Rebuilding Thumbnails after upgrading

Question

Rebuilding Thumbnails after upgrading

Not sure if having just run the latest update, which included an update for iPhoto, is a coincidence or not but I was confronted with the "You need to upgrade this photo library" message and duly proceeded. I hit the skip button when it was taking a long time to rebuild the thumbnails but now each time I open the library, it wan't to do this rebuilding of the thumbnails. I've had several attempts at letting it do so but even after several hours, it just sits there eating away copious amounts of CPU with little to no disk activity and never ends. I've had to force quit a few times now and I now fear the worse.

I'm running OS X 10.7.4 with iPhoto '11 9.3 (650,30).

- CDM

Posted on Jun 14, 2012 11:26 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 12:31 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

Option 1

Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.

If that fails:

Option 2

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

Reply

Answer 2

Jun 15, 2012 12:36 AM in response to Yer_Man

I've seen these instructions previously and have already tried them both. Nether work:

Option 1 Simply performs the same re-build that is taking so long/hanging to begin with. In fact, it doesn't even bring up the options dialog first - instead lanuching directly into the Rebuilding Thumbnails activity instead. If I click the "Finish this later" dialog fast enough, the iPhot library doesload but this is a hit and miss affair and it's often not possible to break out of.

Option 2 Doesn't work because iPhoto now throws up the following dialog when trying to create a new library:

"The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of iPhoto.

Your photo library will not be readable by previous versions of iPhoto after the upgrade. The upgrade

process for very large lbraries may take an hour or more to complete"

Since iPhoto is being launched by iPhoto Library Manager, this dialog is effectively not clickable. You end up in a deadlock situation where the ONLY way out is to force quite BOTH iPhoto Library Manager AND iPhoto.

- CDM

Reply

Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 12:46 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

I've seen these instructions previously and have already tried them both.

Please give us a full list of things that you've tried already. That way we won't waste time making suggestions that you know won't work.

Reply

Answer 4

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Jun 15, 2012 2:05 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

You certainly have a very recent backup of your Library: take the partly updated one away, restart iPhoto latest while holding alt(option) key, choose the backup library and let iphoto upgrade that one.

Reply

Answer 5

Jun 15, 2012 3:58 AM in response to Lexiepex

Unfortunately, due to space contraints, I had to move my library to a disk array. There's disk failure redunandy in the array (RAID 5) but I don't have any TimeMachine incrementals to restore to so I'm stuck with trying to repair/open the library that I have.

I don't understand why iPhoto insists on throwing up a dialog box stating that the library needs updating whenever a new library is created. Because of this, using iPhoto Library Manager to perform a rebuild is now out of the question.

Other than what's been stated so far, there isn't anything else I've done so far, as I'm not sure what else is now worth trying.

- CDM

Reply

Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 4:05 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

I had to move my library to a disk array.

What format is that?

Reply

Answer 7

Jun 15, 2012 4:12 AM in response to Yer_Man

The array is a Promise Pagasus R4 connected via Thunderbolt. It's just a normal HFS+ volume.

- CDM

Reply

Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 4:23 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Reply

Answer 9

Jun 15, 2012 4:28 AM in response to Yer_Man

It is - as reported by Disk Utility. My mistake. Clearly, that's not the problem. Eve if it were, I doubt it would have taken weeks/months to surface.

Reply

Answer 10

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 4:31 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

Your welcome. No, but an update could have triggered it. Anyway worth checking out.

Reply

Answer 11

Jun 15, 2012 4:33 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

If I let the 'Rebuilding Thumbnails' process go, it is still going after a couple of hours and using nearly all the CPU but with no disk activity (my iMac gets very hot and the fans kick in - which otherwise has never happened previously). This suggests a loop or bug in iPhoto. Is there any way to confirm what's actually going on?

- CDM

Reply

Answer 12

Jun 15, 2012 4:36 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

I should point out that I have around 60 iPhoto libraries and I updated them all today after the iPhoto update with no issues. This one I'm having problems with, however, is the biggest of the bunch - currently at around 135Gb.

- CDM

Reply

Answer 13

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 4:38 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

Activity Monitor or even the Force Qui window will tell you if the process is hung.

Reply

Answer 14

Jun 15, 2012 4:44 AM in response to Yer_Man

The Force Quit window indicates that iPhoto is not responding BUT there is heaps of CPU activity from iPhoto itself. I've seen this on numerous occasions, where an application is listed as 'Not responding' because it is very busy. Usually, when the app is finished doing whatever it was doing, it starts responding again. I've seen this with a great many different apps - including the Finder.

I don't believe that the process is hung. It's clearly doing 'something' but it isn't clear what. If it is really rebuilding thumbnails, then why should it take so long (hours) and why would there be only very minor and sporadic disk activity?

Based on the time taken to perform this same operation on my other libraries, I would expect it to take no more than 15-30 minutes at the very most to complete this library.

- CDM

Reply

Answer 15

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Jun 15, 2012 4:47 AM in response to Christopher Morgan

You might be right and the process may not be hung. However, it may also be hung in a loop. That would explain what you're seeing - lots of CPU activity and virtually no writing to Disk.

Reply