I've had to repair her Mac photos database a few times to resolve this issue, and at one point completely remove the library and re-download it. She rarely uses the Mac, and what seems to happen is that if her Mac account is not logged on for a while, the local library gets too far out of sync from the iCloud one, and they can't reconcile. Delete the Library (or Libraries) Launch Photos; Drag the Masters folder into Photos to import the photos back in; And whatever you do, don't go deleting any old iPhoto library on your system. As a part of the migration from iPhoto to Photos app, the developers chose to simply link to the photos already in the old library while adding photos to. Apple's photo management software for the Mac, Photos, has grown to be a fairly competent all-purpose storage locker.But as your photo and video library grows — and especially if you've taken advantage of iCloud Photo Library — you may find that your Photos library strains to fit on your Mac's hard drive. Mac Photos Library Repair Tool Mac comes with a pre-installed photo repair tool when your Photos library won't open, or if photos behave abnormally. The repair operation is easy: holding down the Option and Command keys while you open Photos on your Mac, then, clicking Repair to start the repair process. Repair Photo library Photos provides the repair functions to fix for the broken and version-incompatible photo library.
Reader Celia Drummond had a Mac crash so severe, she had to upgrade her system from Mavericks to El Capitan—I didn’t ask about Sierra—although she was able to recover her data from Time Machine.
However, after using the iPhoto Library Upgrader, Apple’s recommended path for converting iPhoto 7 and earlier libraries to a newer format that iPhoto 8 and 9 can use, “The result is photos a fraction of their original size—most were between 1MB and 7MB each—and all are pixelated.”
I never used the utility, so I don’t know what went wrong, but something did if that’s the outcome, or something is missing in the Time Machine backup. Because she can’t run the older version of iPhoto, she can’t simply rebuild the library, which is the usual suggestion. (I’d make sure you had version 1.1 via the link above, as older versions are out there, too.)
Mac Photos App Repair Library Mac
I’d normally suggest for forward version compatibility to try to find an intermediate version of software, which has been useful for folks with various older releases of the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote). However, the only course of action with an iPhoto 7 library is apparently to run it through the upgrader; you can’t just try to open it in iPhoto 8 (or 9). (I don’t have older libraries to check this out, so I’m relying on Apple and forum posters.)
If the upgrader just won’t work with the old library, the only real solution is to crack open the library and extract ones photos.
- Control-click the iPhoto Library.
- Choose Show Package Contents from the contextual menu.
- Drag (to move) or Option-drag (to copy) the Masters folder to the Desktop or to another drive.
- Launch the latest version of iPhoto 9 and import that Masters folder. Or launch Photos and do the same.
Unfortunately, you’ll lose a lot of information associated with photos and video that’s stored within the library, such as metadata, potentially some edits, albums, and other organizational elements. But this is better than losing the high-resolution versions of your media.
After importing the images and videos and making sure they’re the high-resolution ones you want, you can then use a de-duplication program, like PowerPhotos or Photosweeper 3 (review coming), which can clean up the low-resolution images and possibly help fix the missing metadata.
Ask Mac 911
We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com including screen captures as appropriate. Mac 911 can’t reply to—nor publish an answer to—every question, and we don’t provide direct troubleshooting advice.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read ouraffiliate link policyfor more details.
- Related: