iPhoto export error "Unable to create /users/..."

Thanks.

I tried all my previous time machine backups and seems like these files have been missing for a while as I can't find the files in any of my backups.

ONe question, Why are the thumbnails still there if the files are not present. I have done a repain and rebuild on the DB so should iphoto not realized that the files are missing (I have no idea in the first place why they wnet missing as I don't delete picturs once imported to iphoto) and removed the events. Under events you can see that I can still look for the information for these files and it tells me the size, name etc.

It means that the original file was deleted, moved, renamed via the Finder somewho and NOT by iPhoto. Therefore the thumbnails will still be in the library as well as the other information you can see. You can delete them in the normal manner to get rid of the thumbnails.

Same problem occurred today, iPhoto 09, OS 10.6.8, Snow Leopard. Successfully exported a group of 200 photos (jpeg max quality, title name) to a desktop file, then for a second group I kept getting the "unable to create ..." message. Finally found one damaged jpeg image in that group: thumbnail looked fine but when I clicked on edit to enlarge it, there was no image, only the scary "!" in a black circle. After deleting it I was able to go back & complete my exporting.

Great to learn that, thanks. The hard drive on my little iMac is nearly full, I'm juggling 32GB of available space until I can afford a new one, so I probably won't try that rebuild step right now, fortunately this only happened to me this one time!

YES, that is my problem. I used the "All Movies" smart folder in my finder to bring up videos, and deleted from there (and now realize what a bad move that was). Now the thumbnails are showing up in iPhoto even though the original file is gone. Is there another way to fix this besides finding the thumbnails I deleted one by one or using an old back up? For exmple, could I create a new library and import all "Originals" from my old iPhoto Library? Thanks for your help!

All I can suggest is to to create a smart album in iPhoto with the one of these two criterias:

1 - keyword is movie (I believe all movies imported into iiPhoto get tagged with a movie keyword)

2 - file name contains .mov

Then you can go thru each movie to find those that were deleted and remove them from the library using the Command+Option+Delete key combination to move them from the Smart Album to the iPhoto Trash. Then use the Shift+Command+Delete key combination to empty the trash bin.

What exactly does "nearly full" mean? If you have less than 10GB of free space you are risking everything - it is possible to damage teh iPhoto library be3yond repair - even damage the OS - or the computer

How much free space do you have?

32GB shoud be OK - so not sure where you are

LN

The bottom line here is that there is a bad file - it could be a movie file, a "png" file, a "jpg" or anything. Rebuilding the iphoto database probably will not help. I hit the error when I was exporting about 20,000 images to an SD card for use in a digital photo frame. The logical thing is to create an empty folder for exporting and then count how many files had been transferred before the error occurred. Provided the selection is sorted in the same order as they are exported then you should be able to find the offending image/movie by counting. However, this can be dificult if you have a large number of images - as its not always easy to locate the nth image exported. In this case, its better to try to breaking the export into blocks that you can identify and keep making the block smaller but still causing the error. For example select the first half of the original selection and export. If the error occurs, there is a bad file in this block. Then keep halving the size of the "bad" block until you are down to a few files. In my case, I managed to locate 2 (consquetive) bad files in 20,000 in about 20 mins.

Late to the party on this as I only just recently started having the same problem when trying to export singleor multiple JPG images, but would appreciate any feedback before I try some of the "remedies" above. Here's the reason: they all involve restarting iPhoto after the "fix" is performed, but I have found the restart alone gets export working again. MY PROMBLEM is iPhoto will only allow ONE export, whether it's one or multiple files, before the error returns. The first export after starting up goes fine, but when I try another export, one or more files, I get the "unable to create ..." message. Close iPhoto, reopen back in the same album and I can export with no trouble. Try to do a second export and error comes up again. I can do this over and over, start export, shut down, start again and export etc. but only one export per startup. What's the deal with that? Seems whatever the problem is, it is cleared up with a simple restart and then comes right back after one export.

What version of iPhoto?

How much free space on your Hard Disk?

As a Test:

Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'

Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?

Post back with the result.

My bad, Terence. Running iPhoto '08 7.1.5 (378) on OS 10.9.2. And yes, problem repeats using a newly created library. One export and then I have to close/reopen to make another. Planning to upgrade to the new iPhoto in the App store but sure would like to know what's causing this first; trouble began in December.

OK, did a little exploration and saw how I could switch to a guest user (never had a reason to do so), did it, opened iPhoto, imported a couple of photos then exported one at at time. It DID allow me to do two consecutive exports without getting the error message.

WHat that tells you is that the cause of the issue is related to something in your main user account, and that iphoto is working correctly in itself.

So back to your usual account and we try and figure out what's unique there.

It's not the Library as the problem persists in two libraries in that account, so lets start with the basic:

Try trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder.

(On 10.7 or later: Hold the option (or alt) key while clicking on the Go menu in Finder to access the User Library)

(Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)

What's the plist file?

For new users: Every application on your Mac has an accompanying plist file. It records certain User choices. For instance, in your favourite Word Processor it remembers your choice of Default Font, on your Web Browser is remembers things like your choice of Home Page. It even recalls what windows you had open last if your app allows you to pick up from where you left off last. The iPhoto plist file remembers things like the location of the Library, your choice of background colour, whether you are running a Referenced or Managed Library, what preferences you have for autosplitting events and so on. Trashing the plist file forces the app to generate a new one on the next launch, and this restores things to the Factory Defaults. Hence, if you've changed any of these things you'll need to reset them. If you haven't, then no bother. Trashing the plist file is Mac troubleshooting 101.

Thanks, Terence, I see in my Apple notes that I keep in Bento that this plist came up in discussing some Word difficulties, but no one EVER explained it like you, I appreciate that. Going to paste that in my notes for future reference!

I've never changed any of the default settings in iPhoto (knowingly) or moved the Library, so this ought to be simple enough to try without any unintended consequences and I'll report back.

Afraid that didn't work, Terence. Trashed the file and upon opening iPhoto I see in Finder a new one was created, and the problem repeated itself. One successfull export and then the error on the subsequent export. Close, reopen, and the same file that gave me the error before will now export.

I noticed a file named 'com.apple.iPhoto.plist.lockfile', do I need to trash that too?