MacbookPro 2021 current - usb iphoto library - help

If the photos are stored inside an iPhoto / Photos Library that looks like a single file, you can do a right-click > Show Package Contents to see inside of that file,

Very likely, at some level, you will find photos in .JPG or .HEIC or some other usable format.

The organization of the photos inside the package file might not very friendly. I believe that old versions of iPhotos and Photos may have sorted the library by date, but more recent ones sort it by some horrible hash names that only have meaning to the program itself.

Note that I would not suggest changing anything inside the package as you could destroy the ability of iPhoto or or Photos to read this. In fact, if we're only talking about a few photos, you might want to make a working copy of the package file that is separate from your archival and backup copies, so that if you destroy the working copy, you are not destroying the originals (and you can just make another copy of them and try again).

Whatifhelpisneeded wrote:

Hi, Help please. Currently Macbook Pro 2021 - Sequoia 15.6. Have iphoto library on usb which I cannot access. Pop up says ...'can be opened with MacOS Monterey v12 or earlier. Alternatively -- use Library import to add photos from one library to another.' I'm not having any luck with that :-(

Is there anyway I can retrieve the photos from the usb? Or do I have to accept I've lost them?

Thanks to all and appreciate your guidance....

See this post

iPhoto library cannot be opened in macOS … - Apple Community

If your primary photo library is on a USB drive this is not wise as USB drives have a habit of failing when you least want them to. In addition, unless the drive is always attached to the Mac the library is not backed up which eventually will result in data loss! If you already have a copy of the library on the Mac's internal storage and you use Time Machine then you should be fairly safe.

Whatifhelpisneeded wrote:

Leroydouglas ....Using the post you shared with me..... Superstar :-) .... excellent advice.... and saving my old photo library now. Thank you ......

Good computing Whatifhelpisneeded ! Appreciate the feedback.

Your welcome and good luck!