Photos missing on EHD

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Level 1

26 points

Photos missing on EHD

I've been using a WD EHD as a backup (and saving) photos. Since 2023, some of the photos are not showing up. It just looks like a blank picture frame. I contacted WD about this and and we went through some troubleshooting on their end. Since I can see a blank picture when I double click on it, it is there. He had me put a folder on my desktop and move some photos from the EHD to the folder. When I opened it, they were still blank.

I was told this is a problem with the Mac OS because if it was the EHD, they would have shown up in the folder instead of being blank. He said my Mac is not recognizing the thumbnails.

I sure hope I'm making sense.

iMac 24″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Mar 28, 2025 11:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Richard.Taylor

Level 6

17,125 points

Mar 28, 2025 11:58 AM in response to MiMito2

Where is your Photos Library-- is it in your Pictures folder on your internal drive, or is it on your external drive, or is it somewhere else. The Photos Library has the extension of ".photoslibrary"

How is your external drive formatted? Is it formatted as APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format or something else? If the Library is on the external drive, and if that drive is not formatted in one of those two Mac formats, then you should stop running it immediately.

Do you use iCloud Photos? Do you "Optimize Storage" with iCloud?

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Answer 2

MiMito2 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 29, 2025 12:42 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

While trying to import to the folder from my EHD, I discovered if I change the view of photos from “icon” to “Gallery” they all show up. Instead of some being blank. Until I figure out how to get them all off my EHD onto a new one I’ll use that view. I also save in Dropbox.

Thanks for help.

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Answer 3

MiMito2 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 28, 2025 4:35 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

I noticed if I right click on a photo not showing up even if it’s a jpeg, go down to convert and convert to jpeg, it works. The photo shows up. 😏

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Answer 4

Mar 29, 2025 8:19 AM in response to MiMito2

Drag & Drop isn't really supported in Photos. I mean, it works, but we're not sure of the results. There are so many versions of pictures in Photos, thumbnails, previews, originals, screen size, full resolution, etc, that you can't be sure of which one you get. I use Drag & Drop for email or texting, things where I don't need the highest quality. But File>Export is the only method to be sure of what you get.

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Answer 5

Mar 28, 2025 1:00 PM in response to MiMito2

Ahh-- that's good! Here's another question-- If you make a Smart Album like this:

with "Photo is referenced," do you get any results? Here, I got 14.

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Answer 6

Mar 28, 2025 1:33 PM in response to MiMito2

In Photos' menu, "File>New Smart Album…"

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Answer 7

Mar 29, 2025 7:16 AM in response to MiMito2

Wow! That's cool!

How did you "move some photos from the EHD to the folder?" Did you use the menu choice "File>Export>Export nn Photos?" Or "File>Export>Export Originals?" Or did you drag and drop? or what?

Whatever-- you might try the other methods and see what happens…

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Answer 8

MiMito2 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 28, 2025 12:35 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Hi Richard,

Sorry I should have given more information. My iphotos are in my photos library on my iMac, also on my iphone and in the cloud.

My external dive is formatted as Mac OS Extended.

My photos are Download and keep originals.

Thank you for any help.

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Answer 9

MiMito2 Author

Level 1

26 points

Mar 29, 2025 12:07 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

So I was told to create a folder on the desktop and put 4-5 photos from the EHD in it to see if they were still blank and if they were, that was an indication it was an OS issue and not the EHD.

I will try importing to that folder instead of drag and drop and see if they’re the photo or the blank.

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