PhotoLibrary of the Day, a day to forget.

[katbel]

Since Sunday I'm in a lot of trouble with Photos:
I wanted to try a program that doesn't work on Mojave, but it has been updated on Big Sur that I have installed on an external disk and it's fast ..too fast 😟 . I needed a photo and without thinking I launched the Photo library I use lately
Thanks goodnesses I have few different libraries but still.. there were 6000 photos~=36GB.
As soon as I launch it I realize that was WRONG because of the different systems. Maybe 2 seconds and I quit Photos.

Too late the disaster was done, but I didn't know the extent of the damage yet. I thought : good I stopped it just on time.
Then I did all my backups. That library goes on 3 different disks.

Monday morning I was back in Mojave and I opened the library...well I tried : "it has been used by a more recent Photos, update your Photos."

I tried to repair it, no way. I opened the packages of that library and a different one, to compare what the heck Big Sur could have put in 2 seconds in my library. A lot, legacy folders, a completely different way of dealing with the library
Long story short : tried several ways, read a lot around but no solution.
The only one was to create a new library and import manually all my photos retrieved in the broken library.
All the Master photos were enough . Now I'm playing finding the doubles , or triples because the library s$&#
And I didn't import the resources , tons of other photos there too. Randomly checked few , just to be sure and the masters were already there.
I will always try to open my photo libraries before doing the backups..just in case something goes wrong.
Lesson learned.

 

[mollyc]

I don't use Photos, but I'm really sorry you are having difficulty with your library.

 

[katbel]

I don't use Photos, but I'm really sorry you are having difficulty with your library.

Thanks. Getting there.. but it's a lot of work
What do you use?

 

[mollyc]

lightroom

 

[katbel]

What other photos management apps are available? I mean just for storage use on Mac

 

[mollyc]

This is a good conversation, and I think other threads have been started regarding this if you just browse through the Digital Photography forum as a whole.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lightroom-vs-apple-photos-long-term-story.2341536/

 

[r.harris1]

I’m so sorry @katbel ! This must be so painful. There’s a lot of good in Photos management of images, though it’s not something I use very much. If you have any recent backups across the different OSs you’re running that’s the least painful way forward. I know @bunnspecial is running zillions of versions of Mac operating systems for his own needs and was experiencing similar though different pain recently with different Lightroom versions. For me, anything that allows me to stay “close to the filesystem” is where I’ve opted. While both (more) expensive and complex, Capture One automatically gives me a backup of a catalog or session if I upgrade (on purpose or accidentally). Lightroom (I think) has similar features. Capture One has this concept of ”sessions” where essentially most adjustments are stored in files on the filesystem rather than in a databases so for me, there’s a little more flexibility there. Point being less the tool, but that Photos doesn’t have a lot of options to “back out” and is pretty brute force. “Back out” in Photos is usually your “last backup” unfortunately. When you come up for air, it may be worth exploring the thread mollyc posted and thinking about whether some other tool with some more fail-safes built in might help. I know it has helped me over the years.

 

[katbel]

Finished the culling right now! While importing I deleted several other photos, not bad!
Spring cleaning..
Now after checking the working new library, I' m copying it in the usual backups
Thanks for all your suggestions and moral support 🙂

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm sorry that this has happened to you, Katbel; unfortunately I don't have any advice to offer since I don't use and never have used Photos or back in the day, iPhoto. I did discuss my particular approach in the other thread. I can only imagine how frustrating this all is for you right now! I hope you get it all resolved and also can find a good solution to avoid this happening again in the future. It definitely would be a good idea to consider using something other than Photos and its libraries for keeping your images.....

If I may suggest, too, it might be a good idea to have all of the machines in your household (the Macs, anyway) running the same version of the OS. Whenever we have a new software OS update I always run it on my machines so that they are all on the same page; just keeps life simpler that way!

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Ugh, I'm really sorry to hear this @katbel and I'm glad to hear things are going better today. Fingers crossed everything is back in a place where you can find it soon!

I stay far, far away from the Photos app. I know it may be too late to make a change for you and the many others who have been using it for years, though. Photos just takes over too much control from me. For example, it strips filenames from images and creates its own name for each image you import. If there was a way to be sure that Apple would never change or discontinue Photos, then it may be suitable for some people to use as their database. But we all know there's no way to guarantee that. Just ask all the people who used to use iPhoto and Aperture.

When I send images to clients, I want to make sure they have images that have searchable metadata, as well as a filename that makes sense. That way when they look at a file they still know who or what it is a picture of, without even opening it. This makes it easier for their publication needs. If I just sent them photos with a string of numbers and letters as a filename, that wouldn't be helping them. I want to produce images that are app- and platform-agnostic so people who aren't using Photos, or even Macs, have access to all of the information I have put in the metadata fields.

I don't know of a professional photographer or publication that uses Photos. I'm sure there are some out there, but I don't know of any.

With a basic file naming, keywording and backup strategy, your images will exist in a way that a simple Finder search will lead you to the image you're looking for. That's why I recommended Photo Mechanic in your other thread about finding an app for organizing photos. Good luck!

 

[katbel]

Your support means a lot to me! To all of you 💖

Yesterday I had another idea, too bad I didn't follow up with that one immediately
I should have stayed in BigSur, finished to update the library, already compromised.
Then export all the photos and reimport them in the new library: it would have been much easier, because of the changed names, as @Jumpthesnark mentioned.
This could be an useful tip to someone who could end in a similar