HELP! Lost important photos! Photos library empty after renaming external/transferring Library to newer external.

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HELP! Lost important photos! Photos library empty after renaming external/transferring Library to newer external.

Hello!

So I recently switched my system photo library to an external harddrive (5TB) - I just purchased a 14TB and wanted to transfer everything from 5TB to the 14TB.

I renamed the 5TB external HDD
I dragged the system photos library that was in the 5TB HDD to the 14TB external HDD - the process was taking awhile so I stopped it before it began transferring. I thought I should check the photoslibrary to make sure everything was in there and thats when I received the error message that said something along the lines of: photos library cannot open because it cannot find the (old name) external
SO I renamed the 5TB external BACK to it's original name, which then made the photos library open up and ....... EVERYTHING IS GONE. Not one photo in there....I lost some critical photos/footage that I need to use for my business.

I do not have Time Machine or iCloud setup.....I don't know if I have ever backed up this macbook and if I did accidentally do that somehow without notice, it wouldn't have been within the last month (which is the timeframe of footage that I need)

I tried repairing the library with [ control+option+double click photos in application folder ] no luck.

I have looked in the Trash folder and there's nothing in there either...

Is it possible to recover the system photos library? I am so curious if the external rename messed it up or if it was trying to transfer it from one external to the other (I didn't realize I could have multiple photos libraries on different externals, which is what I ultimately would have wanted to do.)

Probably booking an appointment with an Apple Genius to figure this out ASAP but any help here is appreciated.

Sonoma 14.1.1 MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.1

Posted on Nov 29, 2023 10:40 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

203,383 points

Nov 30, 2023 12:43 AM in response to gemzaquari

What is the size of the copy of your library on the external drive? Is it large enough to contain all your photos? The size should be plenty of GB, not just a few MB. If the library is large, you may be able to recover your photos from it, even Photos cannot open it.

Is your new external drive compatible with Photos? Photos on macOS Sonoma cannot work with a Photos Library on a volume, that is not compatible. Your external drive needs to be prepared as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

The essential points to consider are:

The external drive needs wired connection. It must not be a NAS.
The file system format should be MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS.
The drive must not be your Time Machine drive.
The external drive must be plugged not your Mac as ling as you are signed into your user account, even if you are not using Photos.

If the drive is meeting all requirements, quit Photos, if it is running, then try to open the library in Photos by double-clicking the library on the external drive. Can Photos open it, when you select the library directly?

Can Photos repair the library, if you quit Photos, then hold down the key combination ⌥⌘ while double clicking the library on the external, not the Photos.app?

If Photos can neither open nor repair the library, it might have become damaged, when you interrupted the copy.

In that case, look into the Photos Library package, if the re are still any photos and videos inside.

To pen the Photos Library package, crtl-click it, then use the command "Show package contents".

Then look for a folder "originals". You should be seeing sixteen subfolders with image files inside. These are your original image files, renamed by photos with cryptic, unique names. Are any image files there?

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HELP! Lost important photos! Photos library empty after renaming external/transferring Library to newer external.

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