Iphoto software application is exclusively meant for Mac OS X systems and it provided with skilled and equipped features that perfectly does the task of photo management. Importing, sharing, organizing, editing as well as printing of digital photo has become quite simple with the use of iphoto. Still, it is not an exception so far the problem of library corruption is concerned thus making it necessary to fix iphoto library.
The aforementioned manual instructions are enough to fix 'Unable to Write to iPhoto Library' issue but in case if you are unable to handle the given manual instruction then you must choose an automated solution named Mac Photo Recovery Software. This utility is capable to restore photos from the corrupt iPhoto library. The Library folder contains many of the resources that installed applications need to use, including preferences, support documents, plug-in folders, and the files that describe the saved state of applications. It has long been a go-to location for troubleshooting issues with individual applications or components shared by multiple applications.
Problems like that of inaccessible or unreadable library, files missing or opening failure etc quite frequently occurring and tends to create photo loss situation.
Considering a particular scenario in which, on trying to open iphoto it does not happen as it usually will and displays the error as-
‘Your iphoto library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable’
Following which it is recommended shutting down the system and restarting iphoto after a while. Also persistence of the problem makes it necessary to rebuild the photo library in order to fix library. For this to be done, iphoto is to be quit and then reopened with option and command keys pressed. So that restore from backup is to be done and right after that the library quits unexpectedly.
- In a particular instance copy of iphoto library folder to external drive leaves you with an error as- “The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in “xxx.jpg” could not be read or written (error code -36)” The error may crop up as a result of corruption of one.
- Unable to write to library 'iPhoto Library' Check that you have permission to write to the library directory. The only way out is to click cancel then iPhoto closes. I tried a fix the other night.
The situation can be really troublesome for being handled including that of iphoto fix library particularly if the folder belongs to professional photographer as it may cost his business and incur losses which are hard to be repaired although.
Issue of iphoto photos in use or unreadable may take place all of sudden on starting the application or copying or importing photos, sharing etc. All these are indications of corrupt and damaged library may be due to virus infection, using updated application and other bugs it consists of.
So, based on the extremities of the issue faced it might be possible to resolve the error of unreadable iphoto library by rebuilding the library and importing data and files to it. Other requires iphoto library folder recovery to be done, with the help of high end sophisticated programming algorithms applied in recovery application. It very easily and efficient fix iphoto library error and issues in all such adverse situations.
Martha Helena writes in with a problem that may have a few different angles. Her startup drive started to fill. Her Photos Library file is 12.5GB, and she had just a few gigabytes left on the drive. While she was able to copy an older iPhoto Library to the other drive, the Finder kept hanging up during the Photos Library transfer with this error:
The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “Photos Library” can’t be read or written. (Error code -36)
A decent number of people have received this error with an iPhoto or Photos Library, possibly because the media library folders are big folders full of other folders. This increases the odds that if you have a faulty file, it will scotch the copy. Because the library files are packages which look like files, the error gets reported for the package name, rather than revealing which file within the package is at fault.
You have a lot of possibilities to fix this. For starters, while this is an oddball one, some of the people who have had this failure have solved their copy operation holdup by fixing the destination drive’s format type.
Some external drives come preformatted for Windows in FAT32 format if they’re not listed as being specifically intended for Macs. Some iPhoto/Photos filename or related data may be incompatible with FAT32. (Some forum posts are from folks who thought it was in NTFS format, but Macs can only read, not write, to NTFS without additional software, so you wouldn’t be able to start copying at all.)
You can check whether you have a FAT32 partition on the external drive as follows:
- Launch Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
- Select the volume beneath the drive. The drive will be named something like Seagate, WD, or the like, followed by a model number. The volume appears indented named something else and, if mounted, with an Eject button next to it.
- In the main view, Disk Utility shows the volume’s name, and beneath it the capacity and then should read “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.
If the volume shows FAT32, you need to reformat the drive. Make a complete backup of the volume, because erasing and reformatting a partition deletes all the stored data on it. Then and only then:

- In Disk Utility with that partition selected, click Erase.
- In the Format pop-up menu, change the item to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.
- Click Erase and the confirm. This will delete everything on that partition.
Unable To Write To Library Iphoto Library Error Macbook Pro
When the volume mounts on the Desktop, if you can copy the media library successfully now, hurray, that was the problem.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, I have two more suggestions:
- Run Disk Repair from Recovery. Apple lets you boot from a special partition on your startup drive into the Recovery mode. Follow Apple’s instructions here, and then after restarting into macOS, try to copy the library. If that fails, then…
- Rebuild the Photos Library using Apple’s instructions here. In Martha Helena’s case, that may require freeing up more than 3GB on the startup volume for temporary storage while it rebuilds. If that fails, then…
You can open the media library package and copy items in small groups to see if you can identify which file or folder is corrupt. Follow these steps:
- Launch Photos with the Option key down.
- Click Create New, and save the new files on the external drive.
- Quit Photos.
- Control-click on that new library file on the external drive and choose Show Package Contents.
- Select everything in the revealed folder, move to the trash, and delete it.
- On your startup volume, select an iPhoto or Photos Library and select Show Package Contents.
- First try copying everything to see if the Finder will report the problem: select everything in the folder, and drag to the new library’s folder.
- If nothing fails, great! If you receive an error, you should be able to see which folder it failed with. Grab all the folders except that one that didn’t copy and drag them to the new library folder. (Repeat with failures as necessary.)
- Open folders that failed to copy and try to copy elements within them until you diagnose which file is bad. If it’s an image file and not a database or other file, you may have to just do without it.
- When you’ve completed copying everything you can, launch Photos with the Option key held down.
- Select the library on the external drive.
- If it fails to open appropriately, try to rebuild it per instructions above.
This is a lot to try, but it’s likely one of these solutions will move you along your way to success.
Ask Mac 911
We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com including screen captures as appropriate. Mac 911 can’t reply to—nor publish an answer to—every question, and we don’t provide direct troubleshooting advice.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read ouraffiliate link policyfor more details.
Unable To Write To Library Iphoto Library Error Mac Os
- Related: