IPhoto events, albums, thumbnails and pictures

Question

Level 1

15 points

IPhoto events, albums, thumbnails and pictures

I am running Yosemite 10.10.5 and iPhoto 9.6.1 on a Mac with 4gb of memory and a 3.06ghz processor.

Up until yesterday iPhoto was running fine. Then when I launched iPhoto it said that the database needed repairing so I let the machine get on with it. When it had finished I found that well over half of my Events were showing the event name but no thumbnail or actual picture. My Albums don't appear to have suffered any adverse consequences. What was particularly strange was that a picture that should have been showing up in an Event but wasn't was showing up in the Album to which it was assigned suggesting that the picture exists and that the problem is one of linking.

I have checked the iPhoto library to the extent that I can and it seems fine. I ran the Rebuild Database process but it hasn't improved the situation.

Has anyone else had this problem and solved it?

Thanks

David

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jan 26, 2016 6:20 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,098 points

Jan 26, 2016 6:53 AM in response to DavidO198

Simple solution:

Restore from back up.

Otherwise:

Option 1

Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.

If that fails:

Option 2

Download iPhoto Library Manager and 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.

Regards

TD

Reply

Answer 2

DavidO198 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 27, 2016 9:13 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence

Thanks for the advice.

Option 1 made no difference so I went for Option 2.

I didn't do anything beyond downloading iPhoto Libraries using your link. It has done some stuff that looks promising so as I am not familiar with it could I please ask a couple of questions about iPhoto Libraries just to check that it has done what you might expect?

It has 39,500 photos, 5,400 in trash and 20,000 in various albums that I have created.

I have probably done it wrong over the years by loading pictures onto my Mac and then importing them into iPhoto but what is interesting is that my original folders only have about 22,000 pictures. So question 1 is can you think of any simple reason for there being such a big difference between 39,500 and 22,000?

Q2 I think I can guess the answer. Are there less pictures in the albums that the total number of photos simply because I haven't put them all into folders?

And lastly, are the photos in trash all the duplicates that it has found in the main library?

Finally an interesting outcome. A number of events in iPhoto appear to be blank and empty. However.......in iMovie all the events have photos in. That suggests that the fault is somewhere in the way that iPhoto is pulling pictures in rather than being a problem with the underlying data but that is way beyond my technical abilities😁

David

Reply

Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,098 points

Jan 27, 2016 11:15 AM in response to DavidO198

I didn't do anything beyond downloading iPhoto Libraries using your link. It has done some stuff that looks promising

If you only dowloaded the iPhoto Library Manager app (is that what you're referring to as "iPhoto Libraries"?) then it will have done nothing. If it has "done some stuff" then you've done more than download it. I'm don't mean to be picky here, but solving these issues does rely on some amount of accuracy.

It has 39,500 photos, 5,400 in trash and 20,000 in various albums that I have created.

What has?

Let's clear up some stuff:

1. iPhoto has a Library. It cannot show you anything not in the Library. In the Library you have Events and Albums that can hold pictures. Folders in iPhoto can obtain albums but they cannot contain photos alone.

2. The Finder had Folders that can hold pictures.

So you need to describe what's going on using that terminology

Reply

Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

216,536 points

Jan 27, 2016 12:25 PM in response to DavidO198

Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library

1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch. Click on the Add Library button,

2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.

3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.

4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option

5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. Click on the Create button.

Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.

Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

Reply

Answer 5

DavidO198 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 28, 2016 7:34 AM in response to Old Toad

Thank you both.

I apologise for not being precise enough. I am a novice on these things which is why I need help when the machine does something unexpected!

I downloaded iPhotomanager from here http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ I didn't do anything else. I didn't choose any libraries etc. What it appears to have done is to replicate exactly what is in my original iPhoto - events with missing pictures and complete Albums. What iPhoto appears to have done is to split some, but not all, of my original Events into 2 Events. 1 Event has the pictures I think it should have, the other Event has pictures of the same name that are blank (squares with dashes around but with no picture inside).

I suppose I could wade through the whole lot and delete the duplicates by hand but that seems a bit tedious......

I tried to follow OTs suggestion. When I clicked on Add Library it didn't make any suggestions!

Terence, all my referneces to "it" mean iPhoto Manager.

I originally set up a folder called Pictures into which I put all my pictures. Yes I was even less knowledgeable then! I then imported them from there into iPhoto which now holds copies in its own Library. The one advantage of that set up is that I can compare total numbers of pictures in the two places to see if they are close and get some comfort that I am not misplacing pictures.

David

Reply

Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,098 points

Jan 28, 2016 8:48 AM in response to DavidO198

I downloaded iPhotomanager from here http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ I didn't do anything else.

Given this:

I didn't choose any libraries etc. What it appears to have done is to replicate exactly what is in my original iPhoto - events with missing pictures and complete Albums.

You have at least installed it and started it, no?

It hasn't replicated anything. It's just reading the Library file, showing you what's going on in the Library.

Don't you have a back up?

Reply

Answer 7

DavidO198 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 28, 2016 9:30 AM in response to Yer_Man

I downloaded it, it came up in Finder and I clicked on it. I then got distracted for a while and when I came back some time later iPhotoManager was in my Dock and pictures were loaded up.

Yes I have got Time Machine running although that seems wierd. There is a time line on the right of the screen that bulges to the left as you run the cursor over it but when I click on a day, say 21 January as that was before all the mess with iPhoto, and nothing happens, Time Machine won't go to a back up before.

When I say replicate I mean it has delivered exactly the same outcome as iPhoto. Duplicate pictures in Events. For example there might be a picture called Mummy 1 in an Event called School that is fine. iPhoto has created another Event called School with a picture called the same (Mummy 1) but instead of showing a picture it is just a dashed outline of a square with nothing in it. Where that picture called Mummy 1 is in an Album it shows up fine and there are no blank pictures called Mummy 1.

Unfortunately It is beyond my technical ability to search the IPhotos Master Folder to see if there is more than one photo called Mummy 1. I know how to use Show Package Contents in Finder but when I use Finder's Find Files function on the Master Folder it doesn't return any results from the Master Folder. So I can't easily find out if the problem is a duplication of the picture in the Master Folder or if there is some problem when iPhoto creates the Events

Reply

Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,098 points

Jan 28, 2016 12:21 PM in response to DavidO198

When I say replicate I mean it has delivered exactly the same outcome as iPhoto

As I said, it has delivered nothing, just read the Librar file. It has made no changes, duplicated nothing or anything else.

Try follow Old Toad's suggestion.

Reply