Photo library migratin to new computer failed

Question

Level 1

98 points

Photo library migratin to new computer failed

I am working with a senior with a newish Mac Book Pro running Ventura.

Last year she migrated to her current MBP from an older one, with the help of folks at the Apple Store, but the migration of her photos went awry with multiple empty albums appearing when she opened Photos on the MBP for the first time. Repeated efforts by Apple to set this right failed.

She had two backups of her iPhoto library on an external HDD but when we connect that HDD to her MBP, launch Photos holding down the Option key and choose to open either of those libraries on the external HDD, we get [The selected library must be migrated before it can be imported].

So...I copied both those iPhoto Libraries to her Home folder then again tried to open them using the above method. Failed with the notice [The library version for "iPhoto Library" is not supported. It can be opened with macOS Monterey or earlier.]

Can anyone offer any suggestions for a next step?

Posted on Jun 30, 2023 05:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

199,927 points

Jun 30, 2023 06:36 AM in response to Room101A

You have to try to open the iPhoto Library in Photos to create a Photos Library from it.

Check the type photo libraries you are seeing on the external drive. The error message you quoted must have been created, when you tried to open an iPhoto Library.

All photo libraries will have an icon with three pictures, but different for iPhoto Libraries and Photos Libraries.

An iPhoto Library will have an icon with a fan of three pictures showing a pink flower, and the filename extension will be ".photolibrary".
An Photos Library will have an icon with a stack or fan of three pictures showing a flower with petal arranged as a rainbow color wheel, and the filename extension will be ".photoslibrary".

You should be able to open the Photos Libraries directly on the new Mac with Ventura, only the iPhoto Libraries need still migrating to Photos on the old Mac.

On the old mac mit High Sierra:

Launch Photos while holding down the ⌥ key, until you are seeing the Library Chooser Dialogue.
Select one of the iPhoto Libraries to open in Photos.
Photos will now create a new Photos Library from the iPhoto Library. If all is well you will now be seeing albums in a section "iPhoto Events" of the sidebar.

Move this new Photos Library to the new mac.

Reply

Answer 2

Room101A Author

Level 1

98 points

Jul 8, 2023 12:05 PM in response to léonie

What she finally decided to do was to pay for PowerPhotos. It succeeded in merging one of her old Photolibraries with her current Photolibrary and was delighted to find that all those albums she had created were now populated.

But, there is a problem: Photos on her iPhone, her iPad, and in her iCloud.com account show some 40,000 photos whereas Photos on her MB Pro show about 12,000 photos. Her iPhone does show some 4,000 photos are duplicates, but once she has sorted those about, there will still be a difference of thousands of photos between her MB Pro all her other Apple devices.

I have searched for a solution but have not found any sure-fire fix, even among the Apple Support documents like this one: If your iCloud Photos aren't syncing to your device - Apple Support

Do you of any way to put those devices in sync?

Reply

Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

199,927 points

Jun 30, 2023 05:36 AM in response to Room101A

The error message " [The library version for "iPhoto Library" is not supported. It can be opened with macOS Monterey or earlier.]" suggests that you are trying to open an iPhoto Library in Photos to create a Photos Library from it.

This is no longer possible on macOS 13 Ventura. The last system version to support the conversion of an iPhoto Library into a Photos Library has been macOS 13 Monterey.

Does she still have the old Mac with an older system version? Then she should try the migration from iPhoto to Photos on the older mac with the older system version.

On a Mac with Ventura she can only create a new, empty Photos Library and then import the iPhoto Library to the Photos Library. But this way she will lose all albums, as only the photos and videos will be imported, but not the structure of the library.

Or she could try to use the third-party tool "Power Photos" from Fatcat Software. PowerPhotos can convert iPhoto Libraries to Photos Libraries while preserving the albums on Ventura, but she would need the full, paid version, not the free trial version.

Reply

Answer 4

Room101A Author

Level 1

98 points

Jun 30, 2023 06:09 AM in response to léonie

Thank you so much. I have a very old MB Pro which I keep around because it has an optical drive and an ethernet port.

It is running High Sierra.

If I attach her external HDD to that computer what should I do? Copy the Photo Library from the HDD then open it in Photos on my MBP? Launch Photos.app holding down the Option key and then try to open the Photo Library on the HDD?

Would greatly appreciate any clarification as I am concerned not to make a further mess of her photos. She would be heartbroken if I lost her photos!

Reply

Answer 5

Room101A Author

Level 1

98 points

Jul 4, 2023 09:29 AM in response to léonie

Here are the extensive notes I made when she handed me her old computer, a MB Pro, 2015, running Catalina:

N.B. My aim here is to be sure that ALL her photos will end up in Photos.app on her new MB Pro.

Also, can anyone understand why two Photo Libraries would each contain 11,121 Photos, 84 Videos, 10 Items while one of them is 51.45 GB and the other is 40.26 GB?

THE DEFAULT/SYSTEM LIBRARY - When I open Photos on that machine the Library it opens contains:

Photos Library 51.41 GB Created 4/15/16; Modified 3/9/20

Contents: 11,121 Photos, 84 Videos, 10 Items

ON THE DESKTOP of her computer reside two more Photo libraries

• 1. iPhoto Library 52.89 GB Created 12/25/2012; Modified 7/7/2018. When you double click on this Library’s icon, you get [Cannot open migrated library. The content of the iPhoto Library has already been migrated to Photos. Open Photos to view your library or use a compatible version of iPhoto to open this iPhoto library].

• 2. iPhoto Library 40.26 GB Created 8/21/21; Modified 8/23/21. When you double click on this Library’s icon, the photos open in Photos.app and Contents are 11,121 Photos, 84 Videos, 10 Items

QUESTION: I interpret this to mean that the number of photos in Photos Library 51.41 GB and in iPhoto Library 40.26 GB are the same [11,121 Photos, 84 Videos, 10 Items], yet the size in GB differs. One is 51.41 GB and the other is 40.26 GB. But why the difference in GB size??

**************************

The EXTERNAL HDD she gave me Contains:

iPhoto Library 1 - 41.84 GB Created 8/21/21; Modified 7/3/2023

iPhoto Library 2 - 40.45 GB Created 8/16/2019; Modified 7/3/2023

iPhoto.Library.migratedphotolibrary 12/25/2007; Modified 6/29/23

*************************

When you launch Photos app with Option key, 4 libraries are offered:

Photos Library (System Photo Library), i.e. Default library / last modified 3/9/20

iPhoto Library 1 / last modified Yesterday 9:41

iPhoto Library 3 / last modified Yesterday 4:26

iPhoto Library 2 / last modified Yesterday 9:17

Choosing iPhoto Library 1: says Updating Library…then [The library could not be opened (4302).

Choosing iPhoto Library 3 opens that Library. Contents are 10,023 Photos, 102 Videos, 9 items and no blank thumbnails

Choosing iPhoto Library 2 says Updating Library…then [The library could not be opened (4302)

So, on the external HDD are two libraries that cannot be opened

********************

Did a Safe Boot and tried to open the recalcitrant libraries again. No change; cannot open them. (4302) error once again.

Reply

Photo library migratin to new computer failed

Similar questions