CleanMyMac 3 messed up my photos library

Any ideas how i might script this, or force photos to rebuild all jpegs?

One way to force an edit is to select multiple photos at once,

• then use the command "Image > Rotate Counter Clockwise ⌘R"
• wait, until all thumbnails have been rotated,
• then use the command "Image > Rotate Clockwise ⌥⌘R" to rotate them back to normal.

This will rebuild the thumbnails and update the caches, if you are lucky.

Do not select all photos at once. Try it in easy stages of a few hundreds first.

It is a pity, that this support document by Apple does not include a list of known problematic cleaning applications: Using third-party apps to remove duplicate photos might damage your Photos for macOS library - Apple Support

I tested CleanMyMac 2 and 3 only on smaller libraries, that do not sync with iCloud and found no way to fix the library after running CMM. I had to restore the library from my Time Machine backup.

Which version of Photos are you running?

In Photos 3.0 on High Sierra you can try to force a download of photos from iCloud by ctrl-clicking an album in the sidebar and use the command "Download originals to this Mac" from the contextual menu.

Also, have you tested, if your Photos Library in iCloud is still in working condition? Can you make a slideshow on other devices you sync with iCloud? With your iPhone or iPad?

In that case I would copy your defective library to an external drive, then delete it and start over with a new, empty library. Let the new empty library sync with iCloud to recreate your library.

To mak a new, empty library, launch Photos while holding down the options key, until the Library chooser appears. select to create a new library. Make this library your system photo library in the Photos preferences > General. Make it the iCloud Photo Library in Photos > Preferences > iCloud. and wait for the library to download from iCloud.

Which version of Photos are you running on your Mac? Is it Photos 3.0 on macOS 10.13.5 High Sierra?

If your original image files are still there, and Photos can find them, try to repair your Photos Library with the first aid tools as described here: https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/repair-the-library-pht6be18f93/mac

But make a new backup, before you try that, without overwriting the good backup you may have.

Yes - CleanMyMac is malwear and has destroyed may Photo libraries and even entire Macs and should NEVER by used by anyone nor should any MacPaw software ever be used - once you damage your library by using this terrible application the only solution is to restore you backup from before you ran it and remove it from your computer adn never deal with MacPaw again for any reason

LN

Allan Eckert wrote:

As you have now discovered that is CMM3 is good for is up your data and operating system.

You may want to restate your comment - it seems to endorse CMM which I suspect you do not want to do - and if you do want to endorse CMM then you are simply incorrect - it is terrible product and has damaged many systems

As you have now discovered the fact that all CMM3 is good for is mess up your data and operating system.

That is what I though you meant 🙂

LN

Surely the missing jpegs will be in there somewhere, right? Is that what you tried @Leonie?

The versions of CMM 2 and 3 that I tested, removed the original master files (the RAW files or JPEGs) of the edited version and replaced them by the edited versions. And Photos could no longer find the originals.The lossless workflow had been broken, because the master-version pairs no longer worked. Reverting to the original was no longer possible. I do not know, if the current version is still doing this. If it is still removing originals and swapping them with the edited versions, you cannot simply restore missing image files, because the internal structure of the library has changed. It would be far safer to restore the complete library from your backup.

If you select an edited photo, can you export the original master file with "File > Export > Export unmodified original"?

and that is what I posted

Yes - CleanMyMac is malwear and has destroyed may Photo libraries and even entire Macs and should NEVER by used by anyone nor should any MacPaw software ever be used - once you damage your library by using this terrible application the only solution is to restore you backup from before you ran it and remove it from your computer and never deal with MacPaw again for any reason

You needed a solution and posted the only one there is - why did you not bother to read this clear statement?

LN

You have to first uninstall clean my Mac 3 see this article https://nektony.com/how-to/uninstall-cleanmymac

Using this app will delete Launch Agents , Launch Daemon folder from system library .

If this app is running even you repair the photo library , the solution would be for the time being , it will always corrupt photo library .

Note : read the instructions carefully what Larry said .

I have no backup of my library from before the scan (its 200gb, hard to keep multiple copies).

Photos repair operation did not fix the issue.

Any other suggestions? This isnt looking good at all 😟

big suggestion - start backing up if your photos have any value to you - if you do ot always have great backups then you have a 100% guarentte of losing everythin sooner or later - Time Machine comes with your Mac and makes having hourly backups totally automatic - use it with default settings

LN

As you have now discovered the fact that all CMM3 is good for is mess up your data and operating system.