Can't transfer iPhoto Library FROM external hard drive to iMac

I just bought a new iMac.  Before I said goodbye to my old computer (a MacBook), I dutifully backed up my iPhoto library onto an external hard drive.  Upon setting up my iMac, I easily accessed the iPhoto library on my HD, but I didn't import it.  I was able to see all photos, albums, etc.
But when I went to import the entire iPhoto library into my iMac's hard drive (into the Pictures folder), it wouldn't import.  A mesage comes up that says "Preparing to copy" and the blue-and-white bar just spins and spins, without actually copying anything.  So, it's weird -- there's clearly communication between iMac and external HD, but I can't take the iPhoto library off the hard drive to make it my new computer's iPhoto library.
Any hints?  Thanks.

Have you tried restarting your machine?

Similar Messages

  • Can't open iphoto library from external hard drive

    I'm backing up my enormous iPhoto library to two external hard drives in order to free up space on my computer. Before deleting the photos permanently from the laptop, I wanted to double-check that the copies of the library I made on the two externals would actually work on another computer, should something happen to my laptop. When I plug my external hard drive into my laptop and use option+click on iPhoto to choose which library I want to use, it opens up the library from the external just fine, no problems. However, when I plug the same external into a different Mac computer and do the same process, I get the immensely frustrating message of "You can't open photo library blah blah blah changes have been made using newer version of iPhoto". However, both my laptop and the second computer are running the exact same version of iPhoto (the most recent), so that can't (or at least shouldn't) be the problem. I found suggestions to rebuild the library, which I did, but the same result occurs. I double-checked to be sure that neither computer needed updates (they didn't).
    When I plug one of the externals into the second computer, though, I can open up the package contents of iPhoto library and all the photos are visible, so I know the information is all there. But I don't want to lose my albums, etc.
    So do I just delete the copies of my library from the externals and try it all over again? I'd prefer not to, since I have 40,000+ photos, and that takes a while.

    To reinforce what Larry pointed out both Macs must be running the same version of iPhoto.  And the external HD must be formatted as shown in this screenshot:
    and don't forget the ignore ownership.
    OT

  • Need to transfer iphoto library to external hard drive

    need to transfer iphoto library to external passport drive. It will not let me drag and drop

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    The external drive is formatted in NTFS, a format that OS X can't write in. You have to erase the external disk.
    First, open Finder, choose the external drive in the sidebar, under "Devices", and copy all the content of your external drive to another folder like Desktop.
    Then, follow these steps to format the external drive in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as Format > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html Finally, drag the iPhoto library to the external drive

  • Can't access iPhoto library on external hard drive (from Mavericks days) now that I'm running Yosemite on my Macbook.

    I have an iPhoto library on an external hard drive (from when I had Mavericks), but now that I've upgraded to Yosemite, "Photos" won't open my iPhoto library. Ideas for how to import that iPhoto Library into Photos?

    "Photos" won't open my iPhoto library. Ideas for how to import that iPhoto Library into Photos?
    What is the file system of the external drive, and how is the drive connected?  DO you get an error message? If yes, which message?
    You can only open a library on a directly connected drive, formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled).  If the drive is correctly formatted, hold down the alt/options key while you are launching photos, and then select your library from the Library Chooser Panel.
    If the library is not listed in the panel, use the "Other Library" button.

  • Copying saved iphoto library from external hard drive back to Macbook Pro

    Please help, I have accidentally managed to permanently delete my iphoto library and by this I mean that I somehow dragged my library into trash and then emptied it.  I don't know how this happend but I quite quickly found out I had done it and shut my computer down.  I have since done a recovery with disk drill and have hopefully recovered most of my photos though I havent had time to look through all the 1000's of photos yet.  I do have a copied version of my library on an external hard drive that I did in 2012 and I have tried to copy this library back to my pictures folder so i at least have my photos up to 2012 back but it is not working.  I have read through some of the threads on here regarding iphoto library back ups and I think the issue might be that the external hard drive is formatted Fat32 and not os extended.
    I am hoping someone can help me get this working.  Here are the facts.
    1.  I am running iphoto 11, version 9.2.3 on a macbook pro running os x 10.6.8
    2. The copied iphoto library is on an external hard drive that is fat32 formatted.  I can open the package contents and see the originals folder with all the yearly folders inside and all the numbered folders inside that with the pictures in them, so I know the pictures are there.
    3.  If I try to copy the library folder over to the pictures folder on the macbook i just get a pop up window saying 'preparing to copy iphoto library' and the scrolling bar but the copy doesn't actually start.
    4.  If I try to open the library through iphoto by holidng down the option key, iphoto tells me that the library has to be upgraded but i am reluctant to upgrade the original copy of the library.  I would prefer to copy it first in case anything goes wrong but then i have the problem above that the copy doesn't work
    Thank you in advance for any help.

    The copied iphoto library is on an external hard drive that is fat32 formatted.
    Therein lies the problem.  iPhoto libraries need to be stored, placed on a disk formatted OS X Extended (journaled).  The FAT format doesn't support the complexity of an iPhoto library and can, and more often than not, corrupt a library.
    Try the following:
    Using iPhoto Library Manager  to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
    1 - download the free version of 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, i.e. in the Pictures folder of your MBP. 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.
    OT

  • Backing up iPhoto Library from external hard drive through ChronoSync to Time Capsule

    I have a 2008, 2GB Mac Mini.  I moved my iTunes library, which is mostly movies, to a 4 TB My Book Studio, as it exceeded the space on my Mac.  I  back up my computer to a 2 TB Time Capsule.  I exclude the My Book Studio from being backed up on the Time Capsule as it takes up all the space due to the iTunes library.  I am wanting to move my iPhoto library as it is starting to take up to much memory on my Mac also.
    My question is, if I move my iPhoto library to the My Book Studio, then get an application such as ChronoSync (or an App that will do incremental back ups & not do a completely new back up each time) to automatically back up my iPhoto library to my Time Capsule, can I set it to specifically bak up the library off the external hard drive, or will it only back up info that is stored on my Mac?
    Thanks!

    Thanks Terence!!!  I received a reply back from Chronosync.  I will be purchasing their app......it sounds pretty slick
    Here is their reply to the same question I asked here:
    ChronoSync Express will back up the contents of whatever volume or folder you target as your source target to the volume or folder you choose as the destination target. As long as you can access the volume or folder via Finder of your Mac, ChronoSync Express can access it as well. You can create a sync document that targets your iPhoto library and nothing else on the My Book Studio and backs it up to the Time Capsule then schedule it to run automatically.  

  • Can't Open iPhoto Library on External Hard Drive

    Hi, please help!
    I currently have 2 iPhoto libraries. 1 is on my external hard drive- and isn't recognized by iPhoto anymore. And the other is a newer one, on my internal hard drive.
    Here's what I did:
    I copied my entire iPhoto library to my external hard drive (it is a Seagate, Mac OS extended drive) a few months ago, and I went ahead and deleted my iPhoto library on my internal hard drive. Then I started importing new photos from my camera, and a new iphoto library was created automatically on my internal hard drive.
    I tried to access photos from my old library yesterday by plugging my external hard drive in, and by hitting the "option" key when opening iphoto. Unfortunately, when I search for the library on my external HD, the only items that appear are music. None of my loose photos or my iphoto library are recognized by iPhoto.
    Anyone have a fix for this? iPhoto doesn't recognize that any jpgs/photos are on my hard drive, but when I go through finder- I can see my library, as well as many other jpgs stored on my hard drive.

    Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
    Sounds like iPhoto is not seeing a valid database there.
    Try these in order - from best option on down...
    1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
    2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords 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.
    3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
    To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
    Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
    In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
    Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
    Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
    Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
    When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
    In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
    Regards
    TD

  • How do I transfer iphoto library to external hard drive keeping events intact?

    Had a one to one session but forgot how to do this. I would like to transfer my iphoto library to an external hard drive keeping the folders and events intact. I figured out how to send all my photos to the hard drive but they all transfer in single images, if that makes sense, and then i have to go thru all of the 15,000 images by hand and sort them into folders. Ahhhhhhh!
    When they showed me how to do this at apple I am able to open my external hard drive and see a folder labled 'iphotolibrary" and  I am able to click it open and then all my events show up just like in iphoto library.
    Also does your iphoto library "Trash" take up space on your HD? Forgve me if thats a dumb question but I am kind of a computer "dummy".
    thanks so much. My hard drive has VERY little space left on it so I need to transfer ASAP.

    I just posted this to another topic, but it applies here as well. Hopefully there's no prohibition on cross-posting on this board, my apologies to all if there is:
    "I haven't read the whole thread, so someone could have already mentioned this, but I did the same thing, move my music library to an external drive. The Help articles are helpful, but only up to a point. When that didn't work, I called up AppleCare support up, and they took me through all the standard steps, and got stumped at the same point I did. Finally she suggested trying something, and that ended up doing the trick. So here in brief is what you do:
    1) Copy over your "iTunes Music" folder to the external hard drive
    2) Go into Advanced preferences to have iTunes look for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. If you're like me, your music won't appear in the Library.
    3) In iTunes, go to the Library window (which is probably blank), then in a Finder window, find the icon for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. Drag that icon onto the Library window.
    You should now see a progress window pop up showing all the songs that it's populating the Library window with."
    20" Intel iMac 14" iBook G4, 233 MHz Beige G3   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

  • Tried to reinstall iPhoto library from external hard drive, it shows that the photos and events are there but there are no thumbnails and if you click on an image or video nothing comes up.

    My hard drive crashed recently and we took it to apple to get repaired. The apple employees said that they would have to replace the hard drive but they didn't have the equipment to get the data off my hard drive. So I took it to a computer store who had the right equipment after a month and a half of waiting they finally got all the data off my hard drive and put it on an external hard drive (Seagate Expansion Portable Drive). I then took it back to apple who replaced the hard drive. Now I'm in the process of reinstalling everything. I have never done a Time Machine back up or backed my laptop up to . Which I now will do very often once I've reinstalled everything. I have reinstalled all of my desktop images and folders as well as my iTunes library with no issues. However when i went to reinstall my iPhoto library it came up blank. I then Rebuilt the library several times and this was the result.
    It shows that the photos and events are there but there are no thumbnails and if you click on an image or video nothing comes up.
    Please help i have three years worth of images from holidays on here and would be devastated if i lost them.

    iPhoto cannot find the thumbnails or the original pictures.
    Go to your iPhoto Library in the Pictures Folder.
    Right-click on it and from the resulting menu, choose 'Show Package Contents'.
    This will bring you inside the iPhoto Library package. There you should see a Folder called Masters. Within that, there should be folder containing your actual photos.
    Are they there?

  • How do I transfer iTunes Library from external hard drive to another drive?

    I have filled by 160GB drive with my iTunes music library so I am purchasing a 400GB external drive. I want to transfer the entire library to the bigger drive. Can I simply drag via fire wire then entire libarary to the new drive and then "tell" by iTunes Mac where it is? Any step by step would be appreciated.
    Thank you.

    I just posted this to another topic, but it applies here as well. Hopefully there's no prohibition on cross-posting on this board, my apologies to all if there is:
    "I haven't read the whole thread, so someone could have already mentioned this, but I did the same thing, move my music library to an external drive. The Help articles are helpful, but only up to a point. When that didn't work, I called up AppleCare support up, and they took me through all the standard steps, and got stumped at the same point I did. Finally she suggested trying something, and that ended up doing the trick. So here in brief is what you do:
    1) Copy over your "iTunes Music" folder to the external hard drive
    2) Go into Advanced preferences to have iTunes look for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. If you're like me, your music won't appear in the Library.
    3) In iTunes, go to the Library window (which is probably blank), then in a Finder window, find the icon for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. Drag that icon onto the Library window.
    You should now see a progress window pop up showing all the songs that it's populating the Library window with."
    20" Intel iMac 14" iBook G4, 233 MHz Beige G3   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

  • Can't restore itunes library from external hard drive

    Prior to my hard drive crashing, I dragged my entire itunes folder (with all sub folders) to a firelite external hard drive. I replaced the power book HD, and I want to put my backed up library on the new HD. I dragged the folder from the firelite to the music folder (in place of the itunes folder that was already there). Unfortunately, the itunes library is still empty. Am I missing something?

    Yes, the relative location is the same, the user account has the same short and long lame as before.
    I did try to use the preferences to point to the backed up itunes folder. Once when it was on the eHD and once when I put it in the music folder. Unfortunatley no luck.
    I will try your idea about using "Consolidate Library"
    One other interesting thing I tried a few days ago was to follow the procedure outlined in the apple support section about restoring the library. It has you move the libray xml file to the desk top, trashing one of the other files (I forgot which) and then choosing the xml file placed on the desk top upon starting itunes. I thought it was kind of odd to select the very xml file I was having trouble with so I chose the backed up xml file. It put all of the playlist folders back in duplicate, but the library was still empty (probably becuase the xml file is just a reference file and I hadn't loaded any actual music files) If the consolidate doesn't work, mabye I'll try that again, but also put the folder with the actual files on the computer as well
    I'll let you know how "Consolidate" works, thanks for your suggestions!

  • Transfer music back from external hard drive to iMac

    I currently have an iMac and have an external hard drive connected to it that holds all my music, movies etc.  However, I am concerned that if the external hard drive fails then I will have lost my media.  As such, I would like to store everything directly on the imac and back it up to time machine.  It is a long time since I have set up my existing system and I am unsure how to get the media onto the imac.  Advice on this would be very welcome.  Thanks

    I don't know what your layout is on the external drive. The "formal" hierarchy for iTunes is:
    /Home/Music/iTunes
    /Home/Music/imm Media
    /Home/Music/iTunes Playlists
    You need to drag each of those folders to the corresponding locations on your startup volume. Then open iTunes while depressing the OPTION key in order to tell iTunes the change in location.
    How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
    iTunes 10 for Mac- Move items to another computer

  • Had to restore iPhoto library from external hard drive.  Key Photos Blank!

    Photos seem to be there, but the key photos are either blank or all have the same one photo.  How can I restore the key photo setting to automatically use the first photo in each group?
    Is there anything else I need to do to formalize this process and get iphoto running normally again?
    Thanks!

    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. Include the option to rebuild the thumbnails - it can take three or four goes to work.

  • Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup.  Error message:  The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

    Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup.  Error message:  The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

    That code is
    -36
    ioErr
    I/O error (bummers)
    Make sure the EHD is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and run Disk Utilty on the EHD and repair the disk.  If that fails to help I'd try the following:
    Using iPhoto Library Manager  to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
    Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
    Click on the Add Library button,                         
    navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
    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
    In the next  window name the new library and select the external HD as the location of the newly rebild library.
    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.
    OT

  • Can't read iPhoto library from external drive

    I suddenly can't can't read iPhoto library from external drive. I have talked to WD and nohing is wrong with the network drive. I can open images and files from it. But, I can't read in iPhoto Library.

    Network Drive? a NAS?
    iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
    Basically, you need to move the library to a correctly formatted disk.

Maybe you are looking for