christeljayne

Q: How can I restore missing Faces tiles in Photos app?

Product info:

Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 2.49.11 PM.png

Storage capacity = 1TB

 

App info: Photos Version 1.3 (350.23.0), Photos library file is just over 300GB

 

Issue: I use the application CleanMyMac to keep my Mac in shape. Recently, they came out with an update that suggested I delete "unnecessary" data from the Photos app to save space. They promised that there was no harm in deleting this data. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Now when I go into the Faces album on my Photos app, many of the Face tiles are just gray circles. When I click to open the photo, it opens, but the Faces album is pretty useless if I can't see previews of the photos. Is there any way to restore the data that allows me to see the Faces tiles in a preview? Here is a photo of what my screen looks like with the grayed out tiles:

Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 2.47.27 PM.png


I have tried the "Repair Library" option when starting the Photos app, but it didn't seem to do anything. I also tried some other troubleshooting that took me deeper and deeper into a hole that caused me to have to restore my library from a Time Machine backup point. Thankfully I didn't lose any photos, but I'm back to square one with the Faces tiles issue. Any suggestions are appreciated!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 19, 2016 10:57 PM

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Q: How can I restore missing Faces tiles in Photos app?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Feb 19, 2016 11:03 PM in response to christeljayne
    Level 10 (84,570 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 19, 2016 11:03 PM in response to christeljayne

    two suggestions

     

    1 - get rid of CleanMyMac - it is Malwear and you should never use it (or any other cleaning software) - it is never  needed and is very dangerous as it has been known to totally disable computers by removing needed system files - CleanMyMac and MacKeeper are two of the very worst programs around

     

    2 - restore your backup from before you ran CleanMyMac and destroyed your Photos library

     

    LN

  • by christeljayne,

    christeljayne christeljayne Feb 19, 2016 11:08 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 11:08 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks, LarryHN. CleanMyMac seemed to be helpful until this issue. I just ran a quick Google search, and it seems you are not alone in avoiding the program. I'm not sure that it's Malware, but it does seem to cause issues at times.

     

    Maybe I'll try restoring to an older backup point, but I want to make sure I don't lose any photos in the process. I'll have to back up anything new to my desktop before making the change.

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie Feb 19, 2016 11:22 PM in response to christeljayne
    Level 10 (106,831 points)
    iLife
    Feb 19, 2016 11:22 PM in response to christeljayne

    There is no way to restore the faces by repairing the library.

    The faces thumbnails will only be created, when you import photos. You cannot force Photos to repeat this step. Only reimporting the photo will help.

     

    But the missing faces are only one symptom of the real damage CleanMyMac has done.  It deleted the original versions of your photos and replaced them by the edited versions,  Your photos lost quality, you can no longer revert to the original version of a photo,  and if you had several edited versions of the same photo, they will be incorrectly linked. Your projects - books, calendars may now have missing photos.   Don't even try to repair this damage. It cannot be done, because important files have been lost. Restore from your backup as Larry advised.

     

    There are no useless copies in your Photos Library as CleanMyMac is suggesting. CleanMyMac is destroying your precious originals and only keeping the smaller, less quality edited versions creating for sharing. http://macpaw.com/cleanmymac

    It’s not your photos that are wasting space, it’s the hidden copies in your Photos library. You see, anytime you edit or rotate a photo, Photos creates a duplicate of the original and hide it for safe keeping. This means gigabytes of useless copies. CleanMyMac 3 cleans out all of them without harming any of your photos.
  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Feb 19, 2016 11:17 PM in response to christeljayne
    Level 10 (84,570 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 19, 2016 11:17 PM in response to christeljayne

    You should export any newer photos before restoring - but as to CMM it is really bad and should never be used if you care about your photos and your computer -

     

    LN

  • by christeljayne,

    christeljayne christeljayne Feb 20, 2016 6:02 AM in response to christeljayne
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 20, 2016 6:02 AM in response to christeljayne

    Thanks to LarryHN and leonie for your help! I took the steps to restore my library from an earlier backup, and everything is back to normal now. So glad to have my Photos app back in shape. Thanks again for your help!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Feb 20, 2016 6:10 AM in response to christeljayne
    Level 10 (106,831 points)
    iLife
    Feb 20, 2016 6:10 AM in response to christeljayne

    You're welcome