Importing images to Photos

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Importing images to Photos

When I attempt to import any image file to Photos, I get the following error box:

Cannot Import Item: This item cannot be added to your Photo library because it may be an unrecognizable file format or the file may not contain valid dataThere was an error attempting to Free up...

I have run repair on Photos to no avail.

However I recently activated a new Mac mini M4 and put the photo library on an external SSD which could mean I have to do something to remedy the problem.

Mac mini (M4)

Posted on Feb 15, 2025 6:39 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 16, 2025 9:19 AM in response to darthcooper

darthcooper wrote: However I recently … put the photo library on an external SSD

Probably, that's it. How is your SSD drive formatted? To avoid damaging the Photos Library an external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted. There have been so many problems with using incompatible drives that the newest macOSs won't even allow a Library on a non-Mac formatted drive to open, since there is a chance of damaging the Photos database. See this:

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

If this drive is in a an incompatible format, stop running Photos with it immediately! A Photos Library can sit on an incompatible drive, but running it may corrupt the database.

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Answer 2

darthcooper Author

Level 1

47 points

Feb 16, 2025 10:36 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

My External SSD is a 4tb acer FA200 NvMe formatted APFS. The photo library is located on volume Pictures>in folder> Pictures. I have checked the apple support link you provided and, to the best of my ability have determined that I have all settings they present correct. The last successful import occurred on 2/8/25. The app seems to operate routinely only that is will not take any new images.

Since my existing library is too large to be housed on the Mac internal drive, I have no good alternative other than an external such as this.

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Answer 3

Feb 16, 2025 11:43 AM in response to darthcooper

The drive sounds fine. What happens when you drag this problem picture to import in the Preview app?

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Importing images to Photos

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