topic Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive in Camera Software

Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

olyduck — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 14:06:09 GMT

My DPP4 “sees” the external drive with my Mac Photos Library, but doesn’t display images. I’ve given DPP4 full disk access. Now what?

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

shadowsports — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 14:56:19 GMT

Greetings,

Can you please provide answers to the following:

Your hardware is?

Version and build of MAC OS you are running?

How is the external disk formatted?

Does it mount and can you browse it in Finder?

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

olyduck — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 03:46:31 GMT

1. I'm using a Mac Studio

2. Running Sonoma 14.4.1

3. Mac Photos Library is on a Sandisk Extreme (1 TB) external SSD, formatted APFS (case-sensitive).

3. The Sandisk external drive is successfully mounted and I can find it in Finder. Both my Mac Photos app and my Affinity Photo application can also open images in the Mac Photos Library.

4. DDP4 can "see" the External drive and the Photos Library located on it (it's included in the locations list on the left). Despite DPP4 including the Photos Library in the locations list, even I select that location, DPP4 does not display any thumbnails.

Thanks for your interest in this mystery.

5. I have given DPP4 Full Disk Access.

6. One clue may be that my other photossoftware (Affinity) installed a Finder Extension. DPP4 did not. During installation of DPP 4, there were no prompts to grant any permissions.

7. A Canon rep said that DPP4 wasn't fully ready for Sonoma yet, but the problem also existing with the previous MacOS (Ventura).

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

p4pictures — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 09:00:54 GMT

The Photos Library is a special kind of container file on the Mac. DPP cannot access the images in the Photos Library directly.

This is a screenshot from my Mac with DPP on it, I can see the Photos Library an select it but DPP does not access the photos in it and no thumbnails are shown.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

jrhoffman75 — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 10:56:59 GMT

Similar situation with Lightroom.

Migrate photos and videos from Apple Photos to Lightroom (adobe.com)

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

olyduck — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 18:14:44 GMT

Thanks for the affirmation that's it's not just me :-). Frankly, given the multitude of Canon shooters that use Macs and external drives to house their photo library, it's hard to believe that using DPP4 for this set up is not possible. I can export an image from my external drive to my Mac's desktop or other folder on the Mac's main drive, and DPP4 can open it up just fine. But that's more of a pain than it should be.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

jrhoffman75 — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 18:24:28 GMT

It’s only an issue if one is using Apple Photos. Photos is a processing software, not a storage system. Everything works as you would like if you are storing your images in standard folders as you describe.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

johnrmoyer — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:31:07 GMT

@olyduck wrote:
Thanks for the affirmation that's it's not just me :-). Frankly, given the multitude of Canon shooters that use Macs and external drives to house their photo library, it's hard to believe that using DPP4 for this set up is not possible. I can export an image from my external drive to my Mac's desktop or other folder on the Mac's main drive, and DPP4 can open it up just fine. But that's more of a pain than it should be.

https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/change-where-photos-and-videos-are-stored-pht1ed9b966d/mac

Store imported files outside the Photos library

In the Photos app

on your Mac, choose Photos > Settings, then click General.
Deselect the “Copy items to the Photos library” checkbox.
Now, when you import photos or video, Photos leaves the files in their original location and accesses them as referenced files.

If you store files outside the Photos library, keep in mind that:

If you use iCloud Photos, photos and videos that are outside the Photos library aren’t stored in iCloud and won’t be accessible to any other Mac or device that uses iCloud Photos.
If you disconnect the device where the files are located, or move or rename the files in the Finder, Photos won’t be able to locate them.
Referenced files aren’t automatically backed up along with the rest of your files when you back up your photo library—you must back them up manually.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

kvbarkley — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:46:44 GMT

I should note that while this is possible, it should not be a general solution. Photos is not at all robust with a referenced library, unlike Aperture. Also editing files outside of Photos perview can cause the database to get out if sync.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

johnrmoyer — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:58:17 GMT

It may also work when photos.app is running to go to Photos->Settings->General->Show in Finder

In Finder, control-click on image and Open With->Other

browse to Canon folder and DPP.

After this, for me DPP seems to see the photos in the library.

This is not how I usually do things, so your results may vary. This lets me see the files in ~/Pictures/ but not in Photos.library. How they are imported might make a difference.

If I browse to "Originals" in the library in DPP, then I can open a file for editing.

Johns-iMac.local[20423]$ ls -al /Users/jrm/Pictures/Photos\ Library.photoslibrary/originals/0
total 121848
drwxr-xr-x@  4 jrm  staff       128 Aug  8  2021 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 15 jrm  staff       480 Mar 19  2021 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 jrm  staff  38813062 Nov 14  2020 0AE019A2-9779-44F5-83C3-FD9799325430.cr2
-rwxrwxrwx@  1 jrm  staff  23568470 Aug  7  2021 0AFC186F-083B-4936-B683-E8400F861C14.cr3

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

olyduck — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 21:26:05 GMT

Lots of trade-offs if I am using to using iCloud Photos. I may better off just using another program like Photomator, which has a built in browser that integrates with the Mac Photos Library. I appreciate the information you provided.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 00:33:05 GMT

@olyduck wrote:
Lots of trade-offs if I am using to using iCloud Photos. I may better off just using another program like Photomator, which has a built in browser that integrates with the Mac Photos Library. I appreciate the information you provided.

There is a new macOS software called Nitro Photo that looks promising.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

olyduck — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 19:27:53 GMT

I just installed DPP 4.19.10, in hopes that it would be easier for it to access my Mac Photos Library, which is on an external drive. DPP4 shows the external drive, but the option to select the Photos Library is still greyed out. I've given DPP full disk access. When I go on my Mac to Privacy & Security/Files and Folders, there is no option to give DPP access to my external drive. It only reconfirms that it has Full Disk Access. Has anyone else had better luck with DPP 4.19.10?

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 23:56:51 GMT

It’s not a DPP issue. The Apple Photos library is not a simple folder.

Re: Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

kvbarkley — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 13:33:10 GMT

You should be able to access them via the media browser, not as a file.

Or, see if DPP opens as an external editor in Photos.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102259