Chris Brestle
Level 1 (139 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Unable to copy iPhoto library???

Long time iPhoto user.  Currently have a 389.13GB iPhoto library.

 

Last night I upgraded my iMac to 10.10.3 and was presented the new Photos app.  I started the upgrade. 

 

This morning it had a failure message: "Photos was unable to make a copy of your library before preparing it. There were file system or hardware issues…"  This showed up at the 13% mark.  My iMac has a 3TB hard drive with 1.4TB available.  I booted into recovery mode and used disk utility to verify and repair both the disk and the permissions.  Two more attempts to upgrade and I get the same message both at the 13% mark.

 

So I move to the next troubleshooting option on this page:

If Photos can’t copy or create a library - Apple Support

 

I try to copy my iPhoto library over to a 3TB Seagate external drive that I have.  After copying just over 500MB I get: "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written. (Error code -36).

 

Panicked I booted up the copy of iPhoto that was left over in my applications folder and thankfully it opened just fine.  I could use it with no issues. 

 

Why can't I upgrade or copy it?!?!?

 

Thanks.

Posted on Jun 29, 2015 10:00 PM

by Chris Brestle,Solvedanswer
Chris Brestle Chris Brestle
Level 1 (139 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Well...I'm back after a LONG journey.

 

- Tried to upgrade a few times...kept freezing at 13%

- Went to my time machine backup and copied an old iPhoto library to an external drive.  Copied fine.

- Ran Photos on THAT library and it upgraded great.

- Tried to copy that newly upgraded library back to my iMac...whole computer froze

- Over the next 3 days I ran disk repair, reformatted hard drive, and re-installed OSX at least 6 times

- Each time it would lock up the entire computer when I tried to restore from Time Machine

- Finally computer completely locked up and wouldn't re-install OS

- Brought it in to Apple Store and my HD failed the tests.

- I explained that I checked my serial number for the iMac extended repair program (https://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive-3tb/) but it said I wasn't eligible.

- The genius said that despite the serial number coming up ineligible online, his in-store iPad was letting him flag it under the program.

- 3 days after that I have a brand new 3TB hard drive, Time Machine restore worked flawlessly, and Photos upgraded my library.  All good!

 

The inability to copy large files (my photo library was over 300TB) is an early indicator to hard drive failure.  Thank goodness for Time Machine!

Posted on Jul 8, 2015 11:57 PM

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Chris Brestle

Q: Unable to copy iPhoto library???

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jun 29, 2015 11:28 PM in response to Chris Brestle
    Level 10 (139,557 points)
    iLife
    Jun 29, 2015 11:28 PM in response to Chris Brestle

    That glitch can be caused by a damaged or even a locked file within the Library, or even if the target disk is not formatted formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

     

    Assuming you have the correct format, the trick is to back up the library to the new location - using any back up utility that stores the data in the same format (so, not Time Machine). This will sort out those glitches for you in 99% of cases. Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, Chronosync are all such apps.

  • by Lyrabelacqua,

    Lyrabelacqua Lyrabelacqua Jul 2, 2015 10:26 AM in response to Chris Brestle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 10:26 AM in response to Chris Brestle

    I had a similar problem, with Photos freezing at 14%. My problem was compounded by the fact that I was still running iPhoto '09(8.1.2) and since Apple released Photos you cannot buy iLife 11. I went through the same experience of following the instructions on the Apple Help page, to no avail. Eventually I went to Apple Support and (for free) managed to get them to send me an iLife 11 DVD so I could try and get my ageing library into a fit state for Yosemite and Photos. They said it would take 10 working days to get to me, so while I was waiting I had a look to see if there was another reason for the Photos error message. After some intensive Googling I ran Console (partt of OSX) to see what was happening when Photos stalled on the import. This identified a corrupt thumbnail in my library. Tracking that specific file down through the finder and removing it it (and the associated photograph), I re-ran Photos and all was (eventually) well.

     

    Moral of the tale - use Console to get more information on what has gone wrong when an application hangs. Hope this helps you and others, and apologies for not referencing the kind soul who mentioned the use of Console, whose post I cannot find any more!

     

    Oh, and if you only have an outdated iPhotos programme, it will still run if you need it to. Find the application iPhoto, use show package contents, and navigate to the Mac OS folder in iPhoto. Double click the iPhoto app in that folder and it launches under Terminal. Not for everyday use but it might help someone.

  • by Chris Brestle,Solvedanswer

    Chris Brestle Chris Brestle Jul 8, 2015 11:57 PM in response to Lyrabelacqua
    Level 1 (139 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2015 11:57 PM in response to Lyrabelacqua

    Well...I'm back after a LONG journey.

     

    - Tried to upgrade a few times...kept freezing at 13%

    - Went to my time machine backup and copied an old iPhoto library to an external drive.  Copied fine.

    - Ran Photos on THAT library and it upgraded great.

    - Tried to copy that newly upgraded library back to my iMac...whole computer froze

    - Over the next 3 days I ran disk repair, reformatted hard drive, and re-installed OSX at least 6 times

    - Each time it would lock up the entire computer when I tried to restore from Time Machine

    - Finally computer completely locked up and wouldn't re-install OS

    - Brought it in to Apple Store and my HD failed the tests.

    - I explained that I checked my serial number for the iMac extended repair program (https://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive-3tb/) but it said I wasn't eligible.

    - The genius said that despite the serial number coming up ineligible online, his in-store iPad was letting him flag it under the program.

    - 3 days after that I have a brand new 3TB hard drive, Time Machine restore worked flawlessly, and Photos upgraded my library.  All good!

     

    The inability to copy large files (my photo library was over 300TB) is an early indicator to hard drive failure.  Thank goodness for Time Machine!