Can't open iPhoto library on Lacie external drive. Can someone help?

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Level 1

15 points

Can't open iPhoto library on Lacie external drive. Can someone help?

I have been using a Lacie external drive for my photos, but can not now get to them. I have a mac 10.3.9 and iPhoto 5.0.4. Two days ago when iPhoto was up and running with my photos, I got the unending propeller and had to force quit. Right before this I had wanted to interrupt what I was doing and pull up Safari, but accidently pulled up Quicktime and tried to close it immediately, and it was then that the propeller started. When the system came back up I could not access my iPhoto library from Lacie. I tried holding down the option key when bringing it up, but when trying to pull from Lacie, it says there are no photos. I know the photos are there because when I click on Lacie I can pull up the photos individually. Can someone help?

imac - 700 MHz Power PC G4 - 256 MB, Mac OS X (10.3.9), Lacie external drive holding photos

Posted on Aug 9, 2006 7:50 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,409 points

Aug 10, 2006 2:24 PM in response to Longmont man

LM:

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. I'm afraid you've damaged the iPhoto library database by force quitting while it was being written to. There is no fix for that that I know of. You can start from scratch an import your photos from the old library as follows:

1 - make a duplicate copy of the iPhoto Library folder.
2 - open the copy folder and type Command-F.
3 - in the search window do a search with the following criteria:
Kind is image
Size is less than 100 KB.

Not sure about 10.3.9 and the search. You might have to use the criteria:
File name contains ".jpg"
Size is greater than 100 KB

This will list all of the thumbnail files that you don't want to import into the new library. So select them all and drag to the desktop.

4 - launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option to create a new library and have it placed on the external HD.
5 - using the File->Add to Library menu option navigate to the external HD and select the cleaned out iPhoto Library copy.

This will import just full sized image files. You'll have a lot more rolls that every before, some with only one file, but you can move photos into other rolls to reduce the number. Good luck.

Do you Twango?

G5 Dual Core 2GHz, 2G RAM, 250G HD; G4 Dual 1Ghz, 1.5G RAM, 80G HD, Mac OS X (10.4.7) 22 LCD Display, 200G & 160G FW HDs, Canon S400, i850 & LIDE 50, Epson R200

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Answer 2

Longmont man Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 14, 2006 8:19 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad, thanks for the info - - I began the process, but noticed it would take over three hours to copy, once I started to copy the folder. I then went to bed, but the system stopped and I couldn't restart the copy as it started back up with the propeller going and it didn't stop. Any other ideas? - LM

LM:

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. I'm afraid you've
damaged the iPhoto library database by force quitting
while it was being written to. There is no fix for
that that I know of. You can start from scratch an
import your photos from the old library as follows:

1 - make a duplicate copy of the iPhoto Library
folder.
2 - open the copy folder and type Command-F.
3 - in the search window do a search with the
following criteria:
Kind is image
ize is less than 100 KB.

Not sure about 10.3.9 and the search.
You might have to use the criteria:
File name contains ".jpg"
Size is greater than 100 KB

This will list all of the thumbnail files that you
don't want to import into the new library. So select
them all and drag to the desktop.

4 - launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option
to create a new library and have it placed on the
external HD.
5 - using the File->Add to Library menu option
navigate to the external HD and select the cleaned
out iPhoto Library copy.

This will import just full sized image files. You'll
have a lot more rolls that every before, some with
only one file, but you can move photos into other
rolls to reduce the number. Good luck.

Do you
Twango?

G5 Dual Core 2GHz, 2G
RAM, 250G HD; G4 Dual 1Ghz, 1.5G RAM, 80G HD, Mac
OS X (10.4.7) 22 LCD Display, 200G & 160G FW HDs,
Canon S400, i850 & LIDE 50, Epson R200

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,409 points

Aug 14, 2006 9:41 PM in response to Longmont man

I began the process, but noticed it would take over three hours to copy, once I started to copy the folder.

I'm not clear on where you are in respect to the work flow I described. Where in the process I listed were you with the copying? Did you cull out the smaller files via the search routine?

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Answer 4

Longmont man Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 15, 2006 6:05 PM in response to Old Toad

I was just in to the first step of making a duplicate copy of the iPhoto Library folder. After about an hour, the message said I had three hours to go. - thanks, LM

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