Photos library size GROSSLY exaggerated! (280+ TB!!!)

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Photos library size GROSSLY exaggerated! (280+ TB!!!)

My photos library is currently on an external 1TB ssd. However—and get this—it's stated size in Finder is 282TB!!!! Get Info states it's 597GB on disk. What in the world is going on here? There is no way the amount of photos I have is anywhere close to that size.

I discovered this as I just purchased a new M4 Mini (base model) and am using a 4TB external SSD as the startup disk. When I tried to to transfer the Photos library from my old to new media I got the "there isn't enough space" message, which makes no sense as 4TB is way more space than what I need.

This is frustrating and a real puzzler. Anyone have any idea what could be going on here?

Mac mini, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 9, 2024 12:06 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 9, 2024 3:39 PM in response to twobikeminimum

First— is this your default photos library? Also, is this library syncing to iCloud?

If this library is syncing to iCloud:

This would imply it is the default library and you can open the library, check if all the photos are synced to iCloud— potentially done easiest by checking the number of photos/videos on another device or by going to iCloud.com. If all of the photos are synced to iCloud, close photos, erase the photos library file, and start over.

If this library isn't syncing to iCloud:

I would start by opening the photos library, highlighting all of the photos, and "export unmodified originals" to your external 4TB drive. This is a starting point to try to back up all of your photos in case there is data corruption.

Next, set your default library to this library if it isn't already. This is done through photos preferences.

Then, follow these steps to repair your photos library:

How to use the Photos Repair Library tool on your Mac - Apple Support

If this fails, and you have the backup of your photos we talked about earlier, close, photos and erase the .photoslibrary file, then open photos, create a new library, and import the backed-up photos.

Hope this helps!

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Answer 2

Nov 10, 2024 1:27 PM in response to Danny Dorazio

Good call! I did repair the library and that seemed to do the trick: the size went down from the aforementioned astronomical 282TB to a more reasonable 500-something GB. This allowed me to copy the library from the old 1TB external SSD to my new 4TB external SSD that I'm using as my startup and storage drive (OWC Express 1M2 enclosure with a Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD) for the base M4 mini. Once transferred, I assigned this library as the system library (which it was on my previous Intel mini, synced to iCloud) and set iCloud to "download all originals to this Mac", which it currently is doing. The library size (on the new drive) is already over 1TB and is still synching and I'm not sure how high it'll go. This is really weird since I know I don't have that amount of photos and videos. In any case, I do appreciate all the help and I will post an update if things do not settle back down into what appears to be normal behavior.

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Answer 3

Nov 9, 2024 3:40 PM in response to Danny Dorazio

Edit, if photos are synced to iCloud, try repairing the library before deleting it and starting over.

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Answer 4

Nov 12, 2024 10:22 PM in response to twobikeminimum

twobikeminimum wrote:

So the size of my Photos library on the new SSD is currently 1.11TB and growing as I type. On iCloud, the size of my library is 529.8GB.

The "iPod Photo Cache" folder inside the library is initially empty but is populated at least when syncing via USB to an iPad. For example in my 400 GB library that folder grew about 80 GB after syncing. In the past I have fixed sync problems by deleting that folder (might be risky to mess inside the library so make a backup before doing so!).

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,274 points

Nov 9, 2024 3:51 PM in response to twobikeminimum

What format is the disk? It needs to be formatted Mac OS X Extended, Journaled or apfs

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Answer 6

Nov 10, 2024 1:28 PM in response to Yer_Man

It's APFS. Thanks for reminding me that I hadn't mentioned that in my previous post.

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Answer 7

Nov 10, 2024 2:02 PM in response to twobikeminimum

So the size of my Photos library on the new SSD is currently 1.11TB and growing as I type. On iCloud, the size of my library is 529.8GB. What in the world can be going on here? At some point I'm going to have to stop the iCloud library sync because I fear it may fill up my new drive entirely... ARGHGH! This is why I didn't want to be premature in thinking this issue was completely resolved after the 'repair library' executed properly ;-)

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Answer 8

Nov 10, 2024 3:22 PM in response to twobikeminimum

(An hour or so later...) The library size maxed out at 1.1TB and is now steadily decreasing in size (currently at 992 GB). It will be interesting to see if it eventually matches the size of the library as reflected in iCloud—which I assume is what it's supposed to be.

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Answer 9

Nov 12, 2024 11:37 AM in response to twobikeminimum

As a final update, the library continued to shrink until settling at around 600GB, which is larger than before but more in line with what is expected. Thanks again to all who responded and helped me to figure this out! :)

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Answer 10

Nov 9, 2024 3:25 PM in response to twobikeminimum

Here is a screenshot of what I'm seeing...

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Photos library size GROSSLY exaggerated! (280+ TB!!!)

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