Zip file won't open

Question

I have lost a few photos transfering files from the macbook g3 iphoto to the aluminum macbook and iphoto 8.0.4. The info (name, size, date) are visible but no photo. I was short of space in the ibook so I backed up iphoto on a thumb drive and 'archived it' into a .zip file. This file will not open in the macbook. (Error 1 operation not allowed). The file is 516 mb zipped. The ibook has 1.75gb available on 10 gb HD but part way thru the unarchiving process it announces the startup disc is almost full and then the ibook screen goes black. Any idea how to get at this data.

Answer 1

Some of the issues you relate to may have something to do with
the differences in iPhoto versions and the possibility of their being
not so directly compatible when moving images the way have did.
The compressed file should be transferred unopened to a larger
external hard disk drive or somewhere the file can be put on to
a DVD or other media, should the lack of free space in which
to open & view the compressed file be a problem in a hard drive.
Although it may not help the situation, there also are other
unarchiver software types out there which could also open
the compressed file; but only if there is adequate space in
the location (or another location can be selected) to do so.
The Unarchiver - an alternative to BOMArchiveHelper. app:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/theunarchiver.html
The problem sounds more complex, perhaps, than it is;
or maybe it really is complex due to how you have made
this archive of the iPhoto image library from the older
iBook (? you say Macbook G3) and its iPhoto version.
Accessing the jpg images should be relatively easy if they
are not messed up in some odd copy of the actual iPhoto
version from the older OS. This is where your description
is a bit lost on me. There is a way to make backups and
also copies of the iPhoto libraries themselves; but there
have been some issues (supposedly addressed) in how
older iPhoto images were seen - or not, by the newer
version of iPhoto.
If there is not enough free space in a computer to open
a large compressed file (and run the apps, swap files
and other Virtual Memory the computer needs to work)
then the file should be opened elsewhere.
A computer's hard disk drive, where the system resides,
should never be more than 80% full. Mine are 50% full.
Backups to DVDs of images, music and other works in
progress could be made to safeguard them. Some types
of libraries may not be the best way to do this; in the case
of my own images, I do not use iPhoto. My jpg and other
images are saved by date into folders, by year; any edits
are saved in their own folder in the date folder, direct from
the camera into a new folder on the desktop. One of my
favorite apps is ToyViewer for image editing, a freeware.
{My edits also are not very complex since I try to duplicate
my skills as a film photographer, in the new digital world.
Photoshop & other alterations take away from experience.
If I were to take 10 hours painting my images fantastic, I
could hardly justify not just taking up fine art. I can do it.
Simple resizings, rotations and rename images= editing.}
Please explain in more detail about the way the image in
the older computer were archived, and where; and what
they were a part of. I don't know if I understand correctly.
PS: If the image file you compressed (assuming it is only
images and not part of the older iPhoto app) you could
try to see if using FireWire target disk mode could be used
to get the files direct from the iBook hard drive into another
computer; not sure what MacBook you have, some new
ones lost the FireWire ports. The compressed file could
be moved from iBook to another computer & opened there.
Good luck & happy computing!
edited.