Q: iphoto photos not opening get black exclamation mark

Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)

This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places 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.

I didn't solve my problem from last March but I took another look at it and learned a few things and have an idea of what to do so I'm going to take a crack at getting help again.

To briefly review:

• I'm getting the black ! when I click on thumbnails for all but the most recent photos in my iPhoto library.
• When I use "Show Package Contents" to reveal the contents of the library I see the folders labelled "Modified" and "Original". These folders contain those few recent pictures that iPhoto can open when I click on a thumbnail.
• I also see folders labelled "Photos - Modified" and "Photos - Original". These contain all the other photos that I can't open. The photographs contained in these folders are perfectly fine. I can see individual pictures in Quicklook and open them in Preview. Fortunately, the pictures are not lost but iPhoto has no clue they are there.
• I've tried the database rebuild function build into iPhoto. No effect.
• I've tried iPLM to no effect and TD explained why that would be above.
• I have no clue how most of my photos got split out into those other folders. Clearly I did something but I'll be darned if I know what. I gave the desktop version of Picasa a look but I'm pretty certain I downloaded Picasa a month after this appears to have happened.

Since the database fixes won't work, I think I'm down to figuring out how to get the photos contained in those two errant folders back into iPhoto. I'm thinking that I have to import them somehow but iPhoto can't see those 2 folders since they are embedded in the Library package. I could copy or move those 2 folders to a place outside of the Library and then iPhoto would be able to see them for importing. I tested one individual photo and also one of the sub-folders that contained 6 pictures. This However, I would like to keep the Faces and Events data and I'm thinking that importing them won't do that.

I suppose I could also copy the contents of those folders directly into the folders iPhoto can see but I'd imagine that would cause havoc with the database.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

At a guess I woud say that somewhere along the line, one of the upgrades which change the Library set up failed in your case, and this is the result.

Here's what I would do.

Back up the Library. Now you have a copy the worst that can happen is you go back to what you have.

I would then try move those images to where iphoto expects them to be: Inside the Masters and Original folders.

Move the folders that contain them to the correct year folder.

Worth a try...

Man, I thought you'd say that moving them around with the library would be a no-no but I do have a backup so I have little to lose. I do have 2 questions:

1. I would imagine I'll need to rebuild the thumbnail database since I currently have thumbnails that have some valid pictures but most don't. I have a file in the iPhoto library called "Thumb64Segement.data" (39.4 MB) and one called "ThumbSegement.data" (19.7 MB). I realize I'm guessing but do I delete these to force a rebuild of the thumbnails?

2. The iPhoto Library contains a bunch of other files and folders that appear to be junk. Examples include a folder called "Before Restore" (dated last March so probably from my attempted database rebuild) and more recent ones like "face_blob.db". Is there a way to clean up this library?

Thanks, Dave

Moving the photos (actually their year folders for the most part) to the folders iPhoto expects worked fine. My question about thumbnails appears to be moot as all the thumbnails I clicked on worked and they weren't duplicated.

The Events survived but Faces did not. No big deal. I really don't use either very much.

My question about cleaning up the library still stands if you have any comments on that.

Thanks!

I would be very wary of making changes, though some of what you see may be a result of that failed update.

Same advice as last time. Back up first and then you'll at least get back to where you are.

The rebuild did not work for me either, it was very speradic and there were loads of photos missing so I have gone back to my original library with the original problem.

I think I am going to have to just re import the photos that come up with the ! manually.  I just copied the folder onto the desktop deleted it form iPhoto and re-imported which seemed to work.

However I still have the issue with getting hold of my original files (which is worrying).  If I hit show file on some files it takes me to an originals folder.  If I hit show file on others it takes me to a modified folder.  This is strange and if I navigate to it through the hard drive I can't get any furthere than the iPhoto libabry icon and can't navigate to either folder.

Is there any way I can combine these folders? Obviosly I would like all the master files in the same location.

Cheers

James

I think I am going to have to just re import the photos that come up with the ! manually.  I just copied the folder onto the desktop deleted it form iPhoto and re-imported which seemed to work.

The problem with that approach is that we know the database is damaged. So you're importing to an unstable DB and that can only be grief in the future. Better to start over.

I would rebuild with Library Manager as this create a new Library, complete with new DB files, and gets more of your info back than a straight manual re-create. Then I would recover the missing files from the damaged library and import them to the new one.

Having struggled a bit, I can offer James some pointers. First of all, to view what's in the iPhoto library I was able to right click on it in Finder and select "Show Package Contents". That will open a Finder window showing all the files and folders embedded in the library. I was able to fix my problem (described above) using a suggestion from TD which involved manually moving photos from some mystery folders to the folders iPhotos expected.

Secondly, my versions of iPhoto have always organized pictures into the Originals and Modified folders. Whether this makes sense or not, it seems to be the way the way Apple intends it.

If you can see all of your pictures/files in the library (using Quick Look or opening them in Preview or some other app) then the photos aren't lost. If you haven't done so already, I would use Finder to copy them outside the iPhoto library. I know iPhoto Library Manager doesn't destroy anything but I'd still make the copies just to be safe.

Then follow TD's advice to use iPLM to recover what you can. If all else fails, you can start over by creating a new library and importing the photos from the copies. Good luck.

Thanks for the pointers.  After digging a liitle bit deeper, I can see that some events have some pics mising and others are there.  When I revelal the original files they are in the same folder, but iPhoto can only recognise some of them. Meaning the problem is totally randon and the files have never been moved from their original location.

I have got 690 Events and around 20,000 photos and a number of Albums.  I can't bring myself to start again.  There is obviously a database issue as the source files are there it's just that iPhoto can see some of them and not others, even within the same folder.

I used iPLM but the rebuild was nowhere near right.  TD how would I go about recovering the missing files from the damaged library?  How would I know what was missing?

WHen you rebuilt with Library Manager, didn't it produce a list?

Ok thanks guys.  After a few days to reflect.....  I've decided to go for another rebuild as It's got to be worth a try. (took about 24hrs last time though manly as I had to ok the duplicates even when I ticked apply to all (it obviusly only does it for each event).

When I rebuilt it last time it didn't give me a list, but it did give me a few check options which I just ignored as I naively thought it might have worked.  I'm going to give it another go before starting a new library.

If it does give me a list of missing files How do I recover them?

I also ticked the find scavenged files box this time which has pulled up nearly 10,000 photos.  Hopefully these are the missing ones.  On the preview it shows you beofre the rebuild a lot of the albums have the right amount of photos in (as I did a screengrab to compare)  Although a few of the albums are compleatly empty, which obvoiusly I could rebuild.

Terence, you say it copies the photos into a new library, so if I have got 100gb of photos it will copy them all and I will have each photo twice?  is that right?

I am also trying to think of a back up plan and think I may have to build a new librabry.

Firstly how do I back up my old library?

Secondly do I just select new library and then just add the folder conataining all the photos.  This is cureently inside the origianl library folder.  If I do this does it move all the original photo files into a new librabry folder?  If so does that mean the old library won't work???? Or does it copy them?  Meaning another copy of the original files?

Guess I'll see how my rebuild goes first!

Thanks for your help.

James

Also If i build a new library from scratch, presumably a lot of the events will be in tact as it works on date and should keep the origianl folder name as the event name, is this right????

If it does give me a list of missing files How do I recover them?

You'll go into the Masters folder of the damaged Library and recover them, then import them to the new one.

Terence, you say it copies the photos into a new library, so if I have got 100gb of photos it will copy them all and I will have each photo twice?  is that right?

Correct. Once you're happy with the new library, trash the old one.

Firstly how do I back up my old library?

Most Simple Back Up:

Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.

In the furture:

Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.

Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

Secondly do I just select new library and then just add the folder conataining all the photos.

Sorry I don't understand that question.

f i build a new library from scratch, presumably a lot of the events will be in tact as it works on date and should keep the origianl folder name as the event name

Yes.

Firstly thanks for your help Terence!  I am used to using PCs and use them all day for work (video editing).  I bought an iMac about 4yrs ago specifically for things like photos.  I had know idea a Mac could go so wrong.  Although I guess it is still just a computer.

A couple of questions if I may....

f it does give me a list of missing files How do I recover them?

You'll go into the Masters folder of the damaged Library and recover them, then import them to the new one.

Is that the originals folder?  How will I know what is missing and from where?

The question you didn't understand, I was asking how do I create a new library?  Do I just select File new library?  How do I get my photos in there?  Do I just add the originals folder from the other librarby? FIle Import?

Cheers

James