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Corrupted (or missing) photographs in my iCloud Photos gallery

I have a large collection of photographs, and systematically I loaded all my shots in Photos with iCloud storage. Now there are hundreds of images that black, despite the metadata still identifies them. Is there a way to recuperate these images? I Can't see them in any of my devices (iPhone, iPad Mac Book Pro and Mac Mini)

Mac mini, macOS 12.2

Posted on Feb 7, 2022 6:54 PM

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Posted on Feb 8, 2022 2:01 PM

For future reference - iCloud is not a backup - it is a sync service.


If the photos are OK in iCloud you could try two things.


1 - Try restarting in safe mode and check again - then restart normally.


2 - Regenerate your library from iCloud by syncing to a new empty library. (Create a new library, set it as the system library, and turn on iCloud photos)

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Feb 8, 2022 2:01 PM in response to ABT58

For future reference - iCloud is not a backup - it is a sync service.


If the photos are OK in iCloud you could try two things.


1 - Try restarting in safe mode and check again - then restart normally.


2 - Regenerate your library from iCloud by syncing to a new empty library. (Create a new library, set it as the system library, and turn on iCloud photos)

Feb 8, 2022 12:18 AM in response to ABT58

Hi


Hi - do these just show black thumbnails or black when opened also. Can you open them for editing - to they then still show black?


Is it possible to select one of these photos, and then from the image menu select "revert to original"? If so, can you then open for editing?


If not, it is likely you library has been damaged. This can happen if you store your library on an incompatible volume (where is your library stored - if on an external drive, what is the format), OR if you have used a clean up/duplicate removal app. (If you have, which one).


Do you have a backup of the library from before this problem started?

Feb 8, 2022 5:52 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Thanks for your advice.

The Photos library is stored in my iMAC Mini M1, I don't use an external drive. Before this, they were stored in the SSD of a MacBook Pro.

All the affected pictures look black, both as thumbnails and when I open them. I tried the "revert to original" command from the menu, but it is grayed out. It seems strange that in the same date there are a few pictures showing while the majority is black.

To your question, I never used any software to clean up or remove duplicates.

Sadly, I trusted in iCloud, so I don't keep a back-up. My oldest Time machine copy is from the time I upgraded my Mac, so it won't help.

Thanks!

Corrupted (or missing) photographs in my iCloud Photos gallery

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