Dpp4 can’t access images on external drive

[olyduck]

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?

[shadowsports]

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?

[olyduck]

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). 

[p4pictures]

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.

[olyduck]

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.

[jrhoffman75]

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.

[johnrmoyer]

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@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.

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

Store imported files outside the Photos library

1. In the Photos app 

   

    on your Mac, choose Photos > Settings, then click General.

2. 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.

[kvbarkley]

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.

[olyduck]

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.

[jrhoffman75]

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@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.

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