Old Photos Library, new Mac

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Level 1

8 points

Old Photos Library, new Mac

Hello, I have a Mac Pro 5.1 running 10.14.6 that has my existing Photos library, and a new Mac Studio.

I can't make the old Photos Library the default library on my Mac Studio via network connection.

Would connecting the two machines via firewire/lightning adapter allow me to make the old library my default?

Have a new USB C drive bay coming tomorrow, and was just going to move the drives out of my old Mac Pro but if a $40 adapter can allow for what I want, then I'm all for it.

I also prefer the proven reliability of the Mac Pro as a drive bay vs, the new external one.

Mac Studio, macOS 14.4

Posted on Mar 16, 2024 11:57 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

202,795 points

Mar 16, 2024 12:15 PM in response to fluffyrock

it is not possible to share a Photos Library between a mac with maOS 10.14 and a newer mac with a newer system version. Once your new mac opens the 10.14 library you will no longer be able to open it on Mojave. If you want to keep the library identical and 8n sync on two macs with different system versions, keep the library in iCloud - each mac needs an own local copy on a local drive, and iCloud Photos will keep the libraries in sync.

You can share a library between two macs, if the system versions are identical, But the library has to be on an external drive with a wired connection, it cannot be shared on the local network.

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,430 points

Mar 16, 2024 4:04 PM in response to fluffyrock

You cannot use Photos over a network connection. This has always been the case, as it leads to silent and creeping corruption of the library and consequent dataloss. Since Sonoma, the pay check for the location of the library and won't open it if it's on a network share.

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Answer 3

fluffyrock Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 16, 2024 7:53 PM in response to Yer_Man

Thank you, Yer_Man. Yes, I know. I was hoping that I would be able to access the drives on my Mac Pro from my Mac Studio via a Frankenstein mix of firewire and USB C adapter.

I talked to someone at the Genius Bar today, and they said the most painless route would be to copy the photos to an external drive.

External drive bay coming to the rescue tomorrow. At least it was not that expensive.

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Answer 4

fluffyrock Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 16, 2024 2:04 PM in response to léonie

Thank you for the super fast answer léonie. :-)

Losing the ability to open the library on my old machine is okay because my goal is to fully transition to the new Mac ( I also have a duplicate that I would be able to get to if I needed for some reason). I just wanted the ability to use my existing file resources and storage space.

I had tried to make the old Photos library my default, but found this isn't possible over a network connection.

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Old Photos Library, new Mac

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