Can't copy iPhoto libraries from NAS to Mac

ericole wrote:

right now my issue isn't getting the iPhoto libraries updated to use with Sonoma - I can use my old High Sierra Mac to do that.

My issue is getting the libraries to move from the NAS back onto a Mac, any Mac I have. As you said, "There should be no problem transferring the iPhoto Library from NAS to Mac," because I've been doing this for years. But now, there are several that I can't move/copy over because it is saying I have a permissions issue.

The libraries are there, the contents are there, but I can't "physically" move them from NAS onto the Mac. They just won't copy.

I'm wondering if there is a way to go into the Terminal and use copy commands - maybe that would ignore whatever Mac-based permission issue I'm having?? Since I know the libraries will copy (have done it from one NAS drive to another), I assume the issue is on the Mac side.

I have not tried this on a NAS, but when I cannot copy a Photos Library or iPhoto Library because of permission errors it usually helps to compress the library where it is and then to copy the zip file. And then to uncompressed it.

If compressing is not possible either some file in the library may be causing conflicts. In that case I am opening the library package and are copying all sub folders separately, so I can identify the damaged file as described here - this method will work for iPhoto Libraries and Aperture Libraries as well:

How to avoid the Error -36 when copying a Photos Library - Apple Community

ericole wrote: … I'm wondering if there is a way to go into the Terminal and use copy commands - maybe that would ignore whatever Mac-based permission issue I'm having??

Matti suggested this in the original answer, and we thought that you avoided it for a reason of some sort. I'm not much with Terminal,

Manage files in Terminal on Mac - Apple Support ,

but since I already have them, I would try Carbon Copy Cloner or TeraCopy. I had success with TeraCopy ignoring stuff that Finder wouldn't copy.

Photos libraries must be stored on APFS or MacOS Extended formatted (case insensitive) local volumes.

Network shares, cloud-based storage service, non-Mac formats like exFAT, Time Machine volumes are not supported and might very well corrupt the library.

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support (MT)

So I'd use Finder copy, or if that fails, maybe the Terminal or Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the library to an APFS formatted disk and check if it still OK.

Also if a newer macOS Photos version has touched the library then the older macOS can not open it (unless it is routed through iCloud Photos to the old Mac).

I have used Carbon Copy Cloner to (incrementally) backup Photos libraries.

ditto preserves Mac-specific data better than cp.

https://osxdaily.com/2014/06/11/use-ditto-copy-files-directories-mac-command-line/

I did a quick test with ditto and it copied a small Photos library OK at least from a folder to a folder in a same APFS volume. But if I deleted images from that library and emptied Photos trash, then after a ditto update the library size remained about the same because ditto by default merges folders (and library packages) and I could not readily find a switch to prevent that so that deleted items would be deleted also on the destination.

On the other hand Carbon Copy Cloner updated such library OK and it also preserved the library's creation date.

AFAIR at least very old CCC versions used rsync which might be better than ditto or cp for this task, especially if an updated source is copied to the destination.

Anyway, I'd prefer CCC for this job because then I don't need to read command line utility's manual pages so carefully.

ericole wrote: … But it basically said on the new machine that Photos was too new to deal

with them (not sure why!).   

iPhoto was discontinued 10 years ago. Monterey, I think, was the last OS able to one iPhoto Libraries. That seems pretty generous, actually.

I should be possible in Sonoma, however, to use Photos' File>Import to import the iPhoto pictures to Photos. You lose the events, though, so the organization suffers. Can you do that on your Sonoma machine? You're getting the error loading, not importing, is that right? Have you tried importing? That would tell you something about the compatibility of the iPhoto Library.

I would just go to my old 2010 iMac, upgrade the libraries with Photos on MacOS High Sierra, then I could open them on the new Mac

Seems like a good plan. There should be no problem transferring the iPhoto Library from NAS to Mac, and I'd think that iPhoto on High Sierra could open the Library.

BUT, no matter what I do, on both machines, I now get this error: "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."

The problem, of course, is that most of us have no experience with this-- we switched to Photos around 10 years ago. Matti was asking if the Finder is the only app you've used to copy the Libraries. He asked if you tried using CCC or the terminal to do the copying. That would be useful information.

Try the suggestions and let us know…

If all else fails you should be able to use the paid version of PowerPhotos to merge your Photos library into a new, empty Photos library located on a correctly formatted volume with any system up to and including Sonoma.