Graeme Ison

Q: iPhoto 9.6 Yosemite asks to do upgrade and then permissions repair

After the Yosemite upgrade, iPhoto was updated and was all running fine. Could access photos etc.  iPhoto previous version was the Mavericks one, so not v7 or before, requiring the Library upgrade tool.

 

Last night when trying to access iPhoto, it comes up with a message saying the library needs to be upgraded.  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9svb2pc91821sm0/Screenshot%202014-10-24%2014.00.48.jpg ?dl=0)

 

Ignoring the fact that this doesn't make sense as I have been using this library with the updated 9.6 iPhoto, I then click the Upgrade button.  iPhoto starts 'Examining photo library' for a while and then comes back with a message saying the Library cannot be opened and that the permissions need to be repaired.  After asking it to repair permissions, it fails and says the file cannot be opened.  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/vc3w6c8rh24hpyk/Screenshot%202014-10-24%2014.07.40.jpg ?dl=0)

 

After trying the following, the symtpoms changed slightly.

 

1) Restarted the Mac (as you do)

2) Deleted iPhoto and re-installed it (advised in another thread)

3) The file was on an external USB drive, which was Mac OS Extended Journaled (and has been working on there for 2 years), so just in case, I moved it to the main hard disk in the Pictures folder

3) Ran Disk Utility repair permissions just in case, but no errors found in that file.  Rebooted and ran again to make sure.

4) Showed Package Contents of iPhoto Library file and moved out the iPhotoLock.data file

 

After trying all this, it now skips the permission repair option and just goes straight from the upgrade screen to the failed to open screen.

 

I have now tried the iPhoto Library Manager tool and that opens the Library just fine (version 4.19), which suggests everything is there and working, but that iPhoto has just stopped working.  However, if I use iPhoto to open or create other iPhoto Libraries, it works fine, which indicates a problem with the Library itself.

 

I have also tried opening the file from my iMac (also Yosemite and iPhoto 9.6), but it comes up with the same messages and errors.

 

Now trying a complete rebuild using iPhoto Library Manager as iPhoto won't open the file to do a rebuild using CMD-Option.  This may take days for the 130Gb Library, so just wanted this post up in case anyone else is having similar issues and may have found a solution.

 

Any and all ideas welcome!

 

Thanks,

Graeme

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10), 16Gb RAM, 2.3Ghz Core i7

Posted on Oct 24, 2014 6:43 AM

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Q: iPhoto 9.6 Yosemite asks to do upgrade and then permissions repair

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  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Nov 3, 2014 11:30 PM in response to Gary Jaz
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    Nov 3, 2014 11:30 PM in response to Gary Jaz
    So I started copying my iphoto library over to the new external drive and after it copied about 6 gigs the drive with iphoto ejected with the message that Disk Not Ejected Properly, and "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read of written (Error code -36).

    Error code -36 is an IO error. The system could not write to the drive.

    TD listed the most common reasons for this: A hardware problem with the connection, port, and permission problems.

    There are two other possibilities, since it is a new drive:

    1. The wrong file system. Writing an iPhoto library to a drive not formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled) occasionally will result in this error message. If your new drive still is formatted for Windows systems as is the default with new drives, you need to reformat the drive MacoS Extended (Journaled) before copying iPhoto Libraries there. Copy all data from the drive to a different drive before reformatting. This will erase the data. (iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives)
    2. The drive may be damaged or failing. As it is a new drive, you may still have warranty on it. So check the drive for hardware problems and return it, if the problem persists.
  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Nov 4, 2014 12:13 AM in response to Terence Devlin
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    Nov 4, 2014 12:13 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    No need to be rude mate, as I said I am not that tech savvy.


    Maybe it didn't happen to you, but were you asked during the process to rebuild and repair? Did you force quit because it seemed like it wasn't responding, this is where I think the problem is. If you read what others have written, this seems to be the case.

     

    I don't think now is the time to be picky, a lot of people here are pretty stressed out because their photos are nowhere to be found. Yesterday it took 6 hours to rebuild and now I have one event folder with 140,000 photos. No cards, no calendars... just one big huge event.

     

    And yes the TM backup is my last chance, like I said, I was told that an EHD was as good as TM, so I haven't backed up my iPhoto to TM for 6 months, I have now found out that no it is not the same, so yes it is a last chance, because I still loose 6 months of photos which I will have to manually add.

     

    I should be over the moon happy with my brand new, $3500 computer and I have had no end of problems.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Nov 4, 2014 12:54 AM in response to scaarlet121
    Level 10 (139,582 points)
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    Nov 4, 2014 12:54 AM in response to scaarlet121
    but were you asked during the process to rebuild and repair?

     

    No.

     

    Did you force quit because it seemed like it wasn't responding

     

    As the answer to the first part is no, then, obviously that is too.

     

    this is where I think the problem is

     

    Anytime that iPhoto is interrupted while writing to the database there is a danger of damage, yes.

     

    I don't think now is the time to be picky


    Well actually it is. If this is a bug, what then? Apple fix the bug in an update, maybe. Then  what? It won't undo the damage to your Library. It won't repair your library. You're still in exactly the same place. The last thing you want this to be is a bug. Once it's a bug we can all just give up now and stop trying.

     

    Like everybody else, if you can tell us the format of the external disk it might help.

  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Nov 4, 2014 2:38 AM in response to Terence Devlin
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    Nov 4, 2014 2:38 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    I have written that before, the format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).


    I just got off the phone to apple support and we went over everything, was on the phone 2 hours. He agrees, that it seems that if asked to repair database when upgrading the library, you should say no, he agrees this is the problem, not the upgrade itself.


    Bug, glitch, like I said I am not tech savvy, to me this means there is something wrong with this part of the program when upgrading to an EHD that needs a repair. If you press repair and you get an error or iPhoto stops responding, your library is damaged. Game over.


    His solution is TM backup, saving it to desktop and not EHD and seeing how it goes. He said it should prompt to update, do it, then say no to repair library and see what happens. He thinks I will get a few grey photos but in all everything should be.


    If you get iPhoto not responding, leave it a long time before force quitting.

     

    Am just waiting on my 300GB TM backup to transfer to desktop, will let you know if this works.

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 4, 2014 8:24 AM in response to léonie
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    Nov 4, 2014 8:24 AM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie, it's a new drive and I formatted it MacOS Extended (Journaled).  I have copied other folders to it without trouble.

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 4, 2014 6:58 PM in response to Gary Jaz
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    Nov 4, 2014 6:58 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    Leonie or Terence, any advice on what I should do next?

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 5, 2014 2:19 PM in response to Gary Jaz
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    Nov 5, 2014 2:19 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    Well, I am going to use Time Machine and go back to last week.  Then I'll not use iPhoto until an update/fix is announced.


    One problem is that I can't update my iPhone to 8.1 because I don't have enough space on the phone left. I have a bunch of photos that need to be imported into iPhoto so I can delete them (I have a toddler so I have lots of vids). What can I do with these?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Nov 5, 2014 2:33 PM in response to Gary Jaz
    Level 10 (108,065 points)
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    Nov 5, 2014 2:33 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    Gary, it s difficult to answer, because your answers are lost in this long thread.

     

    How about starting your own thread, so we will have all your answers nicely collected in one place?

     

    Well, I am going to use Time Machine and go back to last week.  Then I'll not use iPhoto until an update/fix is announced.

    If it is problem with your iPhoto library, then waiting for a bug fix will probably not help. Sooner or later you'll have to find the reason for the library corruption, so it ca be updated.

    Do you want to revert to the state before the Yosemite update? Then see:  OS X Mavericks: Revert to a previous OS X version

    One problem is that I can't update my iPhone to 8.1 because I don't have enough space on the phone left. I have a bunch of photos that need to be imported into iPhoto so I can delete them (I have a toddler so I have lots of vids). What can I do with these?

     

    If you do not want to use iPhoto right now, you can import using Image Capture. That will let you import from your iPhone to folders on your Mac.  Once your iPhoto Library has been fixed, you can import these folders to iPhoto.

  • by BrianSteffens,

    BrianSteffens BrianSteffens Nov 5, 2014 2:56 PM in response to léonie
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    Nov 5, 2014 2:56 PM in response to léonie

    Also, if you haven't set up iCloud to auto sync (or if you turn off that function), you could upload your phone photos to iCloud to make room on your phone, then import them to iPhoto later when you've worked out those issues.

    Having been a part of this thread and suffering much the same fate as the rest of you, my conclusion is that my iPhoto library is gone. Yes, it's there, I can see it, but it's bogus. An iOS 8.3 update with bug fix won't repair it, but might prevent it from happening to others. A Yosemite update probably won't fix it, but might prevent it from happening to others. An iPhoto 9.7 update with bug fix probably won't fix my library, but may prevent this from happening to others. Those are the three components that seem to have resulted in this mess. Terrence suggests it might be a cord/cable, an improperly removed USB cable from the external drive, etc., etc. Those are the usual culprits. But I know that and my external drive didn't disconnect, my USB cable works just fine, etc. So an Apple fix is called for.

    But for my particular situation, I'd need to repair my library/database, and that seems beyond the tools available to me. So i've imported 53,000 photos that appear to be all the photos in my old library. But they are all ONE event and NO ALBUMS. Plus much of the editing (proper rotation so I can view them properly) is gone. I started creating new events last night. I was amazed to find duplicates of many/most of my photos so far ... one full size for editing; a second one much smaller in the black viewing or editing frame. So I'm deleting the smaller ones. In a couple of instances, I have 3 duplicates of the original. Dunno how that happened.

    This will be a big pain for a long time, what with work and family, not a lot of time to individually view 53,000 frames, organize, rotate, etc. I don't have a backup to start over, that's on me. And I'm not hopeful of finding an iPhoto geek expert locally who might know enough about how to repair or rebuild the library with the original events/albums/editing-cropping/faces recognition assignments. A hack might do it, but the repair/rebuild tools available in iPhoto don't do it. The best I got from that is that "repair" found the photos and offered to import them without the events, albums, etc. "Rebuild" does nothing.

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 5, 2014 3:48 PM in response to léonie
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    Nov 5, 2014 3:48 PM in response to léonie

    Yes I will do that with time to describe the whole thing.

     

    But, I am home now and tried the repair function within iphoto itself, and I get a message saying:

     

    161281 photos have been found in the iPhoto library that are not a part of this photo library.  Would you like to import them?

     

     

    Seems like it might work?  Should I say yes? 

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Nov 5, 2014 4:07 PM in response to Gary Jaz
    Level 10 (108,065 points)
    iCloud
    Nov 5, 2014 4:07 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    161281 photos have been found in the iPhoto library that are not a part of this photo library.  Would you like to import them?

    Say yes.  That message means, that iPhoto has found thousands of photos in your library, that are not connected to any thumbnails in your library.  These photos will appear in "Recovered items" events.  Look for them, when the import finished.

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 5, 2014 4:19 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Wireless
    Nov 5, 2014 4:19 PM in response to léonie

    Well now I wonder if it's talking about the photos in my iphoto library on my external drive, or maybe all the photos I have on my local drive.  I want it to be the former.  How can I tell?  I have 550 gigs library on my external.

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 5, 2014 4:22 PM in response to Gary Jaz
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    Nov 5, 2014 4:22 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    Wait, if it said "iphoto library" it can only be that iphoto library on my external drive as I have no other library.  I'll try it.  Wish me luck.  : )

  • by Gary Jaz,

    Gary Jaz Gary Jaz Nov 5, 2014 4:38 PM in response to Gary Jaz
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    Nov 5, 2014 4:38 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    Well it said "there may not be enough space on your disk to.....".  So I aborted.  I did not want to actually import the photos onto my local drive, just repair the existing library.

  • by scaarlet121,

    scaarlet121 scaarlet121 Nov 5, 2014 8:17 PM in response to Gary Jaz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2014 8:17 PM in response to Gary Jaz

    Gary I have had a similar thing to you, I repaired it, it gave me 4 photos. I rebuilt it, it gave me 140000 photos all in one file, no editing, albums or books etc.... I rang apple, they went through it and were amazing, basically when doing the update my library was corrupted, so although the photos are there, something is stopping it from reading in the way it was before.


    I got my TM backup and copied the latest iPhoto library I had onto the desktop, waited 7 hours for it to transfer, then opened iPhoto with option down and selected the desktop library path (it actually came up) it asked to update library, I said yes, then it went through perfect, it didn't ask for a repair option but apple said if it did, then I should say no.


    I have everything back except for what I have done recently which is mainly stuff I have on phone anyway..

     

    If you have problems, ring apple, they were fabulous, they said you have free software support for 90 days after a new release, they even rang me the next day to check if it copied over properly. They also told me that they are working on an update for Yosemite as it is already with the developers and checkers, but they don't know exact release date but because it is already being 'checked' it won't be too long.

     

    My next step is to use it on my desktop and if it is fine in a week or so, delete my library on the EHD and transfer my desktop library to my EHD and change the path.

     

    I also had a problem with iMovie. Kind of similar but not corrupted, I will have to manually re add all my events back in but everything is there and working.

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