beaker1827

Q: iphoto package contents - empty masters folder

Like a bunch of people recently, a few weeks back my iphoto library wouldn't open citing use by a different version of iphoto. I then upgraded to Yosemite, but my library was no longer recognized.

 

I retrieved my backup from Tim Machine, and used iphoto library manager to rebuild the library. Initially no photos were found (despite the library being 40gb), until ticking the box to scavenge orphaned photos.

 

Once the scavanged photos were included, the rebuilt library restored originals up until 2010, but nothing after.

 

When viewing the package contents for the rebuilt library, the Preview folder has images up to 2010. The Masters folder appears to be empty. The Thumbnails folder has all photos up to Nov 2014 when the library was last backed up.

 

Any ideas where my originals from 2010-2014 are? Or how I can retrieve them?

 

I have gone further back into my time machine backups, and restored older libraries and rebuilt them with the iphoto library manager, but they all seem to have the same issue.

 

Any ideas?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 4, 2015 11:20 PM

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Q: iphoto package contents - empty masters folder

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jan 4, 2015 11:26 PM in response to beaker1827
    Level 10 (84,540 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jan 4, 2015 11:26 PM in response to beaker1827

    Is there an Old Masters folder in the iphoto library?

     

    LN

  • by beaker1827,

    beaker1827 beaker1827 Jan 5, 2015 2:55 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2015 2:55 AM in response to LarryHN

    No, not that I can see.

     

    The directory in the package contents looks like this

    Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 9.52.35 pm.png

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 5, 2015 6:09 AM in response to beaker1827
    Level 10 (106,799 points)
    iLife
    Jan 5, 2015 6:09 AM in response to beaker1827

    Which version of iPhoto are you running? And which version of  iphoto did you have before the upgrade to Yosemite?

    The library your screenshot is showing does not look at all like a library that has been upgraded to iPhoto 9.6.

  • by beaker1827,

    beaker1827 beaker1827 Jan 5, 2015 12:59 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2015 12:59 PM in response to léonie

    Currently running version 9.6. I'm not 100% sure which version was running before upgrading to Yosemite. Is there a way I can check this in Time Machine?

     

    I attempted to use iphoto library updater to update the library prior to rebuilding it with iphoto library manager, but it never worked successfully. I would be sent on an endless loop of error messages. I can't remember the exact wording, but iphoto would say the library needs to be updated, and the updater would have an error that sent me back to iphoto.

     

    Trying to use updater now, and it says the library can already be read by the latest version of iphoto so does not need updating.

  • by beaker1827,

    beaker1827 beaker1827 Jan 5, 2015 1:11 PM in response to beaker1827
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2015 1:11 PM in response to beaker1827

    I just restored a slightly older library from time machine, attempted to update using iphoto library updater, and get the error message:

     

    Screen Shot 2015-01-06 at 8.07.53 am.png

     

    However, the package contents for this library, as restored from time machine, look incomplete....

    Screen Shot 2015-01-06 at 8.10.15 am.png

  • by beaker1827,

    beaker1827 beaker1827 Jan 5, 2015 1:35 PM in response to beaker1827
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2015 1:35 PM in response to beaker1827

    I've recovered a separate back-up of iphoto on an external hard drive, that I save to every six months or so (so have only lost six months of photos, assuming I can't recover them from the time machine back-ups). The package contents of this one has everything in the Original folder. This complete library is 330gb, compared to the time machine back-ups which are only 40gb.

     

    Any ideas why the time machine back-ups are incomplete? Has anyone had this issue before?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jan 5, 2015 3:53 PM in response to beaker1827
    Level 10 (106,799 points)
    iLife
    Jan 5, 2015 3:53 PM in response to beaker1827
    Any ideas why the time machine back-ups are incomplete? Has anyone had this issue before?

     

    See:

    iPhoto '11: Restoring from Time Machine with iPhoto '11 (9.2 or later) and OS X Lion 10.7.2 (or later) - Apple Support

     

    Perhaps Time Machine never made a complete backup, if you always had iPhoto running.

     

    • Time Machine canʼt do a full iPhoto Library backup when iPhoto is open. To ensure that Time Machine does a complete backup of your library, periodically quit iPhoto before backing up.
  • by beaker1827,

    beaker1827 beaker1827 Jan 5, 2015 9:56 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2015 9:56 PM in response to léonie

    iphoto was only ever open when importing photos, and was always closed when not in use, so that should not have prevented a full time machine backup.