Photos app saying I need to upgrade to open a Library?

[komatsu]

What can be done if you have a Photos Library which was created with a newer version of Photos?

Currently, they are on a USB external hard disk (HFS+ formatted).

OS = El Capitan

Error=

"Unsupported Library
The library "Photos Library" is from a newer version of Photos. Please upgrade Photos to open this library"

In this case, it is really important that the timeline of photos be kept intact.

But how do I import these photos into the current Photos Library? Any suggestions would be great.

 

[casperes1996]

Well, aside from upgrading the OS and thus the Photos app to one that supports the library, all you can really do is open the package and transfer over the photos; but unless the photos have the time taken as part of their metadata that would disrupt the timeline. Also it’s a very tedious process to do by hand so I would recommend just opening it on a supported OS.
But if you must, just right click the library, reveal its contents and dig through and pull out the photos. - But yeah since they’re effectively a new import at that stage, the placement in the timeline will only be accurate if the photo’s metadata is accurate

 

[komatsu]

ok thanks Casper. The system an iMac is already updated to the latest macOS version which it can run...so upgrading OS won't work...

The photos go back like to 1998 or something and use keeps saying the timeline is very important....

Can you think of any other workarounds?

(PS: I am wondering how they were created with a newer version of Photos when the last OS was older?)

 

[casperes1996]

ok thanks Casper. The system an iMac is already updated to the latest macOS version which it can run...so upgrading OS won't work...

The photos go back like to 1998 or something and use keeps saying the timeline is very important....

Can you think of any other workarounds?

(PS: I am wondering how they were created with a newer version of Photos when the last OS was older?)

Well if it’s a must you could always try DosDude1’s patcher to install a newer macOS than is officially supported for the machine.

I mean it’s reversible so you can try and make a fresh Photos Library, import it all in there and see if it maintains the timeline. If it doesn’t you haven’t lost the original library. The older photos might very well still have “Date Added” metadata that’s accurate enough for the timeline.

Aside from that, maybe you can google around and see if there’s a third party program that can open newer Photos libraries in older macOS or something

Well, it sounds like the library was made by someone else? If so their machine could be running a newer version of macOS, right?

 

[komatsu]

Well if it’s a must you could always try DosDude1’s patcher to install a newer macOS than is officially supported for the machine.

I mean it’s reversible so you can try and make a fresh Photos Library, import it all in there and see if it maintains the timeline. If it doesn’t you haven’t lost the original library. The older photos might very well still have “Date Added” metadata that’s accurate enough for the timeline.

Aside from that, maybe you can google around and see if there’s a third party program that can open newer Photos libraries in older macOS or something

Well, it sounds like the library was made by someone else? If so their machine could be running a newer version of macOS, right?

Thanks for the patched OS suggestion - could be an option but will leave it as a last resort.

Hopefully there is a third-party app that can help export Photo libraries.

As for the the library + machine. I upgraded their system from Yosemite to El Cap a few months ago. So still not sure how this incompatibility is arising.

Anyway, I will search for third-party app and let you know.

Thanks.

 

[glenthompson]

Since you mentioned that this was an external drive could have been used with a newer version of macOS? Something else to check is to see exactly what version of Photos is running and verify its the latest version for the OS.

 

[Rastafabi]

There is only one way to import a newer photo library on old old OS while keeping everything intact.
However I do not now wether this works for versions as old as El Capitan. That said anyhow you really should update to High Sierra, which is perfectly stable using the patcher, while still being covered with security updates and thus being safer as well as much more current. Also your Mac will actually get faster due to great under-the-hood improvements.

To import a newer Library you then would need to open it on a compatible Mac and enable iCloud photos. (You might need to purchase a month of 2TB iCloud storage.) This will start syncing the photos to the cloud. Logging into same iCloud account on the older macOS version and enabling iCloud photos will start syncing those back. When the process is done you can disable iCloud photos again and unsubscribe from the storage plan.
This can also be done from your unsupported Mac, if you install a newer OS using the aforementioned patcher to another partition or even an external volume.

 

[mj_]

Do you have a backup of your Photos library? If you can definitely certify that it has never been opened with a newer version of Photos and converted, a process which takes between several minutes and several hours depending on size, then it's very possible that your library got corrupted.

 

[komatsu]

Do you have a backup of your Photos library? If you can definitely certify that it has never been opened with a newer version of Photos and converted, a process which takes between several minutes and several hours depending on size, then it's very possible that your library got corrupted.

The owner also has a MacBook Air running macOS Catalina.

They would have connected this external disk containing library to disk to this (Catalina) system to view. Could that be the origins of the problem?

 

[mj_]

No. Unless you open Photos and manually point it to the new library then Photos on Catalina is not even going to know that library even exists. By default, it only looks in ~/Pictures for a library and nowhere else.

 

[Rastafabi]

Or by opening it directly from Finder, of course.

 

[Deanna Z]

Did you get this problem resolved? As I understand, you need to recreate your Photos library to run on an older version of macOS, and need to preserve the timeline. Let's say your library is compatible with Catalina, but you need one for Mojave. There are two ways to do this:

1) Open the library on a Mac running Catalina, select all the photos and videos, click File > Export Unmodified Originals > save on external HD. The photos will be saved with the original dates intact, but you'll lose all the edits and album organization. Connect the external HD to the Mojave Mac, create a new (empty) Photos library, and copy all the photos and videos into it. Since the Creation Dates in the photos are preserved, everything will be displayed in the correct chronological order.

2) Use a third-party app such as Photos Takeout to export the photos in year/month wise folders to external HD. This will export the latest edited versions of the photos and videos, preserving dates, titles, keywords, descriptions and locations. Import into an empty Photos library on the Mojave Mac as in Option 1 above. Note that Photos Takeout is compatible with macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur. For older macOS's try Photos to Disk.

 

[Rastafabi]

There is another way as outlined before. This is presumably the easiest way, as you won’t have to actually da anything yourself. Though this takes some time. Just purchase a month of iCloud Storage in an appropriate storage capacity to fit your photo library, and than enable iPhoto library sync for your apple ID on either computer. Now wait till any edit and any original file is synced. Disable Photo syncing once this is done and be sure to select downloading all original (high quality) files on your Mac if asked. now you can cancel your iCloud storage plan.