User profile for user: SarahB1863
SarahB1863 Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Part of photo library is suddenly gone!

Hi all,


I was in my Photos app last night on my iMac and noticed that for some reason, all my photos after November of 2019 are gone.


I have no idea how that happened. The last time I opened the app (earlier last week) they were all there. I restored no backups. I did delete some files off the same external drive I keep the photo library on, but the folder where that library lives wasn't affected (Users>myname>Photo library). Earlier yesterday I did a test reboot from my external drive but that uses the external drive as a boot, right? It doesn't change anything on the hard drive? I checked the photo library my program is accessing and it's from 2019, but the modified date is 2019, so it's not like it's my photo library from 2025 that got modified. And I don't see a photo library from any date more recent than that anywhere on my external drive.


I'm running a third-party data recovery program to see if I can get any of my photos back, but I'm flummoxed as to how this happened. Does anybody have any ideas? I could accept if I accidentally deleted my more recent photo library, but does the photo library automatically link to an older version if it can't find the current library?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 24, 2025 8:10 AM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
12,726 points

Mar 24, 2025 8:22 AM in response to SarahB1863

Having a Photos Library with outside links is called a Referenced Library, and it is strongly discouraged. But sometimes it happens accidentally--check Photos Settings>General to see if "Copy" is checked:

And while you're at it, check that you're using the Library you think you're using! Is this Library the System Library?


You can use the Library Chooser dialog, accessed by closing Photos and option clicking on the Photos icon, to see what other Libraries you have:

The path is shown for the selected Library.


Let us know what you find…

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User profile for user: SarahB1863
SarahB1863 Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Mar 24, 2025 3:03 PM in response to SarahB1863

OK, this is what I found out:


I found all of the available photo libraries, and none of them have all my photos. They're all from 2019.


The photo library that came up when I discovered 6 years' of my photos were missing isn't the system photo library; the one labeled system photo library is also from 2019, and incomplete.


I downloaded a trial version of Disk Drill, and it found the linked photo. This might be my photo library, that is it tracks because it was on my external drive and deleted, but I don't know what to do with the files it found; none of them are called 'photo library' and they look like executable files. What are they? Would recovering them get me my photo library back, maybe?


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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
12,726 points

Mar 25, 2025 8:33 AM in response to SarahB1863

SarahB1863 wrote: …The photo library that came up when I discovered 6 years' of my photos were missing isn't the system photo library; the one labeled system photo library is also from 2019, and incomplete.

First-- I don't know Disk Drill, but I'd stay away from it. If you want a 3rd Party finder, use Find Any File ($6) -- we know that doesn't mess up Mac files. The Photos database can be very sensitive to disruption--"drilling" into the database might (though I don't actually know) corrupt the information there. Other such similar apps certainly do. In the same line, just because it says "photoslibrary" doesn't mean that it still works.


I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say "it found the linked photo." Use the Library Chooser dialog I mentioned before to see if this Library opens.


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User profile for user: Zurarczurx
Zurarczurx
User level: Level 4
2,410 points

Mar 25, 2025 9:11 AM in response to SarahB1863

SarahB1863 wrote:

Thanks, Richard. Sorry, I should have written that Disk Drill found what was in the photo that I linked -eg, the screenshot of the folders and plists.

I'll check out Find Any File, thanks for the link. Does it find deleted files?

I don't think that Find any File will find deleted files that have been emptied from the waste bin, but a good finder app is always worth having. I use easyfind (which also doesn't find deleted files).


I've used Disk Drill to recover some files a cousin deleted from a USB and found it OK but a pain in the neck to uninstall cos it left traces of itself scattered all over the place requiring a bit of time to search and destroy them.

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Part of photo library is suddenly gone!

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