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Black screen, no photos

iPhots lives on an external drive. Been working fine. But today it only comes up with a black screen. If i open the external i can see pics in individual folders but when I click on the library, same thing, black. Thoughts?

Posted on May 4, 2014 9:52 AM

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32 replies

May 17, 2014 1:57 PM in response to MW1957

Back to the main Library:


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

May 23, 2014 5:58 AM in response to Yer_Man

Dear Terence


I have been looking at this discussion stream as I have exactly the same issue, although the version of iPhoto is different.


Running osx 10.5.8 on old MBP iPhoto '09 Version 8.0.3

I have regularly backed up my MBP on an external device [mac os extended (journaled)]. I have browsed the backups (iPhoto - File - Browse backups) but they all have the black screen as in MW1957's post above so I can't just restore from that.


So far I have not attempted to restore/repair anything. I am just doing my research.


So, if I follow your instructions as above will that work with the version of iPhoto that I have?


I am going to flag up another, possibly related, problem at this point - on my Mac mini I can no longer download images from the iPhone (running OS x 10.6.8 iPhoto '09 v8.1.2). Interestingly both issues have occurred since I started using a new cable on my iPhone (still running on iOS 5.1.1). I've no idea if this is related or not but thought it worth mentioning.


Thanks a lot. Valerie

Black screen, no photos

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