Problem with phantom files when copying from iphoto to external device.

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Level 1

15 points

Problem with phantom files when copying from iphoto to external device.

I have a collection of photos in iphoto 4 on my ibook and am trying to select some for my recently acquired digital picture frame. I have successfully transferred photos from iphoto to a SD card using a card reader and have also successfully transferred photos direct to the picture frame which has a small internal memeory. Both transfers were achieved by dragging photos from iphoto to the external device. In both cases when I look at the transferred images in the picture frame, the images are accompanied by a blank 'bad' file which has the same identification as the 'good' file. The picture frame can read the 'good' file but rejects the 'bad' file. I have tried this on a second picture frame with the same result - it appears not to be the frame that is the problem. Please could somebody assist? Many thanks

G4 Cube G4iBook

Posted on Dec 29, 2007 3:41 PM

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Answer 1

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Dec 30, 2007 6:48 AM in response to David. Bray

Hi, David. What is the file format of the images you're copying, and exactly what procedure are you using to "transfer them from iPhoto" to the card and the frame?

I suspect the phantom files may be the result of the USB devices' PC-based file systems. But if that's true, it shouldn't arise with .jpg images — thus my question about the file format of the pictures.

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Answer 2

David. Bray Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 30, 2007 9:44 AM in response to eww

Hi and thanks for replying. I'm using .jpg file format for the photos bring transferred from iphoto and the digital picture frame confirms this when identifying the transferred photos. The procedure I am using is to export iphoto files - individual images - to my desk drive and dragging each of them one by one from the desk top to the external device. I have not altered any settings on the export page - 'full size images' is highlighted - 'use extension' is checked and jpg format is selected. The successfully transferred photos are identified by the external device as typically
'Internal memory/CIMGO415.jpg'. The phantom photos which are shown blank are identified by the external device as typically 'Internal memory/dot underscore CIMGO415.jpg' : note the dot underscore after the stroke. The solution is to delete the phantom photos selectively from the external device - a long ptocess. There must be a way of transferring direct without the phantom photos! Thanks for your interest and if you can think of anything else, I'd be grateful.

Message was edited by: David. Bray

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Answer 3

Brie Fly

Level 5

7,925 points

Dec 30, 2007 1:22 PM in response to David. Bray

Whenever a Mac file is copied onto a PC-formatted media, the resource and data forks of a file show up as two files. Since the external device apparently shows on your desktop, and you sort the catalog of file names while it's there? If you sort by size, all those phantom files should group together, making them easier to delete in a block, instead of one-at-a-time.

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Answer 4

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Dec 30, 2007 2:27 PM in response to Brie Fly

Precisely what I was thinking, Brie, but a .jpg file shouldn't have anything in its resource fork, should it? Or maybe iPhoto itself writes something to the resource fork, either by default or as the result of some option being selected in the application or its preferences?

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Answer 5

David. Bray Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 30, 2007 3:46 PM in response to Brie Fly

Thank you for explaining how and why there are two files. Obviously the digital picture frame is PC formatted and this is the problem. I will live with it! Oddly, when I open up the icon for the frame on my desk top it does not show the phantom files. These only appear when I look at the transferred files on the frame from the frame menu. But I can delete at that point - so not a huge deal! Thanks again.

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Answer 6

David. Bray Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 30, 2007 3:49 PM in response to eww

I just posted a reply to Brie - see the thread - and I now understand the reason for the problem. I will live with it! Thanks again for your interest and responses. Much appreciated.

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Answer 7

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Dec 30, 2007 4:10 PM in response to David. Bray

Hi, David. The phantom files don't appear on your Mac because the Mac correctly understands the structure of your image files, which like all Mac files have two parts: a data fork and a resource fork. But the PC file system has no idea what a resource fork is and no place to put it, and thus represents it as a separate file from the data fork. In a .jpg file, all the actual information is in the data fork — the resource fork is empty. But it still exists, as an information repository that only a Mac application can use, and so the PC file system represents it as a file even though it's empty.

I strongly suspect that if you could transfer your .jpg files directly from your camera to your frame without going through a Mac, they'd have no resource forks added to them by the Mac file system, and you wouldn't get any phantom files on the frame. But if you don't mind just deleting them from the frame, that's the thing to do.

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