Iphoto does not recognize video files when the iphoto library is on an external drive

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Iphoto does not recognize video files when the iphoto library is on an external drive

I have copied my iphoto library to an external hard drive. I pointed iPhoto to the new location. I can import photos with no problem, but when I try to import video files (from my iPhone or from another drive) I get a message that the file is not recognized. When I moved the iphoto library back to the MAC hard drive, the import works OK both for photos and videos.

I am using iphoto 11 and all the videos were taken with my iphone.

Any ideas?

iPhoto '11, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 30, 2012 2:21 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

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Oct 30, 2012 2:34 PM in response to jordrose

How is your external drive formatted? Still the default MS-DOs (FAT) or is it formatted Mac OS X Extended?

BTW: This is the iPhoto on IOS devices forum. I have asked the community hosts to move your question to the iLife iPhoto forum; their are more experts for iPhoto on a Mac.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

jordrose Author

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Oct 30, 2012 9:54 PM in response to léonie

Thanks for the comment on the apprpriate forum, missed that.

The EHD is formatted MAC OSX Extended (journaled).

Regards

Jordan

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Answer 3

Oct 31, 2012 8:58 AM in response to jordrose

I have the same problem with the same configuration.

Can anyone suggest how we might go about finding a fix for this?

Thanks

Jeff

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Answer 4

Old Toad

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Oct 31, 2012 11:05 AM in response to Jeff Hargrove

Try this: launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new, test library on the EHD. Try importing some videos both from the iPhone and from your boot drive and check to see if the same problem persists.

I moved one of my libraries with movies to an EHD and they all play as expected. The formats were .m4v, .mov and .mp4.

OT

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Answer 5

jordrose Author

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Oct 31, 2012 11:51 AM in response to Old Toad

Tried this, no success. Same problem.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

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Oct 31, 2012 12:24 PM in response to jordrose

Can you copy a movie file to the EHD and open it with QT Player?

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Answer 7

jordrose Author

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Oct 31, 2012 1:18 PM in response to Old Toad

once the video file is copied to the EHD I can view it with iphoto. the only problem is importing via file/import to library.

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Answer 8

Oct 31, 2012 3:29 PM in response to jordrose

Same problem here.

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Answer 9

Old Toad

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Oct 31, 2012 4:08 PM in response to jordrose

once the video file is copied to the EHD I can view it with iphoto.

How did you get it into, i.e. import, iPhoto to view it?

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Answer 10

Oct 31, 2012 4:59 PM in response to Old Toad

Video could be imported from an iPhone before the library was copied to an external drive.

The video that was imported before the library was moved could be read before and after the library was moved to an external drive.

Video from the same iPhone cannot be imported into the library once the library had moved ton an external drive.

The problem is that video can no longer be imported into the library that was moved to an external drive. Photos from the same iPhone can be imported and read.

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Answer 11

jordrose Author

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Oct 31, 2012 10:18 PM in response to Jeff Hargrove

My situation is exactly the same as Jeff's. When I copy the library back to my mac mini I ca import both photos and videos, but when I move it back to the EHD and try to import I get the error message that the file is not recognized.

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Answer 12

Nov 1, 2012 7:33 AM in response to Jeff Hargrove

What is the Partition Scheme for your EHD? It should be 'Guid'. Use 'Disk Utility' to check. If it is 'Master Boot Record', you will have problems. 'Apple Partition Scheme' should be OK for data, but.... HTH.

Frank

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