Use of external HD for photos

[tobindia]

Most of my photos are synced from my iPhone or my wife's iPhone. A few are actually imported using Photos > File > Import. All photos are synced among both iPhones, iCloud and my MBA. However, for some reason, since all this started, pictures taken on either of our iPhones are not syncing to the MBA. Once that is resolved, can I the simply connect my iPhone to the MBA and let them sync?

 

[Rod]

Jake might like to chime in here with an opinion but what about using the Photos Library Repair Tool. This is an Apple option built in to the macOS found here; https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204967

 

[IWT]

However, for some reason, since all this started, pictures taken on either of our iPhones are not syncing to the MBA. Once that is resolved, can I the simply connect my iPhone to the MBA and let them sync?

I would like to suggest that you checked your settings so that any photos taken on your iPhones syncs between each other and your MBA.

On your iPhones > Settings > Photos; if you turn on My Photo Stream and do the same for your MBA - Photos app > Photos Preferences (Keyboard Shortcut is Command plus comma) > iCloud > Turn on My Photo Stream.

This means that you don't have to connect your iPhone(s) to the MBA and Import anything to the Photos app. This will be done automatically.

From your post, I take it that you also use "iCloud Photos" on your iPhones?? And on your MBA?? Useful to know whether you do or not, please.

Returning to an earlier post of yours, you were uncertain about photo and video Formats. If you go into iPhone > Settings > Camera > Formats, you have a choice of High Efficiency versus Most Compatible. It explains in detail what that means in the text underneath. I use High Efficiency.

Ian

 

[tobindia]

Jake might like to chime in here with an opinion but what about using the Photos Library Repair Tool. This is an Apple option built in to the macOS found here; https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204967

I've run the Repair Tool, but I still am not able to Edit photos or run videos.

I've noticed that the library that Photos points to in the Pictures folder is "Photos Library.photoslibrary" which is only 11.71GB. There is also a file there called "iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary" and it's 113.8GB. But if I try to point Photos to that, it is greyed-out. Have I done something wrong?

 

[ferrarr]

I've noticed that the library that Photos points to in the Pictures folder is "Photos Library.photoslibrary" which is only 11.71GB. There is also a file there called "iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary" and it's 113.8GB. But if I try to point Photos to that, it is greyed-out. Have I done something wrong?

With Photos closed, hold option, then click to open Photos. It should give you the option to open other Photos libraries.

 

[tobindia]

With Photos closed, hold option, then click to open Photos. It should give you the option to open other Photos libraries.

That's what I was trying to say. I did that, but "iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary" was greyed-out, so I couldn't select it.

 

[MacInWin]

Here is what I would do. Make a copy of the migratedphotolibrary to some place safe to keep it. Then rename the migratedphotolibrary to iPhoto.Library2.photolibrary. Now start Photos with the Option key down and see if the newly renamed library is still greyed out. if it opens and if it works, ok. If not, at least you have the original migratedphotolibrary safe to try something else with it.

 

[ferrarr]

That's what I was trying to say. I did that, but "iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary" was greyed-out, so I couldn't select it.

You only need to remove "migrated" from the name, and it will open.

 

[tobindia]

I removed “migrated” from iPhoto Library.migratedphotoslibrary; pointed Photos to it, and got a new window, saying “Updating Library”. This ran for a minute or so, when I got an error: “There is not enough disk space to migrate your library.” So, I copied Pictures folder in its entirety to an EHD; removed “migrated” from the iPhoto Library.migratedphotoslibrary file on the EHD; Pointed Photos to it; got the “Updating Library” window. This ran to its completion. photolibraryd came into the mix using a lot of CPU. I let it run for several hour till it started to use very little CPU. Voila! I could now Edit pictures and run videos. However … I only have photos thru 3/29/15!

Let me recap. On my HD, I have the following Pictures folder:

Using that Photos Library 1.photoslibrary (I added that “ 1” for ease of identification), 11.71GB, I had 24,145 Photos, 35 Videos thru 6/16/20, but I cannot Edit the photos or run the videos.

On the EHD, I have the following Pictures folder:

Using that iPhotos Library.photoslibrary (Note that it says iPhotos.), 112.28GB, I had 27,663 Photos, 98 Videos thru 3/29/15, but I CAN Edit the photos and run the videos.

So, I am no further along. I have no idea of how to proceed, so I seek your help again.

BTW, my iPhone, my wife’s iPhone and icloud all remain unchanged at 16,910 Photos, and still sync with each other, though they are still not syncing to my MBA.

 

[ferrarr]

You now have 2 separate photolibrary files.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209528

You should wait until you have a good backup of all your photos. Also, as an FYI, external drives are not usually included in a Time Machine backup, unless you allow it in Time Machine > Preferences > Options, subtract (-) the drive from exclusion list.

 

[tobindia]

You now have 2 separate photolibrary files.

Right. I do have 2 separate files, but the one on my HD does not work: I cannot Edit photos, and I cannot run videos. How do I fix that? (Thanks for the link about merging libraries. I'll use that once I get the HD library working.)

 

[MacInWin]

Here is what I think happened. You gave two names of databases: Photos Library.photoslibrary and iPhoto Library.migratedphotolibrary. The first was your current library, which was messed up. The second was the iPhoto library that was migrated to Photos when you moved from iPhoto to Photos in an OS upgrade. It had been renamed with the "migrated" added. I was hoping that the iPhoto library had most of your older photos in it that you could recover, then import the newer ones from your iPhone after it was sorted out. That is what you now have, and it works (you can edit as you wanted to, so the database is not corrupted now). At this point you need to get the more recent photos from your phones to that database. To do that, connect the phones to the Mac, then run Photos. In the sidebar you should see your iPhone. Select that and wait. It will read the phone and show thumbnails of all of the images there. There should be a dividing line showing which images Photos already has and which ones it doesn't, which it will call New. Once it is done (it could take a while with that many images), in the upper right corner is a box labelled "Import all New Items." Clicking that will do just that, import all images on the phone that are NOT in the library into the library and that are showing in the New Images section. Or you can browse through the images and select them one by one, or in bunches with the SHIFT key and import them manually.

The name of your database can be anything you want, as long as you are pointing to it with Photos/Preferences, which is why it works with iPhotos as the first section.

Once you have all your images into one database, you can then decide what to do with all the extras. Frankly, being cautious, I would save them on an external drive for a few months or until I was certain I didn't need them, I had everything I wanted or needed.

OR, IF, and that is a big IF, all the images you want are on the phone, you could create a new database from scratch, then import all of those images and be done with it.

And a final option is that if the smaller photos database (11.71GB) has all the newer images in full size, you could open Photos, change the database to that one, select all the new images, export them to files, then change the database to the iPhotos database name, look for the exported files and import them into the newer database.

It's up to you.

 

[MacInWin]

Right. I do have 2 separate files, but the one on my HD does not work: I cannot Edit photos, and I cannot run videos. How do I fix that? (Thanks for the link about merging libraries. I'll use that once I get the HD library working.)

Assuming you get the newer images into the database, it's going to be very large. If you want to be able to have it on the internal drive and edit images/videos there, you are going to have to free up the space on the internal drive to be able to do that. The database that is now on the internal drive that you called HD is, if I understand it correctly, reporting errors and therefore of no real use to you, so you could make some space by deleting it and then, if that makes enough space, copy the new database onto the internal drive (making sure Photos knows of the move in Preferences). Now, if you can open that current database on HD, and if it has your newer images in it and if you can export them to files, you can and maybe should do that before you do anything with it. You would hate to delete that database and then discover it held photos you wanted. Even if you cannot edit, you may be able to export the originals. It's worth a try.

 

[ferrarr]

Did you try the Repair tool?

How to use the Photos Repair Library tool on your Mac - Apple Support

If your Photos library won't open or if the Photos app behaves unexpectedly on your Mac, the Photos Repair Library tool might help.

support.apple.com

 

[tobindia]

Did you try the Repair tool?

Yes, I ran the Repair Tool, but it didn’t work. I still could not Edit photos or run videos.

I liked MacInWin’s suggestion of using the EHD’s library (with photos thru 3/29/14) and then connecting my iPhone. But when I did this, after only a few seconds, the window with the dividing line came up and only 301 photos showed up as new, even though there were many more photos that I could see on my iPhone that were not on my EHD. And this was after my iPhone was connected for a couple of hours. At the top go the “New Photos” window, there is a line which has my cell phone name, a check box for “Open Photos for this device” and”Import to:” with a dropdown list pointing to “Library.” The check box was unchecked, but when I checked it, nothing seemed to happen. Any other suggestions?

 

[MacInWin]

I think the "Open Photos for this device" toggles Photos to open whenever the device is attached. Not sure, but that is how I read it. As for the importing, you can let the images populate (Takes a while) then select them to import manually. What I would do is to click on the last image at the bottom of the images (that should be the most recent, then scroll back to the first one you do NOT have in Photos, hold SHIFT and click on that one. All the images in between will be selected and show a check mark. On the top bar of the window the prompt "Import Selected" will now show a count of how many are being imported. You can now click on the "Import xx selected" and those images will be imported to Photos. The images should be in chronological order on the import screen, so you should be able to go from latest (at the bottom) to the more recent by scrolling up until you see the ones you already have in the database.

Or, you can select all of them, import them, and then run a de-duper to get rid of duplicates. I find de-dupers to be not-so-wonderful at removing duplicate images as I have to go through all the nominated duplicates to make sure they really ARE duplicates, but you could get adventurous and trust that the de-duper got it right and just let it delete what it thinks are duplicates. I don't trust software that much, which is why I end up having t verify what it plans to do.

 

[MacInWin]

For more on how Photos works, click on Help on the top menu bar, then Photos Help and the Photos user guide should open up to the introduction to the product. You can use the Table of Contents to find what you want, along with a search function.

 

[tobindia]

you can select all of them, import them

But it says that there are only 301 photos import. I can see that there are many, many more. How do I get them to import?

 

[MacInWin]

Select them. Click on the button.

 

[tobindia]

Select them. Click on the button.

Done. Now my library has 27,959 photos, and there are still many pictures on my iPhone that are not on the EHD. Why doesn't Photos recognize and import the other phots?