Photo library not found after latest update. How can i find date of update?

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Level 1

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Photo library not found after latest update. How can i find date of update?

Oy, I've been through this many times, with every update and restart of my iMac. Photos can't find my Photo Library, which is in plain sight in Pictures. This has happened previously, and I've used Time Machine to restore my photo library. Sometimes the problem has resolved on its own--??

What concerns me is that the "Date Modified" of my Photo Library is 7 July 2020, almost a year ago, and I have added many photos since then. Does that date refer to the last time I tackled my lost library with Time Machine--last summer? That could be correct, as it can't be the last addition to the library.

So how do I find the date of the update that screwed this up? I will want to use that date, won't I, to restore from Time Machine? Or is there another way to restore the library without losing recent photos?

I do back up to iCloud, and my iPad also backs up to iCloud. Is that info useful?

Many thanks. I am really tired of this issue--why does it happen and why does Apple let it happen? Ideas welcome!!!

Gail

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 12, 2021 1:48 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

197,303 points

Jun 13, 2021 5:55 AM in response to Gail Zlatnik

Gail, don't trust the "date modified" of your Photos Library you are seeing in the Finder. This is not reliably updated since the upgrade to Catalina. After the upgrade has been stuck on the same date for month for me. Also the file size has been very erratic.

If Photos cannot find the library in Pictures on its own, try to switch to a new, empty library and then back to your regular library. This helped sometimes to fix problems with the Photos Preferences files, when it cannot write the path to the library to the preferences files.

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Answer 2

Gail Zlatnik Author

Level 1

132 points

Jun 12, 2021 5:22 PM in response to Keith Barkley

Well, Keith, nope, no cleanup software--and the problem seems to have gone away on its own, just as it has previously. I did open Photos with option (plus Command, following something else online on Apple), but Photos was still stumped in finding my library.

So I did some outside work, had supper, read some newspaper sections, and returned to my computer, after checking my iPad for some recent photos I got via email--they were there in iPad's Photos--and then tried again to upload photos on my iMac. Very slow, with lots of spinning, but Photos opened without nagging and the photos eventually appeared. I have no idea what's going on--repeatedly over the last couple of years--but then, this iMac, not yet 6 years old, has given me more trouble than all of the previous Apples I've had in 35 years.

Thanks for your suggestion, which I'll keep in mind for the next time--which there were certainly be!

GZ

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Answer 3

Gail Zlatnik Author

Level 1

132 points

Jun 17, 2021 1:53 PM in response to Gail Zlatnik

Merci, léonie, for your suggestions, wherever you are with that French (?) name! I think that the "date modified" may refer to my fix of the same problem last summer after an update: I used my Time Machine backup. This time, as has happened in the past, Photos decided it could find Photo Library after all, and once again I could open and use Photos. I believe that I tried virtually everything when this first happened, before turning to Time Machine, but I'll keep your suggestion for the next time. Unfortunately, there will probably be a next time. This iMac is about 5-6 years old, and I've thought from the first time I booted it that it has a gremlin in its works somewhere.

Thanks!

GZ

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Answer 4

Jun 12, 2021 3:22 PM in response to Gail Zlatnik

You should be able to launch Photos with the option key and choose your Photos library. Most folks never have this issue. Are you running any "Cleanup" software?

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Photo library not found after latest update. How can i find date of update?

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