Cannot import photos since catalina

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Level 1

8 points

Cannot import photos since catalina

I tried to import few folders (around 6000 photos) at once into photos, I tried the "Import..." from the menu and drag and drop as well. Once the import screen loaded all the thumbnails, I clicked "Import All New Photos", the import screen gone but nothing happens.

The same quantities and the same photos imported without any problem before version 5.0.0 (catalina).

With drag and drop I get an error popup with "*** Invalid: The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.ImportErrorDomain error -5.) ***". Not clear what photo or path triggered this error, or what should I do from here.

In addition, I noticed that the user flow when you drag and drop folders and use the "Import..." option is different. On drag and drop, whole import step is not there, and the import just start, or in my scenerio, hangs with error.

I know that version 5 was a major rewrite of the code, but it's not an excuse to introduce major bugs on the main functionality of the app.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on May 16, 2020 12:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ostreamy

Level 1

19 points

May 31, 2020 4:06 AM in response to bini_d

I experience the same problem.

when inserting an sdcard, photos import page will open. click on "import all new" -> it aborts, no error message
when using import menu to import from local drive -> same action, same outcome
drag & drop of files -> finally "Cannot Import Item" window opens with the error message and code as stated by OP

Other observations:

I can import all photos if I import them in smaller quantities, so it's definitely not a problem with the file type or corrupted inputs
In the import window, if I select the first photo manually, then scroll to the end of the new files list and select them all
- the import selected button changes to "not-clickable"
- if I deselect the last picture in the list, the button becomes "clickable" again

I don't know the photos code, but this seems to be a problem with the way the code selects items for import, potentially creating an invalid array element, or simply an "off-by-one" type problem.

Additional info:

Catalina 10.15.5
MacBook Pro 13 Early 2015
photo lib on APFS encrypted on 500GB internal flash drive
low 4 digit amount of pictures to import
RAW (uncompressed) + JPEG pairs, straight from X-T3 sdcard
worked like a charm before...

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

196,989 points

May 16, 2020 12:28 PM in response to bini_d

Could you provide a few more details? What is the file format of the photos you are trying to import? JPEGs? RAW files?

Where is the folder located, that you are trying to import? Is it on an external volume? Or on an encrypted volume?

Catalina has changed quite a few things. Not all media formats are supported any longer, that we could use with the older versions of Photos. I would try to import in smaller batches, so you can identify incompatible or duplicate items. I noticed that Photos 5 on catalina may give an unspecific error message, if we try to import duplicate items in one import session.

And Catalina added new security features. You may need to give full disk access to the Photos.app in the System Preferences > Security & Privacy.

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Answer 3

bini_d Author

Level 1

8 points

May 16, 2020 1:07 PM in response to léonie

Hi, thanks for the replay.

I do just the regular stuff. Import of normal JPEGs (~5MB each), from local volume, "Pictures" folder.

Smaller batches do have, although I have about 150GB of photos and importing folder by folder isn’t an option.

Photos.app have full access in Security & Privacy.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

196,989 points

May 16, 2020 3:38 PM in response to bini_d

It should work to import large batches of photos at once, as long as there are no duplicates among the photos you are trying to import together. Splitting your import into two or three smaller batches will reduce the likelihood of duplicates in the same import.

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