Photos in your System Photo Library are available in apps like iMovie, Pages, and Keynote. You can also sync them to iOS devices and view them on Apple TV. And if you want to use your own images as your desktop picture or screen saver, the images need to be in your System Photo Library before you can select them in System Preferences.
If you have only one photo library, then it's the System Photo Library. Otherwise, the first photo library that you create or open in Photos will become the System Photo Library. If you have more than one library, you might need to designate a System Photo Library, so other apps can access the photos and videos you want them to use.
Follow these steps to designate a System Photo Library:
- 2020-4-1 Solution 1: Use Mac Built-in Photos Library Repair Tool. If Mac photos the library could not be opened or it is showing unexpected errors, then Photos Library Repair Tool is one of the best ways to fix it. This is a built-in repair tool, comes with macOS and it is pretty easy to use.
- 2020-4-5 How to Access Where Photos Files Are Stored in Mac OS. My wife’s old Mac died but I have access to the photo library. She now has a new Mac with its own photo library so can I just import the one from the old machine via a USB drive or do I need to do something more complicated. Will both libraries merge or can I make one library with all.
- Quit Photos.
- Hold down the Option key and open Photos. One of the photo libraries is already designated as YourLibraryName (System Photo Library).
- Choose the library you want to designate as the System Photo Library.
- After Photos opens the library, choose Photos > Preferences from the menu bar.
- Click the General tab.
- Click the Use as System Photo Library button.
The easy and the established approach to viewing all your photos again in Photo Library is to employ a professional Photo repair software that is supported in Mac. Alternatively, you can also try Apple’s inbuilt Photo Library Repair tool but that may not fix your severely corrupt photos.
If you open a second or different library in the Photos app, and you haven't designated it as the System Photo Library, other applications will use photos from the original System Photo Library. Hold down the Option key when you open Photos to see which library is set as the System Photo Library.
iCloud and the System Photo Library
You can use iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream only with the System Photo Library. If you choose a different library in Photos without designating it as the System Photo Library, the iCloud tab in Photos preferences is disabled:
If you designate a new library as the System Photo Library and then turn on iCloud Photos, the photos and videos in the new library will merge with those already in your iCloud Photos. If you want to keep the contents of your photo libraries separate, don’t turn on iCloud Photos for more than one library in Photos.
Summary
Losing photos and Photos Library corrupting can really drive Mac users crazy. If you are facing such a problem, calm down and read this article. Follow methods on this page to repair your Photos Library and recover all lost photos with EaseUS data recovery software for Mac immediately.
Applies to all new macOS: 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14(Mojave), 10.13 (High Sierra), 10.12 and old Mac OS X like 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.9, etc.
The article provides full solutions to recover photos after Photos Library corruption and fix the corrupted Photos Library:
| Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Part 1. Recover lost photos after Photos Library corruption | Fix 1. Restore lost photos with EaseUS Mac data recovery software in three steps...Full steps |
| Part 2. Repair corrupted Photos Library | Step 1. Close Photo Library if it's opened. |
Photos Library corrupted, help me restore my photos, please.
'Hi there, can anyone of you tell me how to restore my lost photos on Mac? The Photos Library corrupted suddenly. All my photos stored in the Photos Library all disappeared. What can I do?
Please help me. And this is important for me to recover photos. Any solutions or suggestions are all welcomed.'
How many of you guys are facing Photos Library crash or corrupt problem and unable to restore photos? Here EaseUS software provides effective methods to prevent similar problems from happening again, follow to repair Photos Library and recover all photos on Mac immediately.
Tip: Back up photos in case of losing them
If you didn't lose photos, the best choice is to backup them first. When unexpected troubles happen to your photos, you'll still have the backups. Here we recommend you to use Time Machine to backup all important photos and other data on Mac:
1. Click Time Machine and choose Set Up Time Machine.
2. Click Select Backup Disk or select locations (an external storage device is preferable) back up photos, and then click Use for Backup.
You can also copy photos and files one by one and paste to another storage device where you want to store the backups. Be patient and careful while copying and pasting.
Part 1. Recover lost photos after photos library corruption
If photos lost due to Photos application or Photos Library corruption, you have two ways to restore the lost photos: 1. Restore lost photos with Mac data recovery software; 2. Retrieve Photos Library with photos from Times Machine backup.
Method 1. Restore lost photos with EaseUS Mac data recovery software
If you didn't create a backup of Photos Library in the Time Machine, you'll need Mac data recovery software to help. We recommend you try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac which supports to recover photos from corrupted Photo Library and even worse situations.
Step 1. Select the location where your valuable photos were lost and click Scan button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will start immediately a quick scan as well as a deep scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane.
Step 3. By Path and Type, you can quickly filter the photos you've lost earlier. Select the target files and click Recover Now button to get them back at once.
Method 2. Restore corrupted Photos Library with photos from Time Machine backup
If you've created a backup of Photos Library with Time Machine, follow the steps below to restore Photos Library and all lost photos:
1. Connect Time Machine backup drive.
2. Click Time Machine in the Dock and enter Time Machine
3. Find backups - your photos then click Restore to recover lost photos.
Part 2. Repair corrupted Photos Library
If the Photos behaves unexpectedly or Photos Library corrupts, follow next steps to start repairing Photos Library with Photos library repair tool:
Step 1. Close Photo Library if it's opened.
Step 2. Relaunch Photo Library by holding Command + Option key.
Step 3. Click 'Repair' when the 'Repair Library' dialog pops up and ask whether you'd like to repair the library.
You might be asked to enter your account and password to authorize the library repair. And the Repair tool will analyze the database of Photos Library, repair detected errors.
If your Photos library is automatically updated with iCloud Photos, the entire contents of the library will re-updates with iCloud when the repair process completes.
How To Repair A Photo Library On Mac Pc
Bonus Tip: Create a new Photos Library
The other alternative way to repair corrupted Photos Library is to create a new Photos Library on Mac. By doing so, you'll have your Photo Library back and reuse it to edit your photos again:
Mac Photos Updating Library
Step 1. Hold the Option key and double-click the Photos icon in the Applications folder (or click the Photos icon in the Dock).
Step 2. In the Choose Library dialogue, click Create New.
How Long To Repair Photo Library Mac
Step 3. Type a library name and choose a location to store the library. Click OK to confirm.