Can't import photos to Mac from iPhone

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Can't import photos to Mac from iPhone

I have a new MacBook Pro 16" and I have used it to open my older Photos file. It took ages but eventually it has opened it and I can see everything fine.

When I plug my iPhone 7+ in it recognises it, and it brings up all the photos on it. But when I click Import etc it seems to recognise the action but nothing happens. No photos are imported or deleted from the phone.

I tried using Image Capture to extract the photos from my iPhone to the Mac and that worked ok. Then I tried to import that folder using Photos but it still wouldn't bring anything in.

Bit of background. My Photos file is sitting on an Apple Airport Time Capsule and there's only 2GB space left on it. Would this be causing an issue? The 2TB storage is mostly taken up with backups of the Mac. How can I delete some of these as I don't need to keep so many or such a history.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 1, 2020 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

197,321 points

Jul 3, 2020 2:01 AM in response to Loneliest_Cabin

My Photos file is sitting on an Apple Airport Time Capsule and there's only 2GB space left on it. Would this be causing an issue? The 2TB storage is mostly taken up with backups of the Mac.

This setup is very problematic. Photos 5 on Catalina cannot work well with a Photos Library on a volume, that is used or has been used by Time Machine. This will cause problems with the file ownership. Catalina has added additional security features and is protecting backups even more the previous system. Also, Image Capture may not be able to find the Photos Library, if it is on a network volume. You should move your Photos Library to a different volume, that is locally mounted and has never been touched by Time Machine. An external volume to be used with Photos needs to be prepared as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,321 points

Jul 20, 2020 2:18 AM in response to Loneliest_Cabin

There may be some files that cannot be read. Try to copy the library in parts, so you can skip the files that cannot be copied, as described here: How to avoid the Error -36 when copying a… - Apple Community

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

197,321 points

Jul 3, 2020 3:42 AM in response to Loneliest_Cabin

Good Luck! 😊

One more thing - if you are getting yourself a new drive, get one, that has at least twice the storage capacity needed for the Photos Library. You will need additional storage, if Photos needs to repair the library or rebuild it during an upgrade to a new system version. And photos libraries tend to grow quickly any way.

I am always buying my external volumes in pairs of two - one for the data, and one for the backup of the data.

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Answer 4

Jul 20, 2020 1:09 AM in response to léonie

So I tried to copy the Photos file over to an external drive from the Airport and it failed - tried a few times, both with the external drive plugged directly into the Mac and then also plugged directly into the Airport. Said some of the files couldn't be read.

What else can I do? Is there a way to extract the Photos from the application and start again or something?

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Answer 5

Jul 3, 2020 1:34 AM in response to Loneliest_Cabin

No one had an issue like this?

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Answer 6

Jul 3, 2020 2:31 AM in response to léonie

Thanks 🙏 I will move to a hard drive

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Answer 7

Jul 20, 2020 6:16 AM in response to léonie

Thanks, will give it a go! One thing, would you have the new external drive plugged directly into the Mac or the Airport to do the copying from the Airport?

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Can't import photos to Mac from iPhone

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