Opening Photos could not select my iPhoto library on another volume

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Opening Photos could not select my iPhoto library on another volume

I have my iPhoto library on a second volume, "Shared HD" so that all my user accounts (me, my wife) can access it, while still having our own user-specific features (our own Apple IDs, for example). It works fine in iPhoto. We originally opened it with the Option-open trick.

When I open Photos with the Option key held down, and go looking for this library, it is greyed out and unselectable. I can still open it just fine in iPhoto, but I cannot open it in Photos to begin the migration.

Do I have any recourse? Besides not using Photos, which I want to do.

I have tried copying the iPhoto Library to the main volume, to my user account, but there is not enough room on that volume (library is 350 GB, I have 119 GB free on that volume).

Update: I tried right clicking on the library and choosing Photos.app from the list, it opened the app and started importing, but stopped with the message: "This photo library is locked or you do not have permissions to make changes to it. Photos can try to repair the permissions." I chose not to repair the permissions at this time, but went to look at the permissions, and everything is "Read & Write" for everyone.

Thanks,

Danny.

P.S. - Part of the "it just works" narrative for Apple should include the ability for multiple users on one Mac to share a photo or music library seamlessly. Really, all this extra volumes, permissions, etc. crap is not the Apple way. /rantoff

Posted on Apr 8, 2015 2:28 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Apr 9, 2015 9:51 AM in response to Danny Novo

Do you still have the iPhoto application? If so open the library on the EHD with it and close. Then launch again with the Option+Command keys held down and run the following First Aid procedures: 1 - Repair Library Permissions and 2 - Repair Library Database.

Launch Photos again and try opening the library.

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Answer 2

Danny Novo Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 9, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad,

Thanks for the reply. I threw caution to the wind and let Photos perform the permissions repair it wanted to perform. Took a while (26,000 photos) but there was a nice progress bar and all is well now. I think it was confused by the separate volume (not, mind you, on an external drive, just a second partition, sorry I did not make that clear).

Thanks for your time and help.

For anyone else with similar problems, here is what I did in a nutshell:

1. Right/command-click on the iPhoto Library in the Finder.

2. Select "Open with..." and choose Photos (not iPhoto)

3. Take a deep breath, check your backups, down a shot, and let Photos repair your file permissions.

4. Wait.

Danny

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Answer 3

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Apr 26, 2015 10:50 PM in response to Old Toad

I have the same issue as the OP including the same external setup.

Any idea if it's better to have iPhoto repair permissions as you described or have the more recent Photos application do the repairing?

Secondly, any clues as to why permissions need repairing?

Thanks.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Apr 26, 2015 11:00 PM in response to LATrapp

Secondly, any clues as to why permissions need repairing?

Did you access the library from a second user account? And is it in a shared folder?

When you open an iPhoto library from a different user account and edit photos this way, the edited versions in the library will have a changed ownership. You are no longer the owner of parts of the files inside the iPhoto Library.

iPhoto '11 could share libraries, if the Ignore Ownership Flag was set, as described in this support document: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

Storing the library simply in a Shared folder did no longer suffice in iPhoto.

If the library is in an unsupported location and has permission issues, I'd repair it in iPhoto before migration it to Photos. That way, the migration will be smoother.

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Answer 5

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Apr 27, 2015 8:31 AM in response to léonie

Thanks Iéonie,

I only access from a single user on the same computer. However, I recently had to restore the computer from a recent Superduper backup.

Appreciate the link.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Apr 27, 2015 8:37 AM in response to LATrapp

However, I recently had to restore the computer from a recent Superduper backup.

Perhaps restoring has broken some of the internal links in the Library package.

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Answer 7

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Apr 27, 2015 11:04 PM in response to Danny Novo

** This worked for me and others having the same issue - you need to change the permissions for 'Everyone' on the external hard drive to Read & Write. It's not a permissions problem with the iPhoto Library itself, the problem is with the hard drive **

Easily fixed by a) selecting the external disk b) File>Get Info c) Clicking lock at bottom of window d) changing Everyone from 'Read Only' to 'Read & Write'

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Apr 28, 2015 12:20 AM in response to LATrapp

If it is a permissions issue you also need to set the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" flag, otherwise accessing the library from another user account will change the ownership of items inside the library package.

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Answer 9

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Apr 28, 2015 9:57 AM in response to léonie

Just tried clicking 'Ignore Ownership' and received the following error:

An unexpected error occurred (error code -8076).

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Answer 10

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Apr 28, 2015 10:17 AM in response to LATrapp

What gave this error? The Finder?

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Answer 11

LATrapp

Level 1

10 points

Apr 28, 2015 10:24 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for continuing trying to help.

Yes, the Finder when clicking the ignore box in the get info window. However I'm backing up the drive currently and wondering if I have to wait for that disk use to end before clicking the box...i'll know in 4 hours;)

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