mr88cet
Level 1 (15 points)
Apple Watch

Q: Upgrade to Yosemite and Turn on iCloud Photo Lib.

OK, just upgraded to Yosemite and want to setup iCloud Photo Library.  Sequence of events:

  • Upgraded to Yosemite
  • Fired up Photos.
  • Hit "Get Started"
  • Hit "Use iCloud Photo Library"
  • It said, "Preparing Library..."
  • It got up to 13% and then said, "Photos was unable to make a copy of your library before preparing it. There were file system or hardware issues..."
  • I'm trying out all of the things mentioned on "If Photos can’t copy or create a library - Apple Support" no signs of disk corruption (before upgrading, I ran the drive through Diskwarrior, and Disk Utility sees no problems now, although it did do some permission fixing).  I'm in the process now of copying to an external drive, even if only so that I'll have a backup later.

 

Nevertheless, a more-fundamental question:  Is this copy it's failing on...

  • A copy internally from one file to another, such as to update its format from older iPhoto world to the new Photos format, or...
  • Is it *the* copy from my HD out onto iCloud?

If this copy is just an initial transfer to a new Photos format (and if it can do that from the copy on the external drive better) then that would be a one-time thing, and it's fine.  If, however, I have to then subsequently always have my photo library on then external HD, then ... not so good.  If it is *the* copy up to iCloud, then obviously that won't be an issue.

 

Related question:   Would it be preferable to let Photos set everything up in its own world, entirely locally, and then afterward turn on iCloud Photo Library?

 

Thanks for the thoughts!

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 8x2.8GHz, 2560x1600 Cinema HD

Posted on Aug 31, 2015 11:19 AM

by LarryHN,Solvedanswer
LarryHN LarryHN
Level 10 (84,857 points)
Photos for Mac
A:

try backing up your iPhoto library and launching iPhoto while holding down the option and command keys (you do need the current version 9..1 - if you do not keep you software up to date see Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store ) and repair permissions and then rebuild your database and then migrate again (drag the rebuilt iPhoto library to the Photos icon in the Dock)

 

LN

Posted on Aug 31, 2015 12:30 PM

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mr88cet

Q: Upgrade to Yosemite and Turn on iCloud Photo Lib.

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  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 11:40 AM in response to mr88cet
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 11:40 AM in response to mr88cet

    I'm thinking this must be a strictly-internal copy, rather than the copy up to the iCloud Photo Library, because it appears to be doing the same thing even if I tell it "Later" for using iCloud Photo Library.

     

    I'm not yet sure whether, if I point it to my copy of the library on my external drive, it will forever (or at least until I copy it all up to iCloud) I'll be enslaved to having my photos on that external drive.  That, as opposed to it just using the copy on the external drive as a source from which to create a local copy in a new format...

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 11:58 AM in response to mr88cet
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 11:58 AM in response to mr88cet

    OK, that's interesting:  Doing this process from the copy on my external hard drive, it fails at exactly the same 13% point!

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 12:10 PM in response to mr88cet
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 12:10 PM in response to mr88cet

    Reboot doesn't help...

  • by LarryHN,Solvedanswer

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 31, 2015 12:30 PM in response to mr88cet
    Level 10 (84,857 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 31, 2015 12:30 PM in response to mr88cet

    try backing up your iPhoto library and launching iPhoto while holding down the option and command keys (you do need the current version 9..1 - if you do not keep you software up to date see Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store ) and repair permissions and then rebuild your database and then migrate again (drag the rebuilt iPhoto library to the Photos icon in the Dock)

     

    LN

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 1:07 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 1:07 PM in response to LarryHN

    Done all of the above.  It gets to 13% and dies.  Hmmm...

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 31, 2015 1:38 PM in response to mr88cet
    Level 10 (84,857 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 31, 2015 1:38 PM in response to mr88cet

    Down IPLM and use the free trial's rebuild command to create a totally new library leaving the original iphoto library untouched - migrate the rebuild library

     

    LNM

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 1:49 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 1:49 PM in response to LarryHN

    Sounds promising...  I'll give it a whirl!

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 2:04 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 2:04 PM in response to LarryHN

    Hmmm...  Two concerns:

    • In the rebuild preview at least, it doesn't look like videos survived.
    • IPLM appears to need to launch iPhoto for whatever reason, and of course the version of iPhoto I have on the system now is for Mavericks, and the Mac is now running Yosemite...

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 31, 2015 3:28 PM in response to mr88cet
    Level 10 (84,857 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 31, 2015 3:28 PM in response to mr88cet

    you need version 9.6.1 - see  Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

    as posted above

     

     

    and if iPhoto will not launch exactly how did you do the iPhoto rebuild I suggested that you stated did not correct the issue?

     

    try backing up your iPhoto library and launching iPhoto while holding down the option and command keys (you do need the current version 9..1 - if you do not keep you software up to date see Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store ) and repair permissions and then rebuild your database and then migrate again (drag the rebuilt iPhoto library to the Photos icon in the Dock)

    to which you replied

     

    Done all of the above.  It gets to 13% and dies.  Hmmm...

     

    LN

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 3:43 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 3:43 PM in response to LarryHN

    So, it gave me an error message to that effect:  the iPhoto version on my system won't run under Yosemite.  However, it does appear to have created a rebuilt library anyway.  Maybe it was opening iPhoto, just as a courtesy so to speak, and didn't need to do the rebuild. 

     

    Since I didn't see my movies in the preview screen, I'm not so sure about using it, but I will, shortly, see whether or not Yosemite's Photos is able to open that rebuilt library.

  • by mr88cet,

    mr88cet mr88cet Aug 31, 2015 7:09 PM in response to mr88cet
    Level 1 (15 points)
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    Aug 31, 2015 7:09 PM in response to mr88cet

    Well!  OK...

     

    Clearly there's a lot missing from the rebuilt library:  It's just under 12MB in size, whereas the original iPhoto library is nearly 85GB in size!