User profile for user: JeffW2011
JeffW2011 Author
User level: Level 1
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Unable to export unmodified original (Unknown error -1)

Ninjadudeman0 mentioned this same issue last month and I'm having it as well. I am finding when I went to export about 75 photos, literally 25% of them had the error and would not export. In addition, I could not edit the photos and got a "Cannot Start Editing Photos cannot load edits for this image." error message. When I tried to "Revert to Original" the photo image disappeared and is now gone for that specific photo --- very concerning.


I am not able to determine why there are some photos that work and some that don't, can't seem to find any correlation between them. I have notified Apple Support Photos, they have done screen shots and run logs, so I'm hoping there is some way to fix. My current library was a restore from TimeMachine, so a bit concerned that Apple may have a bug with their TimeMachine backups for Photos Library.


Anyone else find a solution? Like Ninjadudeman0 I tried doing a restore, library repair, and still nothing.



MacBook Air 15″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 18, 2025 9:15 PM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
200,759 points

Posted on Feb 19, 2025 1:56 AM

You wrote: "My current library was a restore from TimeMachine, so a bit concerned that Apple may have a bug with their TimeMachine backups for Photos Library. "


There are several possible reasons, why the Time Machine backup of a Photos Library may be incomplete, with missing originals.

  • Referenced files: The items in question may have not been copied into your Photos Library on import but are referenced in the original location. If items are imported as referenced is determined by the Photos > Settings at the time of import. Time Machine does not backup the referenced files. You have to look at the backup of the original location to recover the originals.
  • iCloud Photos: When you are using iCloud Photos, Time Machine can only backup the items that are currently downloaded from iCloud. if you are using "Optimize Mac Storage" your Time Machine backup of the Photos Library is usually incomplete, because the originals of the optimized versions are missing. You have to backup the originals separately. Even with "Download originals" instead of "Optimize storage" some originals may be missing, if Photos never got around to download them.
  • A damaged Photos Library: If you have been using unsafe third-party apps to clean your library and remove duplicates, these apps may have damaged the library and created incorrect links or even have removed originals as unnecessary working copies. The library may also have become damaged, when it has been stored on an incompatible external drive or a network share or in a synced folder, for example DropBox or iCloud Drive. Some external editors are also known for creating occasionally incorrect links in the library.
  • A migrated library: If your Photos library has been migrated from iPhoto or Aperture, some of the older images may still be referenced. There has been a short time, where Aperture would migrate iPhoto libraries by referencing the shared originals in the original iPhoto Library and we had to take care to preserve the original iPhoto Library.

Could any of these reasons apply in your case?



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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
200,759 points

Feb 19, 2025 1:56 AM in response to JeffW2011

You wrote: "My current library was a restore from TimeMachine, so a bit concerned that Apple may have a bug with their TimeMachine backups for Photos Library. "


There are several possible reasons, why the Time Machine backup of a Photos Library may be incomplete, with missing originals.

  • Referenced files: The items in question may have not been copied into your Photos Library on import but are referenced in the original location. If items are imported as referenced is determined by the Photos > Settings at the time of import. Time Machine does not backup the referenced files. You have to look at the backup of the original location to recover the originals.
  • iCloud Photos: When you are using iCloud Photos, Time Machine can only backup the items that are currently downloaded from iCloud. if you are using "Optimize Mac Storage" your Time Machine backup of the Photos Library is usually incomplete, because the originals of the optimized versions are missing. You have to backup the originals separately. Even with "Download originals" instead of "Optimize storage" some originals may be missing, if Photos never got around to download them.
  • A damaged Photos Library: If you have been using unsafe third-party apps to clean your library and remove duplicates, these apps may have damaged the library and created incorrect links or even have removed originals as unnecessary working copies. The library may also have become damaged, when it has been stored on an incompatible external drive or a network share or in a synced folder, for example DropBox or iCloud Drive. Some external editors are also known for creating occasionally incorrect links in the library.
  • A migrated library: If your Photos library has been migrated from iPhoto or Aperture, some of the older images may still be referenced. There has been a short time, where Aperture would migrate iPhoto libraries by referencing the shared originals in the original iPhoto Library and we had to take care to preserve the original iPhoto Library.

Could any of these reasons apply in your case?



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Unable to export unmodified original (Unknown error -1)

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