simon1973

Q: How to fix lost connections to original high-resolution pictures in iPhoto and how to import an iPhoto Book from one iPhoto library to another

Hi there,

 

I am using a MBP Pro with 8 GB cache and 1 TB HDD from beginning of 2011 with OS X Yosemite and iPhoto version 9.6 (910.29).

 

I created an iPhoto Book to print which contains my best pictures of 2013 and 2014. Then I got an error message when I wanted to print the book, saying (translated from German):

 

Book could not be created.

With photo p233432343.jpg there was an error. The original version of that photo with full resolution could not be found or is damaged. Please replace the photo or delete it from your book.

 

When I enquired further, I found out, that many, many pictures in my iPhoto library have that problem - only the thumbnail picture is found by iPhoto, but not the one with the high resolution. When looking at the photos in detail one sees that they are not sharp because obviously the photo book only refers to the thumbnail. When I went into the iPhoto Library using Finder, I saw that the original high res photos are still there. As there are an estimated 3000 photos with a lost connection (some still have, it but about 1/2 of my photos don´t), it does not make sense to import those photos manually. This photo book is just the tip of the iceberg, so to say.

 

Then I looked for solutions in some forums. I had two lPhoto libraries, one on my HDD (120GB) and one on an external HDD (175GB). Assuming there might be problems, I have deleted (moved) the one on my HDD, because the "right one" is the one on my external HDD and started iPHoto again using the alt key. But that did not work either.

 

I then tried to repair my iPhoto library using iPhoto Library Manager, and merged and rebuilt libraries. The library that came out was crap - all folders that had lost connections to the high resolution pictures now have zero photos in it. Also it is lacking the projects, including the photo book I created.

 

Then I went to find out if there is a way to import the iphoto book project from the old, corrupt library into the new, repaired library but could not find anything. It can only be exported as a file structure or website. As the file structure is missing the high res pictures, that does not even solve the "little" problem of the photobook.

 

I would REALLY appreciate your help on the two questions:

1- Can you advise what I need to to do to to get the connection to the high resolution photos established again  ? As it is more than 3000 photos, I use an automated way of reestablishing that connection. Probably an answer to this question would make question 2 irrelevant.

2- Do you know if there is a way to export and import a book project created in iPhoto from one library to another ?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), null

Posted on Jan 18, 2015 12:24 PM

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  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jan 19, 2015 3:23 PM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (141,525 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 19, 2015 3:23 PM in response to simon1973

    Even  if you bought the antivirus and firewall software from the App Store you don't need either.  The build in firewall in OS X is more than enough.  Also if you're behind a router you have added protection. Uninstall it according to the developers instructions.

     

    As for antivirus software there is no know virus for Mac and such software only adds overhead to the performance of the system and applications.  Uninstall it according to the developers instructions.

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 20, 2015 6:06 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 20, 2015 6:06 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks Larry. I am trying to recover the high-res photos now with FindAnyFile, but the problem is with 44000 photos, Finder and FAF always stop working when I try to move the bulk. So I assume, I have to move them bit by bit. And then I will need to create new iPhoto Libraries. This time I will separate them by years, so they don´t get too big. I´ve heard that there are more problems with huge iPhoto Libraries like mine than with tinier ones.

     

    But thank you very much, Larry.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 20, 2015 7:04 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (108,438 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 20, 2015 7:04 AM in response to simon1973
    . I´ve heard that there are more problems with huge iPhoto Libraries like mine than with tinier ones.

    Where did you hear that?

     

    iPhoto supports libraries with 1000000 photos. Just take care, that the drive does not fill up.  Large libraries take longer to copy between drives, but a library split  in several smaller libraries makes iPhoto much less versatile, since you cannot browse and search across libraries.

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 23, 2015 12:02 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 23, 2015 12:02 AM in response to simon1973

    So far I´ve done the following (appreciating and implementing your valuable advice !!):

    1. Tried to repair the broken iPhoto Library (175GB big) using iPhoto while pressing alt+cmd at startup.
      1. I repaired the database with no error message, but the link to original, hi-res photos is still lost - error message appears in the form of the exclamation mark in the triangle for all photos
      2. Tried to rebuild iPhoto Library using iPhoto Library Manager
      3. Merged corrupt with old iPhoto Libraries using iPhoto Library Manager - but this did not get rid of the problem, too. I have deleted the merged iPhoto Library meanwhile
      4. Bought FindAnyFile
      5. Tried to recover all pictures (ca 40000 found > 200 KB)
        1. It worked but I have the impression that there are no original photos left, as all pics found are tiny and have been renamed, e.g. P1343434 to P1343434_1024 - I think those are the 1024p thumbnails only.
        2. What I absolutely do NOT get, is that when I go into the iPhoto Library with Finder I DO FIND the orginial photos at sizes of 4-10MB - but even FindAnyFile does not seem to find it. Settings were
          1. file size > 200Kb
          2. include packaged files
          3. include paper bin
          4. include invisible
        3. Also the size of my iPhoto Library with 175GB divided by 40000 = 0,0043 GB equalling 4,3 MB - but the size of the pictures (and some movies, but no big ones) does not make sense to me compared to all those pics between 200 KB and 500KB (90%), some are bigger. The total size of the pictures and movies that I recovered with FindAnyFile comes up to only 13,56 GB - so > 160 GB are missing which seems to confirm that ALL original sized pictures are still in that iPhoto Library, correct ?
        4. I am currently twisting the searches in FindAnyFile a bit more -but without major success. If I use these settings, it gets me 45000 records, but that does probably not help - because it´s way more than 5000 hi-res pictures missing...
    1. include packaged files
    2. include paper bin
    3. include invisible
    4. exclude aliases

    Do you see any step I have missed, before entering stage 2 ? Help would - again - really be appreciated.Next, I feel that I need to enter stage 2 of the recovery process. What a mess. My planned steps are as follows:

    1. Identify and recover the latest of my old iPhoto Libraries from a Time Machine backup (do I need to restore old Time Machine backup- go into the iPhoto Library -check if ok - then save to external HDD and then go back to my current version of Yosemite and then work with the old iPhoto Library, or what´s the best way to do that ?)
      1. Try out old backups of iPhoto Library, that I got (unfortunately, they are not very recent and only have 120GB content)
      2. Eventually buy DataRescue or a simimlar data recovery program in order to recover the deleted last version of my iPhoto Library that resided on my Mac itself (it had about 120GB) - but if 1.1. works I do not need to do this.
    2. If all of this does not work, I probably need to start to
      1. identify which pictures are not in the old library (ca 50GB)
      2. restore those manually from every folder  within the iPhoto Library with Finder ?? This would take years and kill me timewise...
    3. Sweep duplicates
      1. Try v1.8. of Duplicate Detective
      2. Buy photo sweeper and eliminate duplicates if my version 1.8. of Duplicate Detective does not do the job
    4. And by the time I finish, I will celebrate Christmas 2015 or 2016...

     

    Do you have any recommendation on how to recover my 40000 pictures otherwise ?

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 23, 2015 12:09 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 23, 2015 12:09 AM in response to simon1973

    f*

     

    my iPhoto library that still had 172 GB yesterday now only has 19GB - ***. I hadn´t done anything but using FindAnyFile inside the library.

     

    I do not believe that this can get worse !!

     

    Any ideas ?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 23, 2015 8:22 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (108,438 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 23, 2015 8:22 AM in response to simon1973
    What I absolutely do NOT get, is that when I go into the iPhoto Library with Finder I DO FIND the orginial photos at sizes of 4-10MB - but even FindAnyFile does not seem to find it.

    Have you set Find Any File to search all disks?  You mentioned only the other settings.

    Screen Shot 2015-01-23 at 17.16.23MEZ.png

    Search for one of the filenames you are seeing in the Originals folder with FindAnyFile.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jan 23, 2015 9:36 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (141,525 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 23, 2015 9:36 AM in response to simon1973

    Remember the more you use you hard drive before running the file recovery software the greater the chance you'll overwrite some of the image files you're wanting to recover.

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 24, 2015 1:16 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 24, 2015 1:16 AM in response to Old Toad

    Hi Old Toad,

     

    thanks - I embraced that comment. After everything else failed and my 172 GB iPhoto Library shrinked to 19 GB overnight without me doing anything (except for running findanyfile within the library), I decided to buy DataRescue4 and start trying to recover the original files. It´s a true nightmare.

     

    My last backup of the iPhoto library with TimeMachine is unfortunately from March 2014. And when I try to open that iPhoto tells me that this is from a Time Machine Backup and that I should start iPhoto pressing the alt + cmd key and choose another library.

     

    Do you know how to open the March 2014 iPhoto Library from the TimeMachine Backup ?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 24, 2015 2:15 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (108,438 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 24, 2015 2:15 AM in response to simon1973
    My last backup of the iPhoto library with TimeMachine is unfortunately from March 2014. And when I try to open that iPhoto tells me that this is from a Time Machine Backup and that I should start iPhoto pressing the alt + cmd key and choose another library.

    You cannot use a Time Machine backup directly on the Time Machine drive.  You need to restore it first to some folder on your system drive or an external drive. See:  iPhoto '11: Restoring from Time Machine with iPhoto '11 (9.2 or later) and OS X Lion 10.7.2 (or later)

     

    Don't overwrite your current library, when you restore from Time Machine. Restore to a different folder or rename your current library.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jan 24, 2015 9:23 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (141,525 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 24, 2015 9:23 AM in response to simon1973

    To illustrate what léonie posted:

    iP9.6TMlibrestore.png

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 25, 2015 7:08 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 25, 2015 7:08 AM in response to léonie

    I have done, but FAF did not find the hi-res files anymore. Now I have recovered 158GB of pics using the "deleted file" option of DataRescue4 and have a look at what they are right now.

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 25, 2015 7:12 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 25, 2015 7:12 AM in response to léonie

    Quick question, Léonie. You mentioned that iPhoto can handle up to 1 M photos. So regarding ease of use and stability do you recommend to create only ONE new iPhoto Library (from scratch) or do you rather suggest to only create one new iPhoto Library ?

     

    What I have planned in any case is that I will store my pics and movies twice:

    1. in a new iPhoto Library

    2. just in a file structure

     

    ... so whenever I import pics from my cameras and iDevices, I will download them twice - once to iPhoto and once to my HDD and mirror the lot of 1) and 2) on my NAS. I hope that this never happens again, then.

     

    I am very grateful for all of the comments and help here. Now let´s keep the fingers crossed that the pics are in a good shape...

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 25, 2015 7:32 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 25, 2015 7:32 AM in response to simon1973

    Hi Leonie,

    when using photo sweeper, which comparison method do you propose - Date & Histogram ? Or as this seems to be one comparison on date and then on the histogram - would it make most sense to do (Capture) Date + Histogram  or (Capture Date) + Bitmap ?

     

    I only want to delete identical photos at first.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 25, 2015 8:36 AM in response to simon1973
    Level 10 (108,438 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 25, 2015 8:36 AM in response to simon1973

    Have one iPhoto/Aperture  Library for all photos that are related in someway. for example,  I have one library with all private photos - family photos and vacation photos, dating back to very old black&white photos my great great grand parents collected, and two iPhoto/Aperture libraries for work, plus one for experimenting.

     

    What I have planned in any case is that I will store my pics and movies twice:

    1. in a new iPhoto Library

    2. just in a file structure

    That is o.k. It is a good idea to have a backup of the original photo in a file structure.

     

     

    once to iPhoto and once to my HDD and mirror the lot of 1) and 2) on my NAS. I hope that this never happens again, then.

     

    Why on a NAS? Remember, that Apple does not support Photo Libraries on a network share  (Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library). As a backup of the library a copy on a local drive or a Time Machine backup are safer.

     

     

    when using photo sweeper, which comparison method do you propose - Date & Histogram ? Or as this seems to be one comparison on date and then on the histogram - would it make most sense to do (Capture) Date + Histogram  or (Capture Date) + Bitmap ?

     

    To find duplicates in different sizes and edited versions, Date & Histogram worked well.  Sometimes I added a second run with  Date&Bitmap.

  • by simon1973,

    simon1973 simon1973 Jan 25, 2015 11:50 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iLife
    Jan 25, 2015 11:50 PM in response to léonie

    Thanks, I will do that - one private and one business. Thanks again, Leonie.

     

    It seems that the pictures have been recovered. If and what´s missing - I can´t tell yet. Now I will try to sort them and recreate albums and stuff. But that will take a while I assume... can I actually import an album from an old iPhoto Library into a new one properly ? I assume it makes most sense to start from scratch...

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