Invisible photos

Question

Invisible photos

This is my second attempt to get a solution to this problem.

I've just upgraded from a G5 Powermac to a MacPro. In iphoto all my photos show up as thumbnails, but when I try and double click on them, at least half come up with a black (or sometimes white) screen. It gets stranger still. If - having double clicked on a photo that comes up as a black screen - I try and edit the photo, for eg by rotating it, then it finally appears. Or at least, it usually does. Sometimes a completely different photo appears (from nearby in the thumbnail pane).

I've tried rebuilding the library, but that's made no difference at all.

Any ideas? I'm stumped...

Thanks in advance.

J

Posted on May 12, 2011 1:39 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,254 points

May 12, 2011 2:04 PM in response to Jonathan Renouf1

How did you rebuild? DId you use iPhoto Library Manager?

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Answer 2

Ric Donato

Level 4

1,129 points

May 12, 2011 2:09 PM in response to Jonathan Renouf1

Hi Jonathan Renouf1,

While upgrading did you copy the iPhoto Library and the original files to the new computer? Is iPhoto files referenced or managed (look in Help for an explanation). If your iPhoto library is referenced iPhoto will be looking for the referenced files located in Finder folders.

Hope that helps you.

Cordially,

RicD

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Answer 3

May 15, 2011 1:03 PM in response to Ric Donato

My iphoto library has always been managed. I didn't use iPhoto library manager. The funny thing is that the pictures seem to be there, because if you try and edit them, then they reappear. They just don't come up when you try and view them.

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Answer 4

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,254 points

May 15, 2011 1:06 PM in response to Jonathan Renouf1

Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.

Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

Regards

TD

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Answer 5

May 20, 2011 7:16 AM in response to Yer_Man

Hi, thanks for this. But I'm really reluctant to lose my photo books. It would be a huge job to recreate them, if I ever wanted new copies.

Your answer suggests that I have a library problem. But it's such a weird problem. Sometimes I open a photo from thumbnail to view and it's black. So I go to edit and rotate it. On the second rotate a photo comes up, but not the same as the thumbnail! Furthermore, all the adjacent photos also return this rogue photo once I start to edit. Another symptom: if I reimport the photo it imports and places it right next to the old thumbnail, as if the original photo didn't exist.

Very frustrating

J

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,254 points

May 20, 2011 7:49 AM in response to Jonathan Renouf1

The library is corrupted. If you don;t want to rebuild it you're only choice is to restore from your back up.

Regards

TD

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Answer 7

May 21, 2011 2:04 AM in response to Yer_Man

Hi, Thanks again for the help. I've tried using iphoto library manager, but I can't get it to rebuild the library. In the iphoto libraries window are two libraries. One is called Photo Library, and is in black. Next to it is a window which lists all the albums. Below is iPhoto Library, which is in red; this is the one that is selected. However, the window next to it says "the folder for the library iPhoto Library cannot be found".

If I try and rebuild the Photo Library it comes up with the error: Tried to retrieve element photos for inactive library Photo Library

If I try and rebuilt the iPhoto Library it comes up with the error: This library cannot be rebuilt. The folder for the library "iPhoto Library" cannot be found.

Stuck.

J

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