SOLVED Photo Booth Library

[Maxwideman]

All the photos in my Photos library have suddenly vanished. I keep two back-ups on separated drives and no sign of them there either, nor any of the individual picture files, nor is any found on a "total Mac backup" made back in 2017 on a Bytecc drive USB 3.0 drive. I have searched for the file that "Photos" is supposed to connect to, namely "Photos Library.photoslibrary", but no sign anywhere. In particular I have looked in "Users/maxwideman/pictures/photo booth library" - but no luck.

I am working on a MacPro tabletop (Mid 2010), OS version 10.12.6.

Where are the actual photos files normally stored?
Can I find them somewhere?
How come they seem to have disappeared from all three backups at the same time?

I would appreciate any feed back, thanks and stay safe. Max

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi,

Normally, all photos in iPhoto/Photos application are stored in the iPhoto/Photos Library in your Pictures folder as you mentioned. I have never seen it disappear from multiple drives, or a complete backup made years earlier. Depending on how many photos you have, the file should be quite large - GBs in size.

-Could it have possibly been named something different that Photos Library?
-When was the last time you saw them normally on your iMac? On the backup drives? On the 2017 Bytecc drive?

C

 

[Cory Cooper]

Also,

-In Photos > Preferences... is Copy items to the Photos library checked?
-Do you use iCloud Photo Library by chance?

C

 

[Maxwideman]

Yes, there was a large number of photos in quite a number of separate albums, so I would expect a large number of GBs, though I never thought to look. I have had a good look round all four drives and nothing remotely corresponding to a large hoard of files whether or not called Photos Library.
The last time I looked at my photos was about a week ago. Since then I did have trouble emptying my trash, a lot of items were stating that they were connected to items still in use - but there was no mention of any connection to any picture library or files. I finally managed to clear the trash by starting up under an older OS and simply deleting each remaining file. I then restarted in my latest OS - and that is when I found all the photos missing.
It was then that I turned to my backup sets only to find none of them had the necessary file: "Photos Library.photoslibrary", even though none of the backups had been open previously.
I've now tried starting a new Photos folder, but the "Photo Booth Library icon is greyed out, so the Photos/Preferences is also greyed out.
Could the photos library file be hidden by any chance?
No, I have never used the "Cloud" storage - might I have invoked that by accident?
Thanks, again,

Max

 

[Maxwideman]

Another thought - maybe I should delete my Photo Booth.app - I see I also have a "Photos.app" - that seems to do the same thing. If I delete one or both where do I get a replacement?
Max

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi,

Yes, it could have had a different name than Photos Library.photoslibrary. It could been hidden, if a . period was erroneously added to the beginning of the name - .Photos Library.photoslibrary.

You can use an application like OmniDiskSweeper to scan your drive and show visible/invisible files and their sizes in a hierarchical view. It is a great tool, but I don't recommend using it to delete files with, just view.

I wonder if you may have accidentally deleted it when you were working on the Trash issue. Where is the older version of OS X/macOS? Maybe the library is on that partition or drive? Do you keep external drives connected all the time - maybe it is on one of them?

Even if you did delete it from your internal drive, the copies on the backup drives would still remain. Strange issue indeed.

Photos is for your photo library. Photo Booth has a separate library, and is an app like the old physical photo booths. Photo Booth allows you to take photos directly in the app with the camera, Photos doesn't. macOS won't let you delete them, as they are part of the applications installed with the System.

C

 

[Maxwideman]

Thanks, Cory, for your great help. OmniDiskSweeper is a great app for searching everywhere - unfortunately nothing found. However, I have come across the file: "Photos Library.photoslibrary" (P-L-.p) on another laptop, so I have copied it onto my MacPro, put it into MacPro's /Users/<my name>/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary along side Photo Booth Library where it is supposed to be. (However, it will not connect into Photo Booth Library as before.) Anyway, the file PL.p works fine for openning up a new set of photos/albums where I will construct a re-assembled library of photos dragged from old discs and other places.
Thanks, again for you help and advice.