iPhoto library is on an ExFAT formatted LaCie external disk

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Level 1

4 points

iPhoto library is on an ExFAT formatted LaCie external disk

I moved my iPhoto library to a new LaCie external drive about a year ago and haven't been able to access it since. Sometimes it will go through the "restoring" process and get stuck on the "formatting" process for days. I think that this is my fault b/c I didn't format the external drive to APFS or Mac Extended. I am really hoping that I can fix this problem. I tried to drag the iPhotos library to my desktop and that didn't work. I thought about buying another hard drive, formatting it correctly, and then trying to copy the library onto it. Does anyone have any advice?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Nov 24, 2024 8:58 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2024 9:35 AM in response to cmhuff

Do not copy to the Desktop if you use iCloud Drive's Desktop & Documents option. If Finder copy does not work, try to clone it to some folder with Carbon Copy Cloner which might be more robust than a Finder copy. Use APFS (or MacOS Extended, GUID) case insensitive volumes.

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Answer 2

cmhuff Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 25, 2024 7:34 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thank you! Right now, my photos are loading off of the hard drive slowly. I did not do anything differently; I just tried to open them yesterday to post here about my problems.

If all of them load to photos, do you have any advice for me to ensure I don't lose them? Can I try to download them from photos somewhere and save them to the cloud somehow? I have very little technical knowledge; I am sure that is obvious. TIA.

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Answer 3

Nov 25, 2024 7:48 AM in response to cmhuff

The more you use the Library on the ExFAT drive, the more likely there will be corruption. Having the Library static, unused, on an incompatible drive doesn't hurt it, but accessing it might.

If you don't have room to drag the Library to the Pictures Folder on your Mac, then you need to copy it somewhere else safe. Dragging is as good as a 3rd party copier. You could put it temporarily on a Flash Drive, but that's really pretty slow. It's Black Friday time; you can get some good deals at Amazon-- I bought a 4 TB mechanical drive for $100. Fast 2TB SSDs can be had for $130.

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