iPhoto Library Issues - Error in file format

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Level 1

4 points

iPhoto Library Issues - Error in file format

Hello,

I am having horrible problems importing any photos to my iPhoto library. Photos from my iPhone are coming up as "cannot import item" "the item cannot be imported to your photo library because it may be an unrecognizable file format or the file may not contain valid data". "there was an error in attempting to free up disk space for import"

These photos were first off loaded to an expansion drive and I am trying to import them back (as the original way to import was not working from my iphone directly) into iphoto. They are jpeg files, standard.

Every since a software update mid summer, I have not been able to upload anything to my iPhoto libraries. I keep getting this message with zero work around or help.

I had to screen grab photos from my phone the last time as well.

Key facts

I have off loaded my photo libraries (created several of them to manage pictures) to my expansion drive

I have one photo library on my mac (2019) hard drive, the rest are offloaded to the expansion drive.

I have 500GB/1TB of free space on my mac

Please help! Thanks

iMac 21.5″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Sep 23, 2024 7:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,759 points

Sep 23, 2024 8:01 AM in response to Ar1F75

You mention iPhoto, but iPhoto can no longer run on macOS 14.

If you are using Photos for Mac, you may get the error messages on import, if the file system format of the external drive, where your Photos Library is located, is not compatible with Photos. Photos on macPO 14 requires us to keep the Photos Library on a compatible drive and will not let us im port photos into a library on an external volume with an incompatible file system format. The format of the external drive has to be either APFS or macOS extended (journaled). Make sure your extension drive has been prepared as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

For example, you must not keep your Photos Library on a drive formatted ExFAT. It will no longer work.

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Answer 2

Sep 23, 2024 10:16 AM in response to Ar1F75

If you have a Photos Library on an ExFat drive, it may look like it works for a while. The problem is that it may be getting gradually corrupted. We've seen lots of people using non-mac formatted drives suddenly having problems and saying, "But it's always worked before." I wouldn't open that library with Photos at all, and I'd be tempted to unplug the drive. Or, instead, I might make a new empty library on the internal drive and designate that new one as the System Library. That way Photos wouldn't be trying to work with your ExFat Library in the background.

There are some formats that will let you add a new volume on the fly, but ExFat isn't one of them. So, you're right, you have to transfer the stuff somewhere to reformat. You could even use another ExFat drive, and then reformat your hard drive. You could transfer stuff to a USB flash drive. Unfortunately, my experience is that, while they may appear quick for small transfers, flash drives are often incredibly slow for large transfers, and not so reliable.

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Answer 3

Ar1F75 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 23, 2024 8:49 AM in response to léonie

Thank you! Did that change for some reason? As of this summer, I was able to import and export from my external drive with zero issues when the drive was autoformatted as exfat. Which again was no problem when I did a major photo organize this summer. Now, all of sudden that format is not compatible with photos? (meant photos and no iphotos - at least that is what is listed on my mac now).

Now, obvious question, i cannot reformat my external unless i move everything (500gb) and then reformat, and then move back, right?

Lastly, when you say my photos libraries won't work - that is to say for importing and exporting, correct? . I can still see the libraries and open them up on my mac.

Thanks

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Answer 4

Ar1F75 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 26, 2024 4:39 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thank you for the help! I have all the pictures stored as separate folders in the expansion drive, so they are just not on the photos app. I mainly have them in the photos app incase I want to use display them on another computer/monitor. I guess I could just use my adobe bridge for that too...

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iPhoto Library Issues - Error in file format

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