FAT32 Photo Library Corrupted

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Level 1

8 points

FAT32 Photo Library Corrupted

Hi, pretty catastrophic issue here with my iPhoto and Photos library.

Having had both my iPhoto and Photos Library stored on an external Hard drive (since I'm on a 120GB MacBook Air) to save space. All worked well until recently.

Currently, all my photos and videos bar the most recent import(s) cannot be found - Photos is only displaying the thumbnail of them.

Within the masters folder, all these images and videos are zero bytes. The photos library was still saying 55GB (the total size of photos library) but when attempting to copy to a new a location, only 9.77GB is copied and also takes three to four times the normal copy rate. NB: 9.77GB is the total of all the images and videos of the most recent import(s) which are still okay.

The only mistake I can seem to recall is that I moved my iPhotos and Photos Library to a FAT32 formatted partition on my External Hard drive. The imports I have done since having it located on a FAT32 format drive are the only ones not corrupted, all previous photos and videos are the affected.

Ive tried all of repairing and rebuilding the library but to no avail...

When viewing the corrupted images and videos in Photos library, they won't load. However video thumbnails still indicate the duration of the videos, and when I right click --> get info --> the file indicates it is of the original size i.e. 66MB. However, in the master folder, right click --> get info on any corrupted photo or video - size indicates zero bytes.

Since I've got my iPhotos and photos library on an external hard drive I have no Time Machine Backup of them. I know its a very stupid mistake to copy library to FAT32, but I wasn't aware of the risks.

Any help, clarification of my issue etc would be so so appreciated.

Thanks all.

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Apr 26, 2016 5:10 AM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Apr 26, 2016 6:54 AM in response to Finnif

Unfortunately you did use an incorrectly formatted drive and that will not work

If your library will not work and you have no backup ( that is another really bad decision) then you have what you have - the bet you can do is create a new library Hold down the option key while launching Photos and create a new library) on a correct formatted drive (the Photos library must be on a volume formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) that is directly connected with a fast wired connection like USB, FireWire or ThunderBolt, must always be available prior to photos being launched and can not be used as a time Machine backup voume - and of course you must have it being backed up someway - Time Machine is a good way

Once yu have a library on a correct volume drag the bas library to that volume, right click and show package contents - copy the Masters foder to the disk and them importe the photos from the Masters folder to the new library

LN

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Answer 2

Finnif Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 26, 2016 6:56 AM in response to LarryHN

Thanks for the reply Larry. Couple of pretty simple yet awful mistakes, so will be looking into hard drive recovery now, to see what I can rescue from the drive..

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,495 points

Apr 26, 2016 7:20 AM in response to Finnif

Within the masters folder, all these images and videos are zero bytes

What is the size of the corresponding images in the Previews folder? The Previews can have a decent pixel size. If the previews are not reduced to 0 Bytes as well you may be able to recover some of your photos from these folders.

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Answer 4

Finnif Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 26, 2016 8:10 AM in response to léonie

Hi Leonie,

Previews are photos that display as a snapshot of a video file - some are zero bytes, some are not corrupted. However, it would seem these are not of much use to me being that they are just stills taken from my videos..

I may add that the corruption of photos and videos seems to be sporadic, with the majority being effected.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,495 points

Apr 26, 2016 8:15 AM in response to Finnif

Your edited photos will also have preview images. They will be better than nothing, if the original master images are mising completely.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Apr 27, 2016 1:47 AM in response to Finnif

See if you can access the Master/Original files as describers below in order to create a new library from scratch:

Starting Over From Scratch With a New Photos Library.

1 - launch Photos with the Option key held down and create a new library on your boot drive.

2 - open your old library package on the FAT32 drive with the Finder as shown in this screenshot:

3 - locate the Master folder in the old library and drag it onto the Photos icon in the Dock.

This will create a new library with the same Moments as the original library but will not include 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.

Once the import is complete verify that the new library has all of your photos and working properly before deleting the older, problem library.

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Answer 7

Finnif Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 27, 2016 1:50 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi Old Toad,

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried this but unfortunately only the photos and videos which are not corrupted import, which is around 1700 out of 3000 odd photos and videos. However, a good way a to create a new photos library from was wasn't effected..

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