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Lost photos in iPhoto

I have a handful of photos in iPhoto that I can see the thumbnail, but when I click on it, I get a triangle with a question mark. I'm assuming that either the thumbnail is no longer associated with the correct photo, or the full size photo is lost.


Oddly, it is in only one album, and only some of the photos act like this.


Is there something to correct this? Or have I actually lost the photos?

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), All the good stuff. 16GB. 1TB HDD.

Posted on Sep 24, 2013 11:26 PM

Reply
1 reply

Sep 25, 2013 12:33 AM in response to OrangeMarlin

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

Lost photos in iPhoto

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