How do I copy photos from iphoto to an sd card. Copy doesn't work and export doesn't work.

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How do I copy photos from iphoto to an sd card. Copy doesn't work and export doesn't work.

I have tried to copy photos to an SD drive on my macbook pro from iphoto. Copy does not work and I get an error when I try export. Can this be done?

Posted on Nov 14, 2013 7:34 PM

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Answer 1

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Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Nov 14, 2013 10:56 PM in response to jcahouston

What error do you get?

Have you tried exporting to a folder on the desktop and then dragging that to the SD card?

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Answer 2

jcahouston Author

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Nov 15, 2013 5:15 AM in response to Yer_Man

Yes, I tried to copy them to a folder on my desktop as an intermediate step and that doesn't work either. Is this another OS x 10.9 screwup by Apple? The error is just a pop-up dialog box that says I can't do it. No codes or specifics. it says " unable to render file for export"

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Nov 15, 2013 6:03 AM in response to jcahouston

Well given that other folks are not reporting the issue the screwup is more likely to be on your machine.

Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Reveal in Finder -> Original. A Finder Window should open with the file selected.

Does it?

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Answer 4

jcahouston Author

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Nov 15, 2013 6:35 AM in response to Yer_Man

yes, but it won't drag and drop from the original location either.

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Answer 5

Old Toad

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Nov 15, 2013 9:32 AM in response to jcahouston

With the amount of information you've provided it's impossible to offer a potential solution. We can't see your computer so we need to know the details of your problem and setup, i.e.:

what version of iPhoto are you using?
what system version are you running?
what happens when you try to drag and drop from the Finder? Any messages?
what fixes have you tried?
where is your library located?
did you apply any updates or upgrades just prior to the problem occurring?
are you running a "managed" or "referenced" library?

what type of Mac?
how much free space on your boot drive?

OT

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Answer 6

jcahouston Author

Level 1

25 points

Nov 15, 2013 1:42 PM in response to Old Toad

Ok, Old Toad, If you had looked at my profile you would see that I am using a 2012 Macbook Pro, 2.6Ghz, i7, 8 GB mem. I have loaded the lasted updates, i.e. OS X 10.9 and Iphoto 11 v 9.5. I can't say for sure if I have successfully done this procedure on a previous version. There are no error messages, just a crossed circle failure except for the message "unable to render file" on an export attempt. I am using the default iphoto library. I do not know how to find utilization of the boot drive. This should not be this difficult. Thanks for your interest and help.

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Answer 7

Old Toad

Level 10

207,409 points

Nov 15, 2013 1:48 PM in response to jcahouston

Boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down), select Disk Utility and repair disk permissions and the disk. Reboot normally and try again.

And you profile on this page is blank. If you want your profile to show up on all your posts you need to set it up that way in your settings.

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Answer 8

jcahouston Author

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Nov 15, 2013 3:01 PM in response to Old Toad

My privacy is set on everyone, so I don't know why my settings are not showing up. I will reboot and see if I can determine the free space on the boot disk but since I have not modified it and I have a TB disk, I can't see how that could be the problem.

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Answer 9

jcahouston Author

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Nov 15, 2013 3:23 PM in response to jcahouston

My base boot disk is 1.25 GB, 40.6 MB free space, number of files 40,030.

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Answer 10

Old Toad

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Nov 15, 2013 3:31 PM in response to jcahouston

40.6 MB free space

Tell me that's 40.6 GB free space and not MB.

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Answer 11

jcahouston Author

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25 points

Nov 15, 2013 4:30 PM in response to Old Toad

No my BSD (disk0s2) is 1.25 gb with 40.6 mb free. Mac HD is 999.35 GB with 946 GB free.

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Answer 12

Old Toad

Level 10

207,409 points

Nov 15, 2013 7:16 PM in response to jcahouston

If that's your boot drive IMMETIATELY clear up some space on it. You're in very dangerous waters. I'm supprised the Mac will even boot or operate. I'll bet it's running rather slowly also. With that amount of free space there's not enough room to copy the photos to the Desktop as the free space is being taken up by temporary cache files and virtual memory.

It's strongly recommended that a MIMIMUM of 10 GB free space be maintained on the boot drive for optimal system and application performance.

Get an external HD, formatted for OS X Extended (journaled) and move files to it. You can move your iPhoto and iTunes library to it and operate them from there. Whatever you do don't try to add any more files to the drive and clear it out ASAP. You're running the risk of locking up the Mac and being unable to reboot or operate.

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Answer 13

jcahouston Author

Level 1

25 points

Nov 16, 2013 8:50 AM in response to Old Toad

Thank you for your advice. Since I have no technical expertise in this area it's looks like a trip to the Genius Bar is in order for me. ( I have 30 experience with windows but a mac newbie ). It looks like I also have to invest in some OS X literature. However, except for some slow response occasionally in web site loading, my macbook seem to be running fine otherwise ? ? ?

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Answer 14

Gilmak

Level 1

9 points

Jul 14, 2014 8:01 AM in response to jcahouston

I've got the same problem !! Hoping to read on and find you have a solution…

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Answer 15

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Jul 14, 2014 8:04 AM in response to Gilmak

The answer is to select the photos in iPhoto and export (file menu ==> export) to a desktop folder - then mount the unlocked SD card and drag the folder to it

LN

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