Cannot open Photos library on USB

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Cannot open Photos library on USB

Hi all,

I have my Photos library stored on a USB stick to save HD space on my MacBook. Since updating to Catalina, I can no longer open the library - when I try to open it, Photos tries to migrate the library to my MacBook's HD (which does not have enough free space), and gives me no other optoions whilst it does this.

After it tries to copy my library and fails, Photos comes up with the error 'there is not enough space to migrate your library' before automatically closing.

This was never a problem before I upgraded OS - has anyone found a way to fix this, or some kind of work-around?

Thanks in advance

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on May 27, 2020 10:42 AM

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Answer 1

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Old Toad

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210,615 points

May 27, 2020 2:45 PM in response to sambrewster

It is a problem. With the newer versions of Photos the file system on which a library can be run off of is limited to those listed in this user tip: Where is it safe to store a Photos Library - 2019 Version and in this Apple document: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

May 27, 2020 3:04 PM in response to sambrewster

Flash drives are not ideal for hosting Photos libraries. I know they are convenient but you could get a bare SSD of a size that will work for you and a USB/SATA adaptor to run the library from. This is what I use for other reasons:

This is documented in: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt drive formatted as MacOS Extended (Journaled). Apple doesn't recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.

You can't store your library on a disk that's used for Time Machine backups.

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Answer 3

sambrewster Author

Level 1

10 points

May 27, 2020 2:27 PM in response to Keith Barkley

The USB is formatted in ExFAT, but I don't think that's the issue is it hasn't been a problem ever before. It must be something to do with the OS update, as this problem has only started since upgrading.

Whenever I open up Photos now I'm just greeted with this (screenshot below) until it tells me that 'there is not enough space to migrate your library' again. I can't even stop it trying.

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Answer 4

May 27, 2020 1:56 PM in response to sambrewster

How is the external USB drive formatted?

It certainly does not try to do it from my external SSD's, I don't know how the OS can tell the difference.

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Answer 5

sambrewster Author

Level 1

10 points

May 27, 2020 2:50 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks very much for this. I guess I'll do some juggling and get the .photoslibrary onto another drive, re-format the drive, then move it back. Hopefully that'll do it!

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Cannot open Photos library on USB

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