iphoto not showing movies - already tried downloading QuickTime 7

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Level 1

1 points

iphoto not showing movies - already tried downloading QuickTime 7

I have a MacBook OSX version 10.6.8 recently upgraded. I'm running Iphoto version '08 7.1.5.

I am trying to move my iphotos over to an external hard drive. My Earlier movies won't play in iphoto on internal or external drives. Already Installed QT 7 and still not opening. Anyone know why?

I've tried dragging the movies out of Iphoto onto my desktop and they won't. Only the ones that will play will drag out. I do have a movies folder which have some (74) movies in it. I'm not sure how some movies went there and some downloaded under iphoto b/c I download them all the same way every time. Some older movies will open there (not in iphoto) but it seems like the oldest and newest movies are the only ones opening.

My main goal is to back up all photos and movies on to my external hard drive so I have more space. I want to be able to open them the same way on the external as I do on my macbook but I'm afraid with new software in the future some may not be able to open. What's the best way to back up home movies/ photos and keep it organized like it is in iphoto?

MacBook (13-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Mar 1, 2015 10:04 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Mar 1, 2015 10:56 PM in response to alishajoann

You can simply move the iPhoto Library to the external:

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.

3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.

4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.

But this is not a back up

A back up is a copy on another disk. So if you move the library you will need another disk to back it up.

As for movies not playing:

Right click on one of the affected movies and choose 'Show in Finder'. A Finder window should open with the File selected it. Does it? Does that play?

Regards

TD

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Answer 2

alishajoann Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 2, 2015 7:20 PM in response to Yer_Man

I guess I meant I wanted to move my iphoto library to an external hard drive- not backup. I did buy 2 external hard drives. One to save pictures/movies and one for time machine.

I tried opening from 'choose library' and could no open any images. I did see iphoto there but it seems that it took my the the iphoto back on my computer and not the one I saved. How do I know it's the saved iphoto? I took a screenshot

As for movies playing- When I right click, I took a screenshot of what I'm getting. I don't see show in finder.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Mar 2, 2015 10:46 PM in response to alishajoann

Use the 'Show File' option when you right click.

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Answer 4

alishajoann Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 3, 2015 5:01 AM in response to Yer_Man

It doesn't pull up in the window. This is what it shows

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Mar 3, 2015 11:28 AM in response to alishajoann

Does the video play in iPhoto?

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Answer 6

alishajoann Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 3, 2015 8:14 PM in response to Yer_Man

No, that's my problem-playing movies in iphoto (I can't even drag them out of iphoto). I tried double clicking and nothing happens. The last movies I just downloaded from my iphone do play but no movies before that last download. I did upgrade a couple months ago to Snow Leopard. Do you think that is causing it?

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Answer 7

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Mar 3, 2015 10:48 PM in response to alishajoann

Well the problem is that the files are missing. You need to restore from your back up.

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Answer 8

alishajoann Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 4, 2015 8:53 AM in response to alishajoann

I have been using Time Machine. Is it possible to restore from there? If so, how do I do that? I have my iphoto library on an external HD but it won't play the movies either so I doubt I can restore from that. What should I do? Did I lose all of my movies?

Forgive me if I'm asking nonsense questions. This is all very foreign to me.

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Answer 9

Old Toad

Level 10

207,445 points

Mar 4, 2015 9:13 AM in response to alishajoann

Go to your Pictures folder and then enter Time Machine. Go back in time to just before this problem surfaced. Select the iPhoto Library package and use the Restore button. I'd probably select the option to keep both versions until you're sure the version you want is the right one. Here's a graphical representation of the process:

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Answer 10

alishajoann Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 4, 2015 7:40 PM in response to Old Toad

I've been able to restore some movies. Going to work on more tomorrow. I don't want to restore the whole library with photos because the last time machine backed up was in February when I brought my computer into Apple and they turned Time Machine off and did some other things on my computer when trying to help me make a copy of my pictures/movies. It seems that this is the exact day that the movies stopped playing. Do you know what would have caused this to happen so I can prevent it from happening again?

Thank you for your help.

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Answer 11

alishajoann Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 5, 2015 3:42 PM in response to alishajoann

I can see all of my movies on iphoto..yay, thank goodness I didn't lose them. Thank you!

Now this is confusing...I wish I had another macbook to plug in my HD to see if my pictures/movies are really there.

I went back onto my external harddrive and they were there without me moving them over. Very strange since Time Machine is turned off. I even unplugged my external HD and opened all the movies folders and played them on my internal and then plugged in my external harddrive and opened them in iphoto and they are there and showing the exact same way in iphoto. How would it get copied over without me doing it? Now it didn't copy into my movie folder on my external but it did copy in my movie folder on my internal as well as my iphoto. I tried copying them to the movie folder on the external HD and it wouldn't work.

How do I know they are really on my external HD before I trash my internal iphotos/movies?

So confusing and I'm probably explaining this as clear as mud.

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Answer 12

Old Toad

Level 10

207,445 points

Mar 6, 2015 9:18 AM in response to alishajoann

How do I know they are really on my external HD before I trash my internal iphotos/movies?

If you can double click on them and have them play in Quicktime Player then you know they're on the EHD. Just make sure the files on the EHD are not alias files.

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