Dreaded "Photos has found inconsistencies in this library" message

[macdoktor]

This is a new one to me, though I am familiar with several similar messages we sometimes get when trying to upgrade/migrate an iPhoto/Photos Library. In this case, nothing I've tried has helped at all, and I've tried all the usual techniques (⌘-⌥ while opening library, etc.)

My question is this: what's the best way to simply extract the photos from a corrupt library like this? I was hoping Power Photos might be able to help, but alas, no luck.

Anyone know of an app that one can use to drill down and extract specific file types out of a complex folder structure such as you see when you choose "Show contents" on an old iPhoto Library like this?

Thanks!

 

[HDFan]

Do you have any backups?

 

[400]

At the very least back it up and back it up again before you mess with it, backup many times as you can.

Show package contents and back up the "originals" or "masters", are they there? My backup plan, full versioning retained until I delete, will fill up quickly if I backup the whole library so I only backup those folders outside iCloud and hard drives.

Last I checked it replaces the camera picture name eg. P123456jpg with a long alpha numeric but shooting info retained. How you would reorganise I know not but can you extract the originals (after backing it up).

Is there a decent explainer anywhere as to what they do with regards the database?

 

[macdoktor]

This is from a client's backup computer, so that's all I have. I extracted the "Originals" folder, and they did retain their original file names, but at almost 10,000 photos, it's gonna be a bear to deal with...

 

[400]

Sorry, not much help past that. I had one library I needed to repair some years ago and it just repaired OK but I could still see the pics.
But I have many backups of my working library.

 

[macdoktor]

Thanks anyway!

 

[ignatius345]

Was the client syncing their Photos library with iCloud? If so, it would be pretty easy to just start a new library and let everything sync in...

 

[videosoul]

they did retain their original file names, but at almost 10,000 photos, it's gonna be a bear to deal with...

That's interesting. I think that behaviour has changed since macOS Mojave. Now the photos in the originals folder are assigned seemingly random numbers, making it almost impossible to manually reorganise them.

I have an ongoing problem with Photos that Apple Support have been look into for over a year and a half no, with no solution yet. Almost 6000 photos are corrupted. The originals are still there: but with random names, and no way to work out what's what.

 

[ignatius345]

That's interesting. I think that behaviour has changed since macOS Mojave. Now the photos in the originals folder are assigned seemingly random numbers, making it almost impossible to manually reorganise them.

Do they at least retain their metadata (date taken, location?) For me, any file names are pretty irrelevant as everything is just organized by date and -- on iPhone photos -- location data.

 

[videosoul]

Do they at least retain their metadata (date taken, location?) For me, any file names are pretty irrelevant as everything is just organized by date and -- on iPhone photos -- location data.

I believe that original camera metadata is retained, but not anything added in Photos (title, description, edits, cropping, face tagging). Also, they’re not organised by album or anything. Just a big folder of randomly named photos.

 

[ignatius345]

I believe that original camera metadata is retained, but not anything added in Photos (title, description, edits, cropping, face tagging). Also, they’re not organised by album or anything. Just a big folder of randomly named photos.

I found myself in a similar situation with the MacOS Music app recently. I'm pretty sure this was user error, but somehow I was moving data around when migrating machines and putting my media on an external drive -- and lost all my playlists and ratings. Some of that stuff was years and years old. So, I have the song files and they're still tagged correctly, but any organization beyond that is gone. I'm optimistically framing it as an opportunity to "re-engage with my music collection" lol.

 

[macdoktor]

I found myself in a similar situation with the MacOS Music app recently.

OMG! I wouldn't bet on user error there. I have a ~30,000 track library, and it's been hosed so badly by both iTunes Match, and now Apple Music, that I could scream! I didn't do anything at all, and all of the sudden my playlists are duplicated strangely, and way too many of my tracks are now being identified as Apple Music tracks, when I know I imported them from CDs myself! Grrrrr....

 

[400]

I believe that original camera metadata is retained, but not anything added in Photos (title, description, edits, cropping, face tagging). Also, they’re not organised by album or anything. Just a big folder of randomly named photos.

I checked several random files in the "originals" folder, films, jpg and cr2 files and they contained all the metadata, psd files a bit hit and miss. But the file creations dates were the day I tried to go from one computer to another.

Recently had a run in with photos upgrading from catalina to big sur, (hence the check) and only solved but creating a new library and downloading from the cloud, which reminds me, did @macdoktor client have icloud photos enabled? My solution (directed bty Apple help) was to create a new library and set that as the could main library and system library but it took a week for 35,000+ images, files to get re downloaded to the new library. To re iterate, this was under direction of phone support for my issue.

 

[videosoul]

I checked several random files in the "originals" folder, films, jpg and cr2 files and they contained all the metadata, psd files a bit hit and miss. But the file creations dates were the day I tried to go from one computer to another.

Recently had a run in with photos upgrading from catalina to big sur, (hence the check) and only solved but creating a new library and downloading from the cloud, which reminds me, did @macdoktor client have icloud photos enabled? My solution (directed bty Apple help) was to create a new library and set that as the could main library and system library but it took a week for 35,000+ images, files to get re downloaded to the new library. To re iterate, this was under direction of phone support for my issue.

Yes, fortunately that solution can work for some.

my problem is much more serious: I’ve never used Photos with iCloud. It’s believed the corruption occurred with the migration from Aperture to Photos, years ago. But I only noticed the problem about a year and half ago.

 

[macdoktor]

...which reminds me, did @macdoktor client have icloud photos enabled?

No, because the library was from a (much) older computer, and they were already syncing a library from their current computer with iCloud.

 

[ignatius345]

OMG! I wouldn't bet on user error there. I have a ~30,000 track library, and it's been hosed so badly by both iTunes Match, and now Apple Music, that I could scream! I didn't do anything at all, and all of the sudden my playlists are duplicated strangely, and way too many of my tracks are now being identified as Apple Music tracks, when I know I imported them from CDs myself! Grrrrr....

That was how I got hosed! ****ing Apple Music! I really rue the day I let it run loose on my long-curated iTunes/Music library. I've since shut it off and gone back to Spotify but the damage has been done.

 

[macdoktor]

That was how I got hosed! ****ing Apple Music!

Man, how I feel your pain… ?

As to your reference to Spotify, you should be aware of just how awful they are. Here’s a story that points out some examples of their efforts to take over the music/podcast world:

A Tale Of Two Ecosystems: On Bandcamp, Spotify And The Wide-Open Future

There's Bandcamp, beloved by artists. There's Spotify, very well-liked by listeners. And then there's that big question mark. The artist Damon Krukowski takes a look.

www.npr.org

 

[ignatius345]

Man, how I feel your pain… ?

As to your reference to Spotify, you should be aware of just how awful they are. Here’s a story that points out some examples of their efforts to take over the music/podcast world:

A Tale Of Two Ecosystems: On Bandcamp, Spotify And The Wide-Open Future

There's Bandcamp, beloved by artists. There's Spotify, very well-liked by listeners. And then there's that big question mark. The artist Damon Krukowski takes a look.

www.npr.org

I’m sure they suck, but their product works reeeally well.