A flash drive containing jpgs and pdfs makes iPhoto launch as it does when a camera is connected, ready to import. This is a new development, and I can't find a way to uncheck that feature in iPhoto prefs or CDs & DVDs system prefs.
24" iMac6,1,
Mac OS X (10.6.4),
2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Hi, Does the flash drive have the name or a directory called DCIM? it seems that by default if a USB device has a folder or name of DCIM, it will automatically recognise it as a device that has photos to import. Possible way to avoid this: if you are copying files from devices such as a camera or SD card, don't copy the folder named DCIM. Just move the files. In iPhoto, there is a setting under iPhoto:Preferences:General:Connecting camera opens... Can you set that to No Application? Hope this helps!
I just did some experimentation with this because I wanted to make archives of my SD cards. I made a disk image and put some images in a folder called DCIM and it didn't appear in iPhoto immediatley. The proof of how this works is make a DOS disk image through disk utility with a Master Boot Record format, create a folder called DCIM and place an image inside that folder. If the disk is already mounted, unmount it by ejecting it. Next time you open the disk image, its like you plugged a camera in. If you need more details about how this works, your welcome to ask more questions.
Sorry... Just one more post. Just to prove Im completely crazy, I tried this the same way but changing the disk image format to Mac OS X Extended and it works the same way. As long as the image or device has a folder called DCIM and has an image contained in the DCIM folder. :P
Nope, no DCIM directory. I don't want to mess with iPhoto's settings because it does what it should when I connect a camera, which is open and get ready to import. Opening with the insertion of the flash drive is new, like in the past 2 weeks.
MS-DOS (FAT32) because the drive goes between a PC at work and the Mac at home. iPhoto's never launched before and I haven't (knowingly) changed any settings anywhere to cause it.
The only hidden files are .DS_Store, .fseventsd, .Spotlight-V100, and .Trashes. I formatted it when I originally got the drive about 2 years ago on the machine at work, as the PC can't read a Mac format but the Mac can read PC. Haven't had any issues. I guess it's not the end of the world, but it's tedious to wait for iPhoto to fully launch and show all the files on the drive, and then quit it and get on with things.
I was having the EXACT same problem. Happened since the most recent OS X update to 10.6.4
I tried the "no application" step and that worked. Since I plug in my flash drive a whole lot more often than my camera, I'll take that trade-off.