OSStatus Error -54

Question

OSStatus Error -54

My hard drive containing my iPhoto library recently crashed and I had to have it replaced. I restored the iPhoto library from my Time Machine backup. Since that time, I've noted that multiple video files give me this error message when I try to open them in iPhoto. I never got this message before.

Does this mean my files are corrupted? Is there any way to recover the data at this point? I had to reformat the Time Machine drive to get it to restart the backups of my newly formatted hard drive, since it would not simply backup the new hard drive by adding to the previous (old) backups.

I have a bad feeling I'm screwed at this point. But in the hopes that some angel with a solution is out there, I'm posting this here. Please help...

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)

Posted on May 25, 2015 9:58 AM

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Answer 1

May 25, 2015 10:16 AM in response to Julian Bashir

Additional information related to this problem: The problem appears to be affecting videos, but not all videos. It doesn't seem to be affecting pictures.

I have also noticed that when opening the iPhoto library, it keeps saying that it is "updating thumbnails." Even though I let it finish, every time I reopen iPhoto, I get that some message.

Finally, I notice that many videos no longer have thumbnails associated with them for some reason. The videos that I can't load are all ones with no thumbnails, but many non-thumbnail videos still work. So far, I have noticed that if the video has a thumbnail, it will work.

I have not started using the new Photos app because of the downgrade in some of the features (removing star ratings for instance). Would migrating my library fix some of these problems?

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

May 25, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Julian Bashir

It does sound like the back up is damaged but worth a try:

Download iPhoto Library Managerand use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)

This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.

Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

No, migrating to Photos is unlikely to help with fixing this problem. It will simply migrate the problem.

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