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Many black thumbnails iPhoto '11. What to do ?

iMac Intel Core Duo 2.4 GHz with 4 GB RAM and OS 10.68. iPhoto has about 5% black thumbnails, most of which , but not all, disclose a picture upon clicking. Other than backing up the iPhoto Library and following this Apple tech note: iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library - Apple Support is there anything to do ?


Would you agree that Options 1, 2, & 6 should be checked ?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 24, 2015 12:02 AM

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Posted on May 24, 2015 12:27 AM

In iPhoto '11 the Library First Aid panel looks different: Which iPhoto '11 version do you have exactly?

User uploaded file


Make backup of your iPhoto Library and start with "Rebuild Thumbnails", followed by "repair Permissions" and the other options.


If not all black thumbnails are showing the photo, when you click them, iPhoto has lost the connection to some of the originals. In that case rebuilding with the free trial version of iPhoto Library Manager will usually help.


Download it here: http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/


And see tis manual page:

Rebuilding a corrupted iPhoto library

64 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 24, 2015 12:27 AM in response to NeedSupportHelp

In iPhoto '11 the Library First Aid panel looks different: Which iPhoto '11 version do you have exactly?

User uploaded file


Make backup of your iPhoto Library and start with "Rebuild Thumbnails", followed by "repair Permissions" and the other options.


If not all black thumbnails are showing the photo, when you click them, iPhoto has lost the connection to some of the originals. In that case rebuilding with the free trial version of iPhoto Library Manager will usually help.


Download it here: http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/


And see tis manual page:

Rebuilding a corrupted iPhoto library

May 26, 2015 4:22 PM in response to NeedSupportHelp

iPLM will create a new library that is exactly the same as one being repaired except for the fact that projects will be lost. Books, slideshows, cards, etc get converted to albums so you can recreate the project with the same photos.



If iPhoto repair fails, and IPLM fails, then what else can be done ?

Starting over from scratch with new library


Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:


1. Open the library package like this.


User uploaded file



2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.


3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.


User uploaded file



This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.


Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

User uploaded file

May 27, 2015 3:01 PM in response to NeedSupportHelp

What would happen if I simply IMPORT that diseased iPhoto Library from an external drive into a fresh copy of iPhoto on a new internal hard drive ? Will all the dates and sections be retained ? Will this import still be diseased ?

Don't. When you import one iPhoto Library into another library you will create a mess of duplicates in different sizes - thumbnails, previews, faces icons. It will be tedious to weed out.


Try rebuilding the iPhoto Library with iPhoto Library Manager, as Old Toad recommended.

The free trial version of iPhoto Library Manager is our swiss army knife for this kind of emergencies - it usually is able to repair the connections between the original files and the thumbnails if iPhoto cannot do it.

Download here: http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/

Many black thumbnails iPhoto '11. What to do ?

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