Hi all,
I have recently upgraded to iPhoto 11 & now cannot import .mov files (whereas I could before).
I am doing in the same way (import from camera), but when it gets to the .mov files states that it is an unregognised format.
I have tried:
1. Different users
2. copying manually to desktop & importing from file menu
3. as 2 & drag & dop
Any help would be great 😕
We actually need detailed information to be able to give valid help - other wise we are only making wild gusses.
What version of iPhoto (the current is 9.4.3) and of the OS? What version did you upgrade from?
What camera s recording the movies? What format are the movies?
What else can you tell us?
LN
Hi LarryHN & thanks for taking the time to answer.
Ok:
iPhoto: 9.4.3
OS: 10.8.4
This is a clean install on brand new iMac utilising existing library.
Its the same camera I have always had (LumixDMC-FS20) & there are already plently of movie files from that device in iPhoto from before.
The movies are .mov format & open & play fine in Quicktime.
Thanks again for any help.
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.
Hi Terence, thanks for the input.
I did as you suggested & the .mov files import now!
Finally some progress, I hope this will reveal a solution.....
Sounds like your original library is damaged somehow. Let's try fix it:
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 Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
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.
Regards
TD
Hi Terence,
Thanks again for your time, much appreciated.
Ok, option 1 failed to get us any further so I proceeded to option 2.
On first attempt I got the same errors as before:
This started me thinking that there was something strange going on as the initial test with new library worked....
The difference is that the new library we created before is local whilst the original is on a network drive (which is where I told iPhoto Library Manager to rebuild to.
I then re-tried the rebuild function to the desktop & this has been sucsessful.
Does this mean that iPhoto has a problem with external librarys?
The difference is that the new library we created before is local whilst the original is on a network drive
What format is the network drive? An iPhoto Library must be located on an OS X Extended (journaled) formatted drive to be usable without problems. The library may work for a while but eventually end up with access and database corruption issues. Apple's recent document, iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives, describes one aspect of it in more detail.
The drive is indeed OS X Extended (journaled) drive, but connected to a mac mini running OSX Server.
Try reformatting the memory card with the camera, take some test photos and videos and see if you can import them. Try with both your main library and the test library.
Photos import with no problem, it is just .mov files.
If I move the library to the local disk it is not a problem, however I really don't want to be doing that every time to import .mov files.
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
See this article
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168
for more. Note also the comment:
“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”
You don't have to move the library just to import movs, you have to move the Library to a correctly formatted disk, end of story.
As I have said the disk is correrctly formatted & connected to a mac mini server.
It has worked fine in this setup for a number of years, but since iPhoto 11 is now not compatible?
The drive backs up to additional partition & needs to be connected to the server to enable this to happen. People have been storing iPhoto & iTunes libs on externals due to space limitation on internal HD's but now this is not going to work.
So no not end of story, go back to previous version of iPhoto.
If it's connected to a server then it's on a network and this applies:
“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”
People have been storing iPhoto & iTunes libs on externals due to space limitation on internal HD's but now this is not going to work.
Storing on an appropriately formatted external is not a problem.
Hi Terence,
I don't think you are seeing the point of the post, so I will clarify a few points:
1. Drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled).
2. Ok, network will not give same performace against local - of course.
3. iPhoto (before version 11) has never had this compatibility problem.
iPhoto has always had this problem, but it affects people intermittently. I'm on this forum since iPhoto 5 or 6 or thereabouts and there have been a steady trickle of folks who post with these issues and the resolution was moving the Library to an local, correctly formatted disk. Some folks had issues the first day they moved the Library, others had it working for years and then one day it started to give trouble. No idea why it would suddenly give up but once it did there is no going back.
In recent years that trickle has grown to the point that a couple of years ago I made a boiler plate snippet of that answer because it was needed often enough to be tedious to type it:
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
The rest I added this week when I saw the technote.
All Apple have done is (finally) issue a tech note that points it out now. They have a similar one for Aperture since 2009.
iPhoto 11 & .MOV files
