Upgraded to El Capitan - Photo conversion stuck at 24%

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Level 1

4 points

Upgraded to El Capitan - Photo conversion stuck at 24%

I have a late 2009 Mac. 12gb RAM. Was running 10.7.5. Just upgraded to El Capitan this morning. I went to run Photos and it began to prepare the library. It's been stuck on 24% complete for over 6 hours now. It got to 24% relatively quickly, then nothing. I have about 8,000 photos on my computer that i used to view in iPhoto.

I've read a few other posts on this topic, but need some more help. I can't restart the computer b/c it asks me to quit Photo. However, Photo won't allow itself to quit while in the process of creating or opening a library. So i really can't seem to do anything at all.

I do have everything backed up on an external drive via Time Machine. Although i don't know the process to grab those files and how to move them around.

If anyone can help me figure out how to resolve this "hung" issues, i'd be most grateful.

Thank you.

Posted on Dec 26, 2015 12:14 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Dec 26, 2015 2:01 PM in response to temj

Leave it alone - 6 hours is not out of line - what size is your library? Restarting can cause problems and is probably not necessary - most likely cure is giving it adaquate time

LN

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Dec 26, 2015 2:04 PM in response to temj

Let the upgrade run over night. It is hard to say if it is really hung or just running without indicating any progress.

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Answer 3

temj Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 26, 2015 5:09 PM in response to léonie

Thanks all! I will let it run for at least 24hrs to see what happens.

I have about 28gb of photos.

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Answer 4

temj Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 27, 2015 5:52 AM in response to temj

Ok, so now it's morning. It's been about 24 hours and Photos is still showing "Preparing Library". It is at 24% and hasn't budged.

With 8,000 photos, about 28gb, is 24 hours a reasonable amount of time? Do I need to continue waiting?

Assuming something is not right, any thoughts on what i should do next?

Thanks.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Dec 27, 2015 5:59 AM in response to temj

More than a day is too long for a library that size.

Your iPhoto library may have a corruption or be on drive, where the upgrade is not possible.

Is your iPhoto Library in your Pictures folder or on an external drive? If on an external drive, what is the file system on the drive and how is the drive connected to your Mac?

Did you update iPhoto to version 9.6.1, so you could run iPhoto on your iPhoto Library and repair it in iPhoto? Then try to upgrade again.

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Answer 6

temj Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 27, 2015 6:17 AM in response to léonie

I know all my photos survived the upgrade to El Capitan b/c i can find the individual files in Finder (that's a relief!). They are all saved to the Mac internal hard drive.

Here is the how it is organized:

Users/evansfamilyimac/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/

The version of iPhoto I had been running was 8.1.2. In my research prior to the El Capitan IOS upgrade, i didn't think to upgrade iPhoto in advance (just didn't know any better).

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Dec 27, 2015 6:42 AM in response to temj

The version of iPhoto I had been running was 8.1.2. In my research prior to the El Capitan IOS upgrade, i didn't think to upgrade iPhoto in advance (just didn't know any better).

There is unfortunately no way to upgrade that iPhoto version to iPhoto 9.6.1 now. Apple stopped selling iPhoto from the App Store after the release of Yosemite, MacOS X 10.10.3, and the iPhoto version you need to repair or rebuild the iPhoto Library is not available anywhere else.

Perhaps the problem is, that the new Photos.app did not install correctly. Test this by creating a new , empty Photos Library.

Force quit Photos, if it is still running.
Hold down the options key, ctrl-click the Photos icon in the Dock, and keep holding down the options key until you are seeing the library chooser panel. Select to create a new library.
If Photos launches correctly, import a few photos. Does that work?

If Photos does not launch at all do the same test in a different user account. Can you launch Photos in the Guest User account?

If Photos does not launch in any account, reinstall El Capitan. Perhaps the download was incomplete. Reinstall by booting into Recovery as described here: OS X: About OS X Recovery

Just install onto of the current system, you do not need to make a clean install.

If Photos is working on a new library, repair the permissions on the iPhoto Library. Select the library in the Finder and open the Info panel. by entering ⌘I .

In the Info panel you can click the padlock icon to unlock the permissions section, then check the permissions, if you have read/write permissions, and click apply the gears icon to select "Apply to enclosed items".

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Answer 8

temj Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 27, 2015 7:23 AM in response to léonie

You are helping me immensely...thank you.

I was able to force quit. I re-opened and tried to bring in the library again and got an error msg saying something was wrong and it would work. I then imported a few pics manually and that worked just fine. I am now in the process of importing over 5,000 pics using the Import function from Photo.

It appears to be working so i will give it some time. Sadly, it does not seem to be keeping the same "folder" structure that i have been using to manage my pics.

Separate from the above, i went into iPhoto Permissions and it had Read/Write selected already. I also changed it so "Everyone" had Read/Write. Not sure if that is what you meant by reparing the permissions or not.

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Dec 27, 2015 7:42 AM in response to temj

Not sure if that is what you meant by reparing the permissions or not.

The library is a package of nested folders and database files. It is important that the items inside also have read/write permissions.

If available, click the gears icon in the permissions section and use "Apply to enclosed items":

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Answer 10

temj Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 27, 2015 9:04 AM in response to léonie

Thanks again.

I have all my pics now in Photo under what i labeled Test Library. The file organization is not there at all vs how i used to have things organized in iPhoto.

Is there a way for me to re-do the import and do it such that i maintain my folder views?

For example, i have folders in iPhoto for each month of each year dating back to 2001. So it has all pics taken during a given month. In Photo, it comes across organizing everything by the specific date the photo was taken. So i now have literally hundreds of photo groupings under the Photos tab.

Under the Albums tab, it simply has all photos with no organization at all.

Thanks for being patient. i'll stop asking questions after this. 😁

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Answer 11

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Dec 28, 2015 8:47 AM in response to temj

If you could have opened the iPhoto Library in Photos without errors, Photos would have created albums for each of your events, migrated your edits and your keywords. How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support

Since you cannot install a compatible iPhoto version to repair or rebuild the iPhoto Library, you could try to restore an older version of the iPhoto Library from a Time Machine backup. Perhaps a different version of your library can be migrated successfully.

Have you tried the different views in Photos? In addition to the Moments, that are grouping photos taken at the same time and location, there are the collections and years views. You can switch between these views using the arrow keys to the right of the red-gold-green traffic light buttons.

You can create folders, albums, and smart albums in the Album section of the library. The albums are best viewed in the sidebar. Show the sidebar by pressing ⌥⌘S. Folders can be nested will group your albums.

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