Photos library size 0KB, corrupted

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Photos library size 0KB, corrupted

My Photos.photoslibrary file seems to have been corrupted and it is showing 0kb. As such, I cannot copy the Masters folder under "Show Package Contents". The case is exactly the same as the poster here Photos library size 0KB and hard drive seems not working right

The library is in a WD external HDD, I do not have a backup of it even tho the main HDD is backed up in Time Machine. Interestingly the same EHDD contains other files, including an iPhoto library which remains intact.

The best thing I've been able to work out of this situation is to scan the HDD with a Recovery SW (Stellar Phoenix and Data Rescue 5) and extract the JPEG's one by one from the "Lost Folders" section. It seems the photo files and folders are somehow "disconnected" from the Photos library file.

Has anyone successfully "repaired or reintegrated" the .photoslibrary file under these circumstances?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jun 13, 2018 9:57 AM

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Answer 1

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adhikun Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 16, 2018 10:44 AM in response to léonie

So I decided to spend the money on Disk Warrior 5. https://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html First try failed with error message "Directory cannot be rebuilt". Almost freaked me out.

Then I re-ran it a second time and the Preview showed the Photos library file is restored (see second image with correct Photos file size of 1.01TB. I'm copying both the Masters folder files and the Photos library file on two separate SSD's now. Hoping this will work out.

Thank you both for your help.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,903 points

Jun 14, 2018 8:10 AM in response to adhikun

Has anyone successfully "repaired or reintegrated" the .photoslibrary file under these circumstances?

If the Photos Library is showing a size of 0, and the masters folder is empty (like in the post you linked to), There will be nothing left to repair.

What about the iPhoto Library on that drive, that is still working? If it is the original library you migrated to Photos, copy this library to a different drive to save this library at least.

If the external drive is failing, as it looks like, it is high time to get a replacement drive for it, plus a second drive, where you can keep backups of this drive.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,903 points

Jun 15, 2018 1:59 AM in response to adhikun

Try to recover all files you can with your recovery software, before you try any repairs on the drive. Anything you try while the drive is failing or has a damaged file system, may cause more data loss.

Once you saved everything that can be recovered on a separate drive, run Disk Utility the drive, to see if the file system can be repaired.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

216,710 points

Jun 13, 2018 10:48 AM in response to adhikun

How is the external HD formatted?

Are you using the software that came with the WD drive to manage the drive? If so don't. Uninstall all WD software.

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Answer 5

adhikun Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 14, 2018 3:56 PM in response to léonie

hi leonie, thanks for chiming in.

the masters folder along with any other subfolder of the library 'disappeared' when viewed on the drive. however when i ran Stellar Phoenix recovery software, i can see at least some of the photo files from the Photos library. so the data is there, i was thinking the file structure is messed up.

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