Moved iPhoto library from one external drive to another and now can't view photos

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Moved iPhoto library from one external drive to another and now can't view photos

I store my iPhoto library on an external drive rather than on my MacBook Pro (running OS X 10.9.5). When I want to download photos from my phone (or simply view photos), I connect the drive to my laptop via a cable. When I last went to download photos from my phone to iPhoto (version 9.5.1) I got a message saying the external drive was full.

So I've purchased a new larger drive (a Samsung M3 1TB USB 3.0 slimline portable hard drive) and after reading advice online the first thing I did was reformat the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Again, having read instructions online, I then dragged the iPhoto library over from the old drive to the new drive.

What is happening now is that when I open iPhoto I'm first prompted to choose the library so I select it from the new drive. Once the software opens I then get a message "Updating thumbnails..." with a progress bar but however long I leave it running, the message doesn't go away and the progress bar doesn't reach completion. My only option is to click "Finish Later" and when I do this there are blank squares in place of each photo. If I double click on one I get a triangle with an explanation mark in it.

Can anyone help me figure out what I've done wrong?

Thank you.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on May 6, 2015 2:38 PM

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Answer 1

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LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

May 6, 2015 2:54 PM in response to camillamac

first select the new EHD and get info and verify that it is correctly formatted - this sound like it is not - and make sure that the ignore ownership box is checked

If it is then launch iphoto while holding down the option and command keys and repair permissions and then rebuild thumbnails and if necessary rebuild the database - hopefully you will get this going with these steps

LN

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Answer 2

camillamac Author

Level 1

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May 7, 2015 1:46 PM in response to LarryHN

Thank you, LarryHN. I've checked that the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and also that that the "Ignore ownership" box is checked.

When I hold down option and command and then launch iPhoto exactly the same thing happens as when I just click on iPhoto without holding those keys down, ie. I'm prompted to select the library and then I get the "Updating thumbnails" message. I'm not presented with an option to repair permissions or rebuild thumbnails.

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