Upgraded from Monterey to Ventura 13.1 - Killed my Photos library

[EugW]

I have my entire 500+ GB Photos library stored in iCloud and locally on my iMac's external SSD and upgraded from the last version of Monterey directly to Ventura 13.1. When I tried to open Photos, this is what I got:

I tried repairing the library, but it just got stuck at this:

I force quit it and tried relaunching but then I got this:

So I attempted to rebuild it again but it failed completely.

Luckily I have an entire copy of it locally on my other machine, and I also have Time Machine backups and on iCloud as mentioned. So, I'm going to make some additional backups from both machines and from Time Machine, and then delete the entire file on this machine and re-download from iCloud. What's the process of this BTW?

Sometimes Photos just p!sses me off. It's become such a bloated mess.

 

[appltech]

Hi
Helped me few times
To obtain your opulence, try creating a new photolibrary, then switch to your default one
Remember (yep, you already know that, but just in case) your previous photolibrary base location:

After that close Photos.app –>find and hold on your keyboard option(or alt/start) button and open Photos.app one more time. There should be a window asking about libraries.

Moving forward create a new one, then open Photos settings and make sure to select "Use as System Photo Library". Then vice versa. And make sure that Wi-Fi/network will be disabled.

Furthermore, you can open that photolibrary as an archive and grab items there manually (with folders, covers, tags, etc) but it may cause new problems apparently

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have my entire 500+ GB Photos library stored in iCloud and locally on my iMac's external SSD and upgraded from the last version of Monterey directly to Ventura 13.1. When I tried to open Photos, this is what I got:

View attachment 2128039

I tried repairing the library, but it just got stuck at this:

View attachment 2128038


I force quit it and tried relaunching but then I got this:

View attachment 2128040

So I attempted to rebuild it again but it failed completely.

View attachment 2128041

Luckily I have an entire copy of it locally on my other machine, and I also have Time Machine backups and on iCloud as mentioned. So, I'm going to make some additional backups from both machines and from Time Machine, and then delete the entire file on this machine and re-download from iCloud. What's the process of this BTW?

Sometimes Photos just p!sses me off. It's become such a bloated mess.

In the seven years of its existence Photos has let me down three times, but not the same problem as yours and not in the last four years.

In my case all my abums had disappeared, and I could see they had on iCloud.com as well, so there was no point in my downloading a fresh one as you are. I had to restore a local backup.

As @appltech says, Create new Library > Make System Library > Turn on iCloud. But I don't know why he says turn Wi-Fi off. You can't create a new icloud Photos Lib without internet. Photos is not like other types of iCloud data where there is a danger bad data on iCloud will overwrite the new. You are downloading a new copy not merging with old.

Assume your lib looks OK on iCloud.com?

My two macs have been fine in Ventura 13.1 but I went via 13.0 not straight from Monterey as you have, though that should be fine, and haven't seen any other reports.

How long did you leave it "Repairing"? A 500GB library could take a while. I wouldnt be surprised at a day or two, but I would probably have lost patience and done the same as you before that.

Looking at your original error message I wonder if the external holding the Photos lib was mounted at the time. Did you try launching Photos by double clicking on the library file? Just a hunch. In any case I think all bets are off after force quiting a repair, so you probably need to download fresh or restore a local backup.

 

[EugW]

Thanks. The iCloud data is intact, and in fact I have a complete version of the Photos Library on another Mac sitting right beside this one. Plus I have Time Machine backups on both of these machines so the data is not at risk. Nonetheless, I'm disappointed at these bugs, because as far I'm concerned they should NEVER happen. And even if it does happen, it should be repairable. I am a geek that can troubleshoot these things, but 98% of the computing world isn't.

The drive was indeed mounted. It's never been a problem in 2 years (after sleep or reboot or any other time), and it's directly connected to the Mac. Anyhow, I think the update has borked other things. Looking at storage management, the Mac never can calculate how much is being used by Documents, Photos, and System, etc. even if I leave it overnight to think about it. So, I think I'm just going to move everything to my M1 Mac mini and wipe the iMac and start over. I was going to do that in 2023 anyway since Ventura is likely the last version of macOS this 2017 iMac will get, but now Apple's bugs have forced my hand to do it 2022.

 

[EugW]

I hope Apple pays more attention to Photos and its underlying design and architecture, because IMO it's become quite problematic. Too bad stuff like Lightroom doesn't offer the same functionality like cross-device availability (unless you pay for an expensive subscription) and all the consumer ease of use bonuses.

Anyhow, my local completely downloaded Photos library is now only on my Mac mini, with the whole database on iCloud and backups of the original files and Photos database on hard drives locally, one to be put in my safety deposit box at the bank. You can't export the entire database at once, or it will crash. On my 24 GB iMac I was up to over 100 GB memory usage (!) before it crashed, so I've exported a portion at a time until it was completed. The other way to do this is enter the Photos application bundle and just copy over the directories to the backup drive. Really, it shouldn't be this complicated Apple. It's supposed to be a consumer application after all.

The iMac has the better overall monitor (27" 5K P3 500 nits), but I've ordered a colour calibrator to calibrate the Mac mini's Huawei MateView (28.2" 4K P3 500 nits), and the iMac too to match.