Groosh

Q: iPhoto Library not allowing transfer to external drive

Hi, when attempting to copy all of the iPhoto Library to an external drive (137GB) I receive error code -36, cannot be read or written about 50GB into the transfer.

 

Same external drive runs Time Machine and has everything backed up. But I'm looking to move this huge junk of stored photos off my internal drive. I've tried fixing iPhoto permissions and removing some .3gp video files I thought may have tripped it up to no avail. Any advice?

 

Running MacBook Pro 10.6.8.

Posted on Dec 1, 2014 2:50 PM

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Q: iPhoto Library not allowing transfer to external drive

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 1, 2014 2:58 PM in response to Groosh
    Level 10 (85,113 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 1, 2014 2:58 PM in response to Groosh

    you can not have your iPhoto library on the same drive as your TM backup - you obviously see that it would mean no backup of you photos - but more importantly TM will continue to fill the drive until iphoto can no longer run - you need another EHD formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)

     

    LN

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Dec 1, 2014 3:03 PM in response to Groosh
    Level 10 (107,942 points)
    iCloud
    Dec 1, 2014 3:03 PM in response to Groosh

    How's your external drive with the Time Machine backups formatted? Is the file system "MacOS Extended (Journaled)"?

     

    "error code -36" is an I/O error.

    I have seen it at these occasions:

    • Hardware problems: When either the source drive or the destination drive are starting to fail.  When you are seeing this error, back up your drive asap, to be on the safe side, as long as you can still read it and check the drive with disk utility.
    • Wrong file system: When one of the drives is not formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled), there may be files that cannot be written with the original filename. For example files with ethnic characters in the name can cause problems when writing them to a drive, that is not formatted correctly (see: Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library, iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users) Check the file system of your external drives. How are they formatted?
    • Library corruption and permission problems: Usually setting the "ignore Ownership on this volume" flag for your external drive would help. But you cannot do that on a Time Machine volume.
      Try the iPhoto Library First Aid Tools and repair or rebuild your iPhoto LIbrary.

    To repair the iPhoto library with the First Aid tools:

    • Try to launch into the First Aid Tools  by holding down the key combination option-command ⌥⌘ and clicking the iPhoto icon to launch iPhoto.
    • Keep the two buttons firmly held down, until you are seeing the First Aid panel.
    • Then select "Repair database".


    It is not a good idea to have the iPhoto Library on a Time Machine volume for several reasons:

    • Time Machine and iPhoto will fight for space.
    • You cannot backup your iPhoto Library.
    • You will have problems with permission errors, because you cannot set the ignore ownership flag.

    Get a second external drive for your photos, so you can have a backup of the photos.




  • by Groosh,

    Groosh Groosh Dec 1, 2014 3:42 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 1, 2014 3:42 PM in response to léonie

    Thank you both (LarryHN and léonie) for your replies. I will separate the two and try your solutions. Cheers, Paul

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Dec 1, 2014 3:47 PM in response to Groosh
    Level 10 (107,942 points)
    iCloud
    Dec 1, 2014 3:47 PM in response to Groosh

    Good luck.

     

    Post back, if the "error -36" should persist, even with a new drive. Then you may have a corrupted file in your libraray. But I hope not!

  • by Groosh,

    Groosh Groosh Dec 2, 2014 8:25 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2014 8:25 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks again. Well I've tried:

     

    • Going through my library and changing/removing files with the character "&". I can't think of any other funny characters to check

    • Rebuilt the library database using your directions

    • Formatted a different drive MacOS Extended (Journaled) and copied to that one

     

    Still the same error code persists and the exact same point, about 50.48GB into my transfer.

     

    I'm planning on getting a new computer. Will I be able to restore all photos from Time Machine on the new computer?

  • by Old Toad,Solvedanswer

    Old Toad Old Toad Dec 2, 2014 10:02 AM in response to Groosh
    Level 10 (141,336 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 2, 2014 10:02 AM in response to Groosh

    Try rebuilding  the library with the free version of  iPhoto Library Manager  but have the rebuilt library created on the EHD.

     

    Using iPhoto Library Manager  to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library

     

    1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,

                            iPhoto Library Manager002.jpg

    2 -  select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.

     

    3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox  "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.

     

    iPLMrebuild2.png

     

     

    4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option

     

                  iPhoto Library Manager001.jpg

     

    5 - in the next  window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. Click on the Create button.

     

    Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.


    Note 2:  Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

    SantaToadHH.png

  • by Groosh,

    Groosh Groosh Dec 3, 2014 12:37 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2014 12:37 PM in response to Old Toad

    Thank you that worked! However, I'm a bit confused. Here is the log:

     

    2014-12-03 13:26:19.590 22476 photos were imported

    1152 movies were imported

    59 albums were copied

    1249 events were copied

    4 photos failed to be successfully imported into the destination library by iPhoto

    4 errors occurred during the transfer

     

    You can see I have 23,628 total files according to the import which amounted to 129.13 GB on my back up hard drive.

     

    Yet, my original iPhoto Library shows 23,015 items at 138 GB on my internal drive. Less items but more memory used.

     

    Do you think I'm missing 10 gigs of photos/video? I do have a scavenged folder with 620 on the rebuilt backup which gets me pretty close to total items but still doesn't account for 10 GBs of loss.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Dec 3, 2014 2:24 PM in response to Groosh
    Level 10 (141,336 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 3, 2014 2:24 PM in response to Groosh

    The additional size of the original library could be due to the existence of the iPod Photo Cache folder inside the library which gets populated whenever a mobile device is synced with iPhoto. It can get large.  The new library would not have that folder.

  • by Groosh,

    Groosh Groosh Dec 3, 2014 3:05 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2014 3:05 PM in response to Old Toad

    Hmmm... ok. I don't sync any device with my computer but do use iPods to transfer music in iTunes. And possibly my old phone (Android) years ago. I might try the entire thing again and see what I get the second time. Thanks for the help!