Apple photos stuck - how to reset?

[searchless1]

importing photos, Photos won't accept now photos. Says it is still importing. that's the little circle next to the enlarge thingy - upper left of screen. (1st photo)
I also get this msg. (2nd photo)

I went into my photos app and looked around but didn't end up deleting anything.

would deleting the app and getting it again do the trick or would i lose all my pix?

suggestions?

 

[MacInWin]

According to the screen shot, the drive on which your library exists doesn't have space for the images. Until/unless you make more room available, nothing else will help. Your profile says you have a 256G SSD, which is pretty small for RAW image storage. And given it is an M1 system, you cannot upgrade the internal storage, so the best way out now is to get a good external drive to hold the library.

 

[ferrarr]

Not enough storage space, means you're running on empty.

 

[IWT]

Not enough storage space, means you're running on empty.

And that's not just for the Photos app - it's for everything.

There are two ways you can see how much free space is available:

1. Click on the Apple icon , top menu bar, far left and choose About this Mac and then click on Storage

2. Open Disk Utility (DU) and click on Macintosh HD or whatever it is named.

Either method will bring up how much of the 256GB is freely available. It would help us to know the result. We can then advise you on various means of freeing up space in addition to Jake's suggestion of moving the Photos Library to an External Hard Drive (EHD).

Ian

 

[searchless1]

According to the screen shot, the drive on which your library exists doesn't have space for the images. Until/unless you make more room available, nothing else will help. Your profile says you have a 256G SSD, which is pretty small for RAW image storage. And given it is an M1 system, you cannot upgrade the internal storage, so the best way out now is to get a good external drive to hold the library.

how can i export the pix in my photos app? couldn't find it in it.

 

[searchless1]

Not enough storage space, means you're running on empty.

will do!!

 

[searchless1]

And that's not just for the Photos app - it's for everything.

There are two ways you can see how much free space is available:

1. Click on the Apple icon , top menu bar, far left and choose About this Mac and then click on Storage

2. Open Disk Utility (DU) and click on Macintosh HD or whatever it is named.

Either method will bring up how much of the 256GB is freely available. It would help us to know the result. We can then advise you on various means of freeing up space in addition to Jake's suggestion of moving the Photos Library to an External Hard Drive (EHD).

Ian

I tossed everything but last 6 mo's of trash.

how can i export the pix in my photos app? couldn't find a way to in the open app

 

[MacInWin]

You don't need to export them, you can move the library. Open Photos, click on "Photos" in the upper left corner of the screen, then General tab and you will see the Library Location listed. Note the location and name, then click on Show In Finder to go there. Copy that file from where it is to where you want it to be. Now close Photos and reopen it again with Option key and it will ask which library to use, point to the new location and it should open just fine. Test it a bit and once you know it's all there, you can delete the old one that you noted the location for in step one.

However, I note that your Internal drive has only 431 Megabytes left on the 245 Terabyte drive and that is way, way to little. You need to keep at least 50 Gigabytes free, maybe more if you do a lot of editing of RAW images. You can start by emptying the trash to delete the material fully. You might also need to reboot after emptying the trash to finally recover that space.

Are you using RAW image format for a reason? I ask because RAW files are huge and unless you are a professional photographer, the other formats can save a lot of space.

EDIT: One more question, are you copying the image files into the Library? You can check that also on the same Preferences page, down a couple of items on the General Tab. If the "Copy items to the Photos Library" is checked, you are, in fact, copying the files into Photos, which is generally a good idea. If that box is NOT checked, then the Library will be relatively small because all it's storing is a link to where the file is on the internal drive, so moving the Library won't save the space for you.

Let us know and we can give some other suggestions, probably.

 

[searchless1]

You don't need to export them, you can move the library. Open Photos, click on "Photos" in the upper left corner of the screen, then General tab and you will see the Library Location listed. Note the location and name, then click on Show In Finder to go there. Copy that file from where it is to where you want it to be. Now close Photos and reopen it again with Option key and it will ask which library to use, point to the new location and it should open just fine. Test it a bit and once you know it's all there, you can delete the old one that you noted the location for in step one.

However, I note that your Internal drive has only 431 Megabytes left on the 245 Terabyte drive and that is way, way to little. You need to keep at least 50 Gigabytes free, maybe more if you do a lot of editing of RAW images. You can start by emptying the trash to delete the material fully. You might also need to reboot after emptying the trash to finally recover that space.

Are you using RAW image format for a reason? I ask because RAW files are huge and unless you are a professional photographer, the other formats can save a lot of space.

EDIT: One more question, are you copying the image files into the Library? You can check that also on the same Preferences page, down a couple of items on the General Tab. If the "Copy items to the Photos Library" is checked, you are, in fact, copying the files into Photos, which is generally a good idea. If that box is NOT checked, then the Library will be relatively small because all it's storing is a link to where the file is on the internal drive, so moving the Library won't save the space for you.

Let us know and we can give some other suggestions, probably.

no "general" tab.

 

[MacInWin]

Not the right place. Click on the "Photos" in the UPPER LEFT CORNER OF THE SCREEN and then Preferences and then General.

EDIT: A picture for you:

 

[IWT]

As Jake said: Open Photos. Click on the Photos icon in the top menu bar adjacent to the Apple icon . Choose Preferences.

It will open a window. General is likely the default, but if not, click on it.

This what you will see:



First line is Library Location. I have blanked out my name, then there's Pictures then "Photos Library.photoslibrary". That's where your library is.

Click on "Show in Finder" and this will automatically take you to where the library is stored on your Mac.

NB also, that further down I have "Copy items to the Photos Library" ticked. Jake made reference to this in his excellent posts.

You can now follow Jake's guidance.

Ian

 

[searchless1]

As Jake said: Open Photos. Click on the Photos icon in the top menu bar adjacent to the Apple icon . Choose Preferences.

It will open a window. General is likely the default, but if not, click on it.

This what you will see:

View attachment 36460

First line is Library Location. I have blanked out my name, then there's Pictures then "Photos Library.photoslibrary". That's where your library is.

Click on "Show in Finder" and this will automatically take you to where the library is stored on your Mac.

NB also, that further down I have "Copy items to the Photos Library" ticked. Jake made reference to this in his excellent posts.

You can now follow Jake's guidance.

Ian

thank you, Ian!

 

[searchless1]

You don't need to export them, you can move the library. Open Photos, click on "Photos" in the upper left corner of the screen, then General tab and you will see the Library Location listed. Note the location and name, then click on Show In Finder to go there. Copy that file from where it is to where you want it to be. Now close Photos and reopen it again with Option key and it will ask which library to use, point to the new location and it should open just fine. Test it a bit and once you know it's all there, you can delete the old one that you noted the location for in step one.

However, I note that your Internal drive has only 431 Megabytes left on the 245 Terabyte drive and that is way, way to little. You need to keep at least 50 Gigabytes free, maybe more if you do a lot of editing of RAW images. You can start by emptying the trash to delete the material fully. You might also need to reboot after emptying the trash to finally recover that space.

Are you using RAW image format for a reason? I ask because RAW files are huge and unless you are a professional photographer, the other formats can save a lot of space.

EDIT: One more question, are you copying the image files into the Library? You can check that also on the same Preferences page, down a couple of items on the General Tab. If the "Copy items to the Photos Library" is checked, you are, in fact, copying the files into Photos, which is generally a good idea. If that box is NOT checked, then the Library will be relatively small because all it's storing is a link to where the file is on the internal drive, so moving the Library won't save the space for you.

Let us know and we can give some other suggestions, probably.

I put some other pix on my 8T EHD, b/c photos wouldn't accept any more photos. (hmmm...)

whether or not that could work (?), i now need to transfer the pix in Photos app to my EHD. Can't find away. please help. 8-|

 

[MacInWin]

Read post #8.

Ian, it's pretty clear I'm not communicating so you can take it from here. I'm bowing out.

 

[searchless1]

Read post #8.

Ian, it's pretty clear I'm not communicating so you can take it from here. I'm bowing out.

Jake, you may not remember i'm an old lady and forget things in an instance. I'll go to 8 now.
thanks so much for your patience and knowledge!

 

[IWT]

Jake, you may not remember i'm an old lady and forget things in an instance. I'll go to 8 now.
thanks so much for your patience and knowledge!

You are right to be grateful for Jake's input. Between you and me, he's getting on a bit too

And I'm close behind, and slowly closing the gap.

So; from my post with pics, #11, I expect that you have used Finder to locate your Photos library. Once you've found, you can close the Photos app if you wish.**

Now - Click on the library to highlight it. Then use Command plus C to copy the library.

Next, double-click to open your 8TB External Hard Drive (EHD). You can see the 8TB EHD if it's set to show on the Desktop; or in the Finder Sidebar.

Once you've opened the 8TB EHD, use Command plus V to paste/copy the Library on to that EHD. Be patient, this could a while - big library, nearly full Mac's Drive. Maybe have a cup of tea to sooth the nerves.

When eventually, the copying is finished, the Library will be visible like any other file.

**If you didn't close the Photos app previously, do so now.

Then hold down the Option key, keep holding it down, and click on the Photos app.

You'll see something like this:



I've got several libraries as you can see. Hopefully, you will only see two. One on your Mac and the other on the EHD. If you see the one on the EHD, select it by clicking once on it, then click on "Choose Library". That should open your EHD library.

Unlikely, BUT IF you don't see it listed, click on "Other Library". That opens a small Finder window to allow you to navigate to your EHD, open it, and select the Library.

What we want you to do is verify that all your pics and videos are clearly visible and accessible on the EHD.

Once verified, you can delete the original Library on your Mac. BUT BEFORE YOU DO, come back to us and confirm that all is well.

Don't worry if you make a mistake. We will only ask you to delete the original Library when you and we are satisfied that the copying process has been a success.

OK so far?

Ian

 

[searchless1]

When eventually, the copying is finished, the Library will be visible like any other file.

**If you didn't close the Photos app previously, do so now.

Then hold down the Option key, keep holding it down, and click on the Photos app.

You'll see something like this:

View attachment 36462

I've got several libraries as you can see. Hopefully, you will only see two. One on your Mac and the other on the EHD. If you see the one on the EHD, select it by clicking once on it, then click on "Choose Library". That should open your EHD library.

I exported Photos Libraries #2.3 & 4 to my EHD but i can't find #1.

I don't know where to find that drop down menu. I tried to find it. Please give *more detailed* instructions.

 

[IWT]

Is #1 your original Photos Library? If so, it should still be where it was before. You have not deleted anything, only moved your original library. If you click on "originals" as in your screenshot, what do you see. Is that, perhaps, your #1? Your original library??

I have to admit that I didn't know you had 4 Photos Libraries!!

Also, and separately, just for info: If you Click on the Photos app without the Option key, what does that show?

Ian

 

[searchless1]

I exported Photos Libraries #2.3 & 4 to my EHD but i can't find #1.

I don't know where to find that drop down menu. I tried to find it. Please give *more detailed* instructions. View attachment 36467

i now have 129.94 GB available on my mac. I slashed and burned just about everything, of course moving it all to my EHD which now has 7.71 TB of 8 on it.

 

[searchless1]

Is #1 your original Photos Library? If so, it should still be where it was before. You have not deleted anything, only moved your original library. If you click on "originals" as in your screenshot, what do you see. Is that, perhaps, your #1? Your original library??

I have to admit that I didn't know you had 4 Photos Libraries!!

Also, and separately, just for info: If you Click on the Photos app without the Option key, what does that show?

Ian

View attachment 36469

Is #1 your original Photos Library? If so, it should still be where it was before. You have not deleted anything, only moved your original library. If you click on "originals" as in your screenshot, what do you see. Is that, perhaps, your #1? Your original library??

I have to admit that I didn't know you had 4 Photos Libraries!!

Also, and separately, just for info: If you Click on the Photos app without the Option key, what does that show?

Ian

there are 12 0f these, none containing photo libraries.

Here's my Photos app