I have thumbnails, but no photos

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Level 1

5 points

I have thumbnails, but no photos

Hi, I recently downloaded 2,400 photos from my iPhone 6 to my MacBook OSX 10.9.5 into iPhoto 9.5.1. I have thumbnails of every single photo, but around the 1500/2400 photo, I start missing large chunks of photo files. If I search for the file from my desktop, my Mac will find an image, but no file. It's odd. And as iPhoto stores the picture files in the most obscure location, I have n easy way of browsing (or even finding) the original files. The worst part is, because I needed to clear space on my phone, I had iPhoto delete the pictures off my phone after the download. Any have advice on how to find the actual photo files, not just the thumbnails? I have tried every repair Apple's help page has described. Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Feb 3, 2017 6:13 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,972 points

Feb 3, 2017 6:25 AM in response to ksaracco

1. You might as well prepare yourself for the worst. it's possible these photos were not properly imported.

2. To find out if they were

Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

Look there for a Folder called 'Masters'. The folders within are named for date and time of import. Sort on recent and the ones you imported will show at the top.

Can you find the missing photos in those folders?

That's pretty much a yes or no answer. If they are there don't do anything and post back, we can figure out how to get them showing in iPhoto.

If they are not you can try some file recovery software for the phone - ask on an iPhone forum about that.

Going forward:

Never let your computer erase data without you first checking that the data is safe. Specifically never use iPhoto (or any other app) to delete the photos from your Camera Card or Phone. Disconnect the camera, check the transfer has gone correctly and then use your Camera to Reformat the Card. This has three advantages:

1. You know your data is safe - because you've taken the time to check it.

2. Reformatting the card is much, much faster - takes a couple of seconds

3. Reformatting also refreshes the Directory Structure on the Card, helping prevent issues with the card and prolonging its life.

In the case of an iPhone you can mass delete using Image Capture (in the Applications Folder)

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