issue importing photos then adding to external drive

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Level 1

27 points

issue importing photos then adding to external drive

Hi,

I've been using the following system for years, without any issues;

If I'm sent a photo online (via email or social media etc) I download it & add it to a folder on my desktop. Then every few weeks I'll drag that folder to 'photos' & import new items. I then close Photos & delete the photos from the desktop folder. When I'm backing up to external drives, I simply drag the folder in Photos with the new images in to the drive.

However, for the first time, without me changing anything on my mac (M1) or elsewhere when I try to drag the folder in Photos with some recent downloaded photos in to my drive it says the originals are missing & it can't export them.

Any ideas what's caused this?

Thanks.

Posted on Oct 8, 2024 1:27 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

210,295 points

Oct 8, 2024 1:36 PM in response to jshire

Check Photos setting to see if you're running a "referenced" library.

If it somehow gotten changed to a reference library, happens sometimes in system updates, that would be why you're getting that message.

Why don't you after importing the folder of photos into your library just drag the folder of photos to the external HD and backup them up that way?

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Answer 2

jshire Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 8, 2024 2:09 PM in response to jshire

Also tried with the 'copy items...' box ticked & it still doesn't work. I also tried copying previous folders (in Photos) to the drives & they all work ok, so it appears to be something new happening during a process that I've been doing for sometime.

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Answer 3

jshire Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 8, 2024 1:58 PM in response to Old Toad

I don't have that same 'general' panel as in your post but in the one I have the 'copy items...' box was unchecked. Again, I haven't changed anything & there hasn't been any system updates since the previous time I copied over photos, or for several months, so I'm not sure it this is the issue.

As for the other suggestion, if I did that it'd be more difficult to keep track of which images are 'new' & which I've already copied to drives etc.

Thanks.

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Answer 4

jshire Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 8, 2024 2:14 PM in response to jshire

To clarify; if I also double click on the photos in Photos I also get the 'original missing' message, so the issue appears to be something to do with when they are added to Photos, but again, I've done it the same way as I have for years so I don't know why its changed recently.

Thanks.

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