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Photos missing after migrations; thumbnails still visible in iphoto library

I replaced the hard drive on my 2012 MacBook Pro (OSX 10.9.5, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3) after the hard drive died.

I have a daily time machine/time capsule backup, which is what I migrated from.

The only issue I've noticed is that I can't see any of my photos in iPhoto. My library is divided into events and albums as it should be. There are dotted outlines where the photos should be, and when I click on a (missing) photo it opens to a triangle with an exclamation point. However, all the thumbnails are visible along the bottom when I have a single (missing) photo open.

I have tried the following from iPhoto:

1. restore permissions - no change

2. repair library - no change

3. rebuild library - no change

Then I tried the iPhoto Library Manager rebuild - the rebuild had 0 photos

Then I tried the following:

1. restoring just the iphoto library from time machine - same as before

2. restore a different back up entirely from time machine completely - same as before

Lastly, I just viewed the contents of iPhoto Library and it does not have "Old Masters/Modified/Originals" files, as was suggested in another conversation I read. I did not think that was it, but figured I would mention it.

Please help!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jun 1, 2015 9:09 AM

24 replies

nemeamy Author

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Jun 2, 2015 8:34 AM in response to léonie

And here are the screenshots when I restored the Nov'14 Library at 217GB and then moments later after I opened it in iPhoto when it dropped to 1.32GB:

Jun 2, 2015 8:45 AM in response to nemeamy

Apologies if you've already tried this, there's a lot to wade through, here. Go to Time Machine in the Finder sidebar (under "DEVICES"), find your Mac, then a date you know has the pictures, and within the folder for that date, navigate to Macintosh HD > Users > [your user] > Pictures. Drag the iPhoto library to "Pictures" in the Finder sidebar. Restart iPhoto. Does that work?

léonie

Level 10

195,019 points

Jun 2, 2015 9:01 AM in response to nemeamy

I've never seen the size change like this, when iPhoto opened a library. I have asked our system experts to come to help. I hope others will drop in, like stevejobsfan.

nemeamy Author

Level 1

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Jun 2, 2015 9:18 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

I hadn't tried dragging it, only entering Time Machine and restoring. I'm trying it now.
However, it doesn't look like it's going to work. The file I grabbed said it was 217GB, but now while copying it says 1.33GB.

nemeamy Author

Level 1

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Jun 2, 2015 9:35 AM in response to nemeamy

Here's the file I dragged out of the backup -

Before opening iPhoto:

After opening iPhoto:

😢😢😢

Jun 2, 2015 10:54 AM in response to nemeamy

Did you try léonie's suggestion of pressing Command + F and searching for .jpeg, but this time do it on the Time Machine folder for your Mac's backup?

léonie

Level 10

195,019 points

Jun 2, 2015 1:10 PM in response to nemeamy

Restore again the November 2017 library using Time Machine Restore.

After you restored the library inspect the Masters folder inside, while the library has still a size of 200 GB or more. Are there still photos inside?

Which version of iPhoto created this library? Was it iPhoto 7.1.2 or earlier? Then you may need to run the iPhoto Library upgrader to prepare the library for iPhoto '11. (iPhoto '11: About the Library Upgrader)

nemeamy Author

Level 1

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Jun 2, 2015 3:46 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

When I do this I come up with thousands of these JPEGs that I can't open. Does Fix Alias help me?

nemeamy Author

Level 1

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Jun 2, 2015 3:53 PM in response to léonie

As soon as I 'show package contents' it drops to 1.3GB and there aren't any photos inside.

My current version of iPhoto is 9.5 but I don't know what version I started the library with.

If I attempt to use library updater on the library I have now, the library is grayed out and not available to choose. If I attempt to 'choose another library' through iPhoto it is grayed out. I can only open it by clicking "open with" and finding iPhoto. It has a folder icon next to it instead of the photo library icon. Does this mean anything? I'm probably grasping at straws here, I know.

Photos missing after migrations; thumbnails still visible in iphoto library