Jules Gray

Q: Can't repair Photos library after Time Machine restore

I recently had to wipe my 27" iMac and reinstall it from a Time Machine backup. Photos was working fine before doing that, but now when I try and launch it I'km told it needs to repair the library. It gets to 95% before saying it can't repair the library, would I like to try another.

 

Anyone know a fix for this? All my photos are in the cloud, but I'm not sure if they're the originals or not. If I was to start a new library with the photos would they still match with the ones in iCloud or try and upload them all, therefore making duplicates?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 23, 2015 4:57 AM

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Q: Can't repair Photos library after Time Machine restore

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  • by LarryHN,Apple recommended

    LarryHN LarryHN Jun 23, 2015 6:30 AM in response to Jules Gray
    ( points)
    Jun 23, 2015 6:30 AM in response to Jules Gray

    If you read about iCloud you will see that your originals are there

     

    trash the Photos library and create a new one and let Photos populate it form the cloud - this may take some time so be patient

     

    LN

  • by Jules Gray,

    Jules Gray Jules Gray Jun 23, 2015 6:33 AM in response to LarryHN
    ( points)
    Jun 23, 2015 6:33 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks for your reply.

     

    The trouble is I don't want to have to download them all again to my Mac. My internet connection is slow and capped, so don't want to download 60GBs of photos.

  • by MCtosh15,

    MCtosh15 MCtosh15 Jul 11, 2015 6:17 AM in response to Jules Gray
    ( points)
    Jul 11, 2015 6:17 AM in response to Jules Gray

    I have exactly the same issue but with the difference that my library is not saved in the cloud. Only on my external drive and, after restoring the data from my timemachine backup on my macbook.

     

    Does anyone has an idea how I can fix this without the cloud?

     

    MacBook Pro 13", OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

  • by zoooolooo,

    zoooolooo zoooolooo Jul 11, 2015 10:50 AM in response to Jules Gray
    ( points)
    Jul 11, 2015 10:50 AM in response to Jules Gray

    Like MCtosh15, I have the identical problem.

    After the 3TB iMac disk replacement program, the restore from Time Machine yields the following:

     

    The library could not be opened. The library "Photos Library" could not be recognized.

     

    Repair will not repair the /Users/******/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary file.

    Yosemite 10.10.4

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 11, 2015 12:28 PM in response to MCtosh15
    ( points)
    Jul 11, 2015 12:28 PM in response to MCtosh15

    MCtosh15 wrote:

     

    I have exactly the same issue but with the difference that my library is not saved in the cloud. Only on my external drive and, after restoring the data from my timemachine backup on my macbook.

     

    Does anyone has an idea how I can fix this without the cloud?

     

    MacBook Pro 13", OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

    If your backup is not good and you have nothing on iCloud then your photos are gone - maybe you can salvage the originals by right clicking on the Photos library and copying the masters folder out and importing the originals into a new library

     

    LN

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 11, 2015 12:29 PM in response to zoooolooo
    ( points)
    Jul 11, 2015 12:29 PM in response to zoooolooo

    zoooolooo wrote:

     

    Like MCtosh15, I have the identical problem.

    After the 3TB iMac disk replacement program, the restore from Time Machine yields the following:

     

    The library could not be opened. The library "Photos Library" could not be recognized.

     

    Repair will not repair the /Users/******/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary file.

    Yosemite 10.10.4

    If your backup is not good and you have nothing on iCloud then your photos are gone - maybe you can salvage the originals by right clicking on the Photos library and copying the masters folder out and importing the originals into a new library

     

    LN

  • by MCtosh15,

    MCtosh15 MCtosh15 Jul 12, 2015 4:30 AM in response to LarryHN
    ( points)
    Jul 12, 2015 4:30 AM in response to LarryHN

    It works. I did read that moving the iphoto and the photos library to the desktop and move it back to the original folder. Then I tried it again and it still didn't work but I recognized that the name of the folder which  Photos wanted to open wasn't actually the same as the name of my Photos library. So I changed the name of my library to the one shown in Photos and restarted the computer afterwards. And now it works.

    I actually don't know what exactly made it work, but due to some threads which describe an similar problem with iPhoto back in the days moving the library from A to B and back and restarting the computer afterwards could be a possible solution.

     

    My Time Machine backup is actually a good one and works fine on my old macbook from which I transferred all the data some days ago. So I don't think the backup was broken in some way.

     

    I hope that helps and zoooolooo gets his library back asap.

  • by watsonfromarlington,

    watsonfromarlington watsonfromarlington Jul 22, 2015 8:20 AM in response to MCtosh15
    ( points)
    Jul 22, 2015 8:20 AM in response to MCtosh15

    So, I have the same problem. Are you saying that if (1) I move the photo library to the desktop (which is 60GB and says will take six hours) and then (2) move it back it will solve the problem? Does it require restart? Repair? Anyhthing in particular?

  • by zoooolooo,

    zoooolooo zoooolooo Jul 22, 2015 8:25 AM in response to Jules Gray
    ( points)
    Jul 22, 2015 8:25 AM in response to Jules Gray

    UPDATE from my earlier post.

     

    For me with the Time Machine Restore, I found that for whatever reason there were different versions of my photo database.

    The most recent restore was 30GB, (which was corrupt and incomplete), while a version from 1 day previously was 400GB.

    I moved the 400GB photo library over from Time Machine, and launched.... ALL PERFECT.

     

    All I can say is, I would ensure the version of the library from TM looks to be full size. Worked for me. Hope this helps someone.

  • by Ditheduck,

    Ditheduck Ditheduck Oct 6, 2015 8:36 AM in response to MCtosh15
    ( points)
    Oct 6, 2015 8:36 AM in response to MCtosh15

    I installed el capitan and everything looked good, including photos.  Then tried to load some more photos from my camera,   it was taking forever and kept stalling.  It then lost all but 10 photos from my photo library.   I restored the library from time machine, but it corrupted this restored library and loses all the photos again.   I've tried this three times.

    Any ideas?

  • by Ditheduck,

    Ditheduck Ditheduck Oct 6, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Ditheduck
    ( points)
    Oct 6, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Ditheduck

    Sorted my own problem.    El Capitan somehow created a new photos library and put 10 photos in it.   I eventually found (by looking for my last iPhoto library) the Photos library which I had been using and this works fine.   so my hint would be to find out if you have more than one photos library

  • by suniljadhav,

    suniljadhav suniljadhav Mar 20, 2016 9:57 PM in response to Jules Gray
    ( points)
    Mar 20, 2016 9:57 PM in response to Jules Gray

    I did a little trick to resolve this issue.

     

    I renamed the library name from 'Photos Library.photoslibrary' to 'iPhoto Library.photolibrary'. And opened the Photos application. It asked me to the library location. I pointed to the renamed library and voila!!! the Photos opened the library.

     

    I closed the Photos application and renamed the 'iPhoto Library.photolibrary' back to 'Photos Library.photoslibrary' and opened the Photos application again. It opened without any flaw.

     

    Disclaimer: Please try at your own risk but this trick worked for me!

     

    - Sunil Jadhav (Pune, India)

  • by TRUERUBEME,

    TRUERUBEME TRUERUBEME Sep 19, 2016 8:53 AM in response to Jules Gray
    ( points)
    Sep 19, 2016 8:53 AM in response to Jules Gray

    so is this normal after using time machine to restore?

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Sep 19, 2016 9:17 AM in response to TRUERUBEME
    ( points)
    Sep 19, 2016 9:17 AM in response to TRUERUBEME

    Is what normal? This is a long rambling thread

     

    if your rebuild or restore your Photos library then iCloud has no idea what you actually did or changed so of course when you to either of those it has to complare the iCloud library to the local one to see what you do have

     

    LN

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