.

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