05-23-2022, 12:11 AM
In Photos on Catalina, I found 12 photos that were imported to the library weeks ago that had become "referenced". They were definitely imported to the library, but luckily, I still had them on the SD card. In Photos I deleted the "referenced" files and re-imported them from the SD card.
Now, I have 11 different files also imported weeks ago, showing in Photos as "referenced" that were not referenced before I replaced the first 12. This new batch is not in the library in the Pictures folder. In Photos, these files have been renamed with the filenames used in the library folder, with something like 30 characters.
This is a 45 GB library that only exists on this Mac and its backup, but it's scaring the bejesus out of me. Anybody seen this?
edit: It looks like Photos creates a faux photo with thumbnail for referenced files, as you'd expect. They can't be exported or edited. Without finding the originals, we might be stuck with screenshots as the only way to recover them unless they're on a backup.
Now, I have 11 different files also imported weeks ago, showing in Photos as "referenced" that were not referenced before I replaced the first 12. This new batch is not in the library in the Pictures folder. In Photos, these files have been renamed with the filenames used in the library folder, with something like 30 characters.
This is a 45 GB library that only exists on this Mac and its backup, but it's scaring the bejesus out of me. Anybody seen this?
edit: It looks like Photos creates a faux photo with thumbnail for referenced files, as you'd expect. They can't be exported or edited. Without finding the originals, we might be stuck with screenshots as the only way to recover them unless they're on a backup.