I cannot access my photos library.
My library is contained on an external drive. I disconnected it (normally) while I was away this past week to take my MacBook Pro with me. Now when I try I first get this.
When reply to the next step to try another lib. I get this (clicking on the same lib.)
Sure hope someone can help me recover. (~50K pictures in library)
[Edited by Moderator]
Mac mini, macOS 12.7
Well, having seen no replies, it occurred to me, just in case, to shut down and restart with the external drive attached. Bingo! This time clicking the link for the library brought it up.
TJM-Tom wrote:
it occurred to me, just in case, to shut down and restart with the external drive attached. Bingo! This time clicking the link for the library brought it up.
Good. But do make sure the external drive is formatted as APFS or MacOS Extended (GUID partition scheme), case insensitive because other formats like exFAT are not supported and might corrupt the library. Also make sure Finder > Get Info > Ignore ownership on this volume flag ON for that volume although that should be the default. Remember to backup that external drive to another external drive with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper.
This is what the Info Window looks like if you have a Case Sensitive format:
This volume is case-sensitive because I have pictures from old backups on it, and some files like IMG_1234.jpg are different from IMG_1234.JPG. To import them to Photos, or to use anywhere, really, I had to change all the JPGs to jpgs. Anyway, there are occasional uses for a case-sensitive format.
TJM-Tom wrote:
Thanks. Looks good except I don't know how to check for case insensitive.
If you have case insensitive filesystem, as you normally should, then you get this alert if trying to use these kind of folder or file names in the same folder:
...whereas in case sensitive filesystem this would be possible (but not recommended unless you know what you are doing):
Thanks. Looks good except I don't know how to check for case insensitive.
Thank you.
I cannot open my photos library.
