Graeme Ison

Q: iPhoto 9.6 Yosemite asks to do upgrade and then permissions repair

After the Yosemite upgrade, iPhoto was updated and was all running fine. Could access photos etc.  iPhoto previous version was the Mavericks one, so not v7 or before, requiring the Library upgrade tool.

 

Last night when trying to access iPhoto, it comes up with a message saying the library needs to be upgraded.  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9svb2pc91821sm0/Screenshot%202014-10-24%2014.00.48.jpg ?dl=0)

 

Ignoring the fact that this doesn't make sense as I have been using this library with the updated 9.6 iPhoto, I then click the Upgrade button.  iPhoto starts 'Examining photo library' for a while and then comes back with a message saying the Library cannot be opened and that the permissions need to be repaired.  After asking it to repair permissions, it fails and says the file cannot be opened.  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/vc3w6c8rh24hpyk/Screenshot%202014-10-24%2014.07.40.jpg ?dl=0)

 

After trying the following, the symtpoms changed slightly.

 

1) Restarted the Mac (as you do)

2) Deleted iPhoto and re-installed it (advised in another thread)

3) The file was on an external USB drive, which was Mac OS Extended Journaled (and has been working on there for 2 years), so just in case, I moved it to the main hard disk in the Pictures folder

3) Ran Disk Utility repair permissions just in case, but no errors found in that file.  Rebooted and ran again to make sure.

4) Showed Package Contents of iPhoto Library file and moved out the iPhotoLock.data file

 

After trying all this, it now skips the permission repair option and just goes straight from the upgrade screen to the failed to open screen.

 

I have now tried the iPhoto Library Manager tool and that opens the Library just fine (version 4.19), which suggests everything is there and working, but that iPhoto has just stopped working.  However, if I use iPhoto to open or create other iPhoto Libraries, it works fine, which indicates a problem with the Library itself.

 

I have also tried opening the file from my iMac (also Yosemite and iPhoto 9.6), but it comes up with the same messages and errors.

 

Now trying a complete rebuild using iPhoto Library Manager as iPhoto won't open the file to do a rebuild using CMD-Option.  This may take days for the 130Gb Library, so just wanted this post up in case anyone else is having similar issues and may have found a solution.

 

Any and all ideas welcome!

 

Thanks,

Graeme

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10), 16Gb RAM, 2.3Ghz Core i7

Posted on Oct 24, 2014 6:43 AM

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Q: iPhoto 9.6 Yosemite asks to do upgrade and then permissions repair

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  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Nov 24, 2014 4:19 AM in response to meadowsteward
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 24, 2014 4:19 AM in response to meadowsteward

    Thanks meadowsteward glad it helped you. For what it's worth, I had the you didn't eject the EHD warning all the time, I downloaded an app called Jettison that would dismount the EHD before it goes to sleep, this worked pretty well but not all the time. But since updating to Yosemite 10.10.1 I haven't noticed the EHD once saying it wasn't ejected properly, Jettison is still working, but would like to turn it off eventually, so will see in time. So I think the update fixed this particular issue I was having

  • by Nihat Sinan Erul,

    Nihat Sinan Erul Nihat Sinan Erul Nov 24, 2014 6:07 PM in response to Graeme Ison
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Nov 24, 2014 6:07 PM in response to Graeme Ison

    Hi,

     

    I have the same exact situation. Everything  shows 0 now. I have full sized iPhoto library in Lacie Thunderbolt HDD. I recognised All my files moved to OLD MASTER OLD PREVIEWS OLD THUMBNAILS folders in iPhoto Library 800GB. I think something ruined my adressing file ??? But strangely I can open normally my other named libraries (they are small) It's so strange! My 8 years library lost. I'm deeply in  Bad position. Do not know what to do!

     

    Any idea please

  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Nov 24, 2014 8:19 PM in response to Nihat Sinan Erul
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 24, 2014 8:19 PM in response to Nihat Sinan Erul

    Do you have a backup?That it was my only way. You may be able to restore to one folder but you will have to sort them all. Backup was easiest.

     

    Have you tried the Yosemite update 10.10.1? I would run that and see if it helps.

  • by Nihat Sinan Erul,

    Nihat Sinan Erul Nihat Sinan Erul Nov 26, 2014 12:16 PM in response to scaarlet121
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Nov 26, 2014 12:16 PM in response to scaarlet121

    thank you scaarlett121, yes i have. TM backup on EHD LAcie. But TM doesn't back up LAcie. iPhoto library also in Lacie. I've upgraded to 10.10.1 Do you think restore efficient  in this situation??

  • by meadowsteward,

    meadowsteward meadowsteward Nov 26, 2014 6:46 PM in response to scaarlet121
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 26, 2014 6:46 PM in response to scaarlet121

    Scaarlet121 have you erased your EHD and restored your library to the EHD yet?  I'm reluctant to go back down that path until there's a fix (or an acknowledgement of the need for a fix) and have tried to make room on my HD by deleting a lot of photos that should have been deleted long ago.  iPhoto has been working fine on my HD.

  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Dec 17, 2014 1:11 AM in response to meadowsteward
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2014 1:11 AM in response to meadowsteward

    Yes I have now erased it from my desktop and using iPhoto from my EHD and it is working fine. I did make sure I had gotten rid of all corrupted files and made a full, new time machine back up before doing this. But if it is working on your HD and you don't need the space, personally I would keep it there. I am having a real hard time now getting TM to back up the EHD which has iPhoto on it. It is doing a full copy every so often so my TC is getting full and not self erasing... am going to post about that elsewhere.

  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Dec 17, 2014 1:12 AM in response to Nihat Sinan Erul
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2014 1:12 AM in response to Nihat Sinan Erul

    Nihat how did you go? I think if you don't have a TM backup of your EHD, your files will be corrupted and won't easily be fixed. The only reason I was able to do everything, was my iPhoto was backing up to TM. Good luck!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Dec 17, 2014 3:21 AM in response to scaarlet121
    Level 10 (108,065 points)
    iCloud
    Dec 17, 2014 3:21 AM in response to scaarlet121

    When you are using Time Machine to backup thee iPhoto Library, quit uPhoto before you start Time Machine.

    See this document: iPhoto '11: Restoring from Time Machine with iPhoto '11 (9.2 or later) and OS X Lion 10.7.2 (or later) - Apple Support

     

    and note the last paragraph:

    • Always quit iPhoto before restoring from Time Machine.
    • Time Machine canʼt do a full iPhoto Library backup when iPhoto is open. To ensure that Time Machine does a complete backup of your library, periodically quit iPhoto before backing up.
  • by jeromevde,

    jeromevde jeromevde Dec 17, 2014 7:39 AM in response to Nihat Sinan Erul
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2014 7:39 AM in response to Nihat Sinan Erul

    Hi

     

    I got the same problems as you. An old library build with the first iphoto and who was upgraded at each new version of iPhoto. Since Iphoto 9.6 and Yosemite, the library worked fine for some month and then suddenly asked to upgrade it to 9.6 (but it was already 9.6).

     

    I accept and after that iPhoto quit. in the Library folder, i found old masters, old preview folder instead of master and preview. When I tried to revert it from old master to master, it says that the file already exists . At first look it was not the case. but if you look with terminal and ls -a command to see invisble files u will see there is two symlink to themselves.

     

    You should remove them , rename the old masters to masters and old preview to preview and use iPhoto Lib Manager to rebuilt your library , it took 12h for me (57.000 pics / 348 Go) but works. ouf !

     

    This is definitevely a huge bug from apple !

  • by Loren Berthelsen,

    Loren Berthelsen Loren Berthelsen Dec 24, 2014 7:15 AM in response to Graeme Ison
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 24, 2014 7:15 AM in response to Graeme Ison

    Pretty much the same problem here.  iPhoto working fine then the upgrade message.  Ran the upgrade and all photos were gone.  The library file was still 75gb so I figured the files were still there just not accessible.  Repaired permissions - no change.  Repaired the database and imported the recovered photos - which took two days btw - and photos are back but lost all albums and events.  Painful but better than losing everything.

     

    The one remaining problem is there were approx 650 files that iPhoto said were in an unrecognizable format.  What happened to those after the import?  Can I find then and try to import again?  I believe they were mostly MOV and MP4 files.

     

    Any ideas?

  • by Dademaru,

    Dademaru Dademaru Jan 6, 2015 11:12 AM in response to Loren Berthelsen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 6, 2015 11:12 AM in response to Loren Berthelsen

    I had the same problem.

     

    In November I made a clean installation of OS X Yosemite formatting the iMac and installing the OS from USB.

    I have the iPhoto library (91,76 GB) on a 1 TB external HD (Western Digital), formatted Mac OS X Extended.

     

    Unfortunately I have no Time Machine backup. I was used to keep a backup on the iMac, but, as said, I formatted it completely to install OS X Yosemite.

     

    Anyway I used iPhoto (installed from the Mac App Store on the brand new OS X Yosemite) for some days without any “upgrade necessary” message, importing photos, uploading them to some iCloud albums, and doing other operations …

     

    Then, on Dec 16th I got the iPhoto upgrade message even if there wasn't any system or app updates (I haven't any automatic update checked).

    Stupidly, without making a backup, I've clicked OK, it says it has to repair some permissions and then thumbnails.

    And eventually I completely lost the 91,76 GB library with more than 86,000 photos.

    Well, the iPhoto Library is still a 91,76 GB file, but if I open iPhoto app, the library it's completely empty.

    I've tried everything, repairing permissions, database, rebuilding it (it always takes hours or days and then iPhoto stops working until I have to force quit the app), everything suggested in all the Apple forums concerning this issue.

    In Old Masters, Old Previews and Old Thumbnails I still can see all my photos divided for year and month.

    But rebuilding the iPhoto library (it takes really too long, more than one day!) it imports all the photos (it founds also the faces thumbs) in only one singular event and the worst is that there's no way to restore albums, faces, places, projects (I made 2 books): I lost everything but photos.

    Even using iPhoto Library Manager I can't restore all the albums, events, faces.

    And now the iPhoto Library it's 145 GB! As a result I have a library much heavier and completely useless, because to get all the photos in a single event (or folder) you don't need a library app…

     

    Why Apple isn't releasing any update to fix this since several user have been affected by this “upgrade” issue?

    There are lots of similar support topics, but can't find any working solution.

    There is really no way to retrieve all the informations and recover the library as it was working with Yosemite before the “necessary upgrade”?

     

    Thanks

    Davide

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jan 6, 2015 11:28 AM in response to Dademaru
    Level 10 (139,582 points)
    iLife
    Jan 6, 2015 11:28 AM in response to Dademaru

    This isn't an upgrade issue. Your Library got corrupted by something - a crash, force quit, a hang, whatever - and the symptom of that was the bogus upgrade message. The solution is to restore from back up. Why? Because unlike other forms of corruption, this one is not amenable to other fixes.

  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Jan 29, 2015 5:30 AM in response to Graeme Ison
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2015 5:30 AM in response to Graeme Ison

    After this finally working for me, getting everything restored and sorted, out of the blue, started up iPhoto again and the message comes up again, saying I need to upgrade. Pretty scared to do this, especially since it was working fine yesterday and I didn't update anything since!.

     

    I have made sure I have a latest TM backup as well as coping my library to another EHD for peace of mind.

     

    Will run all software updates then upgrade the library, wish me luck!!

  • by David Connell,

    David Connell David Connell Feb 4, 2015 1:24 AM in response to Graeme Ison
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 1:24 AM in response to Graeme Ison

    This is not an ideal fix, but it has worked for me so far (a week or so), using the same iPhoto library between two users on two different computers:

     

    On the networked hard drive, put the iPhoto library in a sparsebundle disk image on the network HD.

     

    With a disk image, even on a Time Capsule the image can have 'ignore permissions' selected.

     

    If only one computer is using the library, then the disk image can be added to login items and mounted automatically, and the workaround is mostly seamless.

     

    The downside to using a disk image is if the library is shared (as we are doing), each person must manually mount and unmount the disk image before and after accessing it. This also creates a single-user-limit issue if you're in the habit of viewing photos on apple tv. Still to come is exploring back-up issues while using a disk image iPhoto library — follow-up will follow.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Feb 4, 2015 3:56 AM in response to David Connell
    Level 10 (139,582 points)
    iLife
    Feb 4, 2015 3:56 AM in response to David Connell

    On the networked hard drive, put the iPhoto library in a sparsebundle disk image on the network HD.

     

    Just remember that having a Library on a network share is not supported and Apple warns that it can lead to data loss.

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