User profile for user: posok3
posok3 Author
User level: Level 1
11 points

Mac Photos app will no longer import photos

Been transferring old photos from a backup hard drive into the MacOS Photos app. Was working fine, then suddenly stopped working, although both iCloud and local drive have plenty of storage and I'm importing from the same drive that worked before. No error, message, the app lets me click "import new photos", and then nothing happens and the photos aren't imported. I tried re-booting, which has fixed a similar problem in the past (a problem which at least gave me an error message to let me know the photos weren't imported), but no luck this time.


Any suggestions would be very welcome!

MacBook Air 13″

Posted on Jul 19, 2024 9:45 AM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7
23,608 points

Posted on Jul 19, 2024 9:56 AM

What is the format of your hard drive? If it's not Apple, it might matter, though I'd be surprised. But we know that a Photos Library doesn't work on a drive that's not formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Is your Photos Library on an external drive?


What happens if you transfer pictures to the Desktop on your internal drive, and then import from there?


Before going deeper, try these things:

  • Restart the computer (of course, you've already tried this...)
  • Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

        Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

  • Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it
  • Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.


The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work also helps figure out what's happening.



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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7
23,608 points

Jul 19, 2024 9:56 AM in response to posok3

What is the format of your hard drive? If it's not Apple, it might matter, though I'd be surprised. But we know that a Photos Library doesn't work on a drive that's not formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Is your Photos Library on an external drive?


What happens if you transfer pictures to the Desktop on your internal drive, and then import from there?


Before going deeper, try these things:

  • Restart the computer (of course, you've already tried this...)
  • Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

        Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

  • Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it
  • Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.


The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work also helps figure out what's happening.



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Mac Photos app will no longer import photos

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