Photo cannot find library photos- Usually I back up on an external drive

Hello Apple Community,


I usually back up all photos on an external hard drive.

Recently, when I plug in my external hard drive, photo opens up but it will not import any of the photos.


I then noticed, when I plug my iphone in to charge on my Macbook Pro. The following message was coming up , Photos cannot find library “Photos Library.photoslibrary” This library was last found on a drive named “Samsung_T5”. Please attach that drive and click “Try Again”.

It then gives 3 options: "Try Again", "Open other" and "Quit"

*At this point the external hard drive is not connected


Today I tried "Open Other" and then it says "Choose Library".

There is a Photos Library (System Photo Library).

When I select that libarary, it opens and it will import photos.

However, this libarary is smaller (900 images compared to the 43,000 on my external drive).


  1. Firstly, how do I merge the libaray so that I only use the Photos on the external drive?
  2. Why did this happen in the first place?
  3. I am not sure how all this iCloud works or if it is related. When I go to settings on my iphone 13, icloud+ says that the app Photos is OFF and when I click on photos it says"An unknown error occurred. Please try again later"

When I click manage storage on my iphone, icloud photos is 73GB


Thank you




MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.5

Posted on Aug 27, 2024 9:52 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 28, 2024 1:21 AM

If you have your library on an external, and you launch Photos with the drive disconnected, it looks for the library and, if it's not available it can default to creating a new one. Solution: always have the library available when you launch Photos. If you hold the option key when launching Photos you can choose the library you want to open, or even simply double lick on the library you want to open.


Important: what format is that T5. IN needs to be formatted Mac OS X Extended, Journaled or apfs. Otherwise you wish dataloss and corruption of your Library.


The best way to merge libraries is with PowerPhotos: https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/


This is not related to iCloud.

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 28, 2024 1:21 AM in response to farrah__78

If you have your library on an external, and you launch Photos with the drive disconnected, it looks for the library and, if it's not available it can default to creating a new one. Solution: always have the library available when you launch Photos. If you hold the option key when launching Photos you can choose the library you want to open, or even simply double lick on the library you want to open.


Important: what format is that T5. IN needs to be formatted Mac OS X Extended, Journaled or apfs. Otherwise you wish dataloss and corruption of your Library.


The best way to merge libraries is with PowerPhotos: https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/


This is not related to iCloud.

Oct 11, 2024 8:22 PM in response to Yer_Man

Hello Yer_Man, thank you for your reply.


The T5 was formatted as exFat and was working fine for years. I found a couple of post where the same issue was happening with the Samsung T5 and sounds like a software update in April 2024 caused the issue.


I will try to reformatt the drive to Mac OS X extended but I am computer illiterate so fingers crossed I get it right.


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Photo cannot find library photos- Usually I back up on an external drive

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