"iPhoto has detected inconsistencies in your library. "

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Level 2

269 points

"iPhoto has detected inconsistencies in your library. "

When I insert my camera's SD card into my Mac, iPhoto launches and then I get a warning message, "iPhoto has detected inconsistencies in your library. Please click Repair to avoid any potential problems." I click Repair and it performs a lengthy operation. When done, no photos are imported. Instead, I get another window that says, "Unreadable Files: 285. The following file could not be imported. The file is an unrecognized format." It goes on to list several hundred NEF images. This happens over and over when I eject the SD card and try again.

I've been able to import photos with no problem for years now, so I don't know why it would not recognize this file type all of a sudden.

What do I do now?

3GHz Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 12GB RAM

Posted on Nov 4, 2011 11:56 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 4, 2011 12:05 PM in response to Raymond Fox

Try moving the photos to disk using image capture and importing form the disk folder

Once you have the photos safe use your camera to reformat your memory card - a best practice is to always keep your photos after import until they are safely in iPhoto and at least one backup cycle has occurred - then reformat the card using the camera - this protects you against loss of photos and keeps your card freshly fornatted

LN

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Answer 2

Raymond Fox Author

Level 2

269 points

Nov 4, 2011 12:29 PM in response to LarryHN

Thanks for the quick reply.

Not sure how to go about moving the photos to disk using image capture. How do I achieve that?

And how would I get the photos into iPhoto once they're on my hard drive?

Yes, I always reformat the SD card once they're safely on my Mac. Thanks for the advice.

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Answer 3

Raymond Fox Author

Level 2

269 points

Nov 4, 2011 12:30 PM in response to Raymond Fox

Hey, I just noticed that the hard drive that I store my iPhoto library is completely full! I'm guessing that could have an impact on this issue, though why I don't get some kind of "hard drive full" error message instead of the above messages is beyond me.

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Answer 4

Raymond Fox Author

Level 2

269 points

Nov 4, 2011 1:56 PM in response to Raymond Fox

Yeah, freeing up some space on my hard drive did the trick. Like I said above, I don't know why Apple can't devise a way to say, "Hey, you're freakin' hard drive is full!" instead of the cryptic messages it shows instead.

Never thought I'd fill up a half-terrabyte that quickly. Wow.

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