Corrupted Photos on iphoto

I have been working on organizing my pictures in iphoto for several weeks however today when I got on the computer, many photos show a black screen and a white exclamation mark and I cant access the picture. It has done this so atleast half of my photos. I am not sure what to do.. help!

The ! turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents.
What version of iPhoto? Assuming 09 or later
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 Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
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

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Corrupted Photo Hides iPhoto Library from other iLife apps

I was recently using iMovie HD to create a movie for church and wanted to insert some still images given to me by the pastor. I imported the images into iPhoto, but found that iMovie reported that I needed to "Launch iPhoto 2 or later to populate this list."
I am a regular user of iPhoto 6 for my own personal needs, and have launched it dozens of times on my computer, so this puzzled me. I checked the help files and found under the article entitled "I don't see any photos in the Photos pane," which simply says that I must be using iPhoto 4 or higher and have opened iPhoto at least once, both of which are true, but I relaunched iPhoto just in case, but to no avail.
Checking to see if the problem was with iMovie, I found that I also had no access to my photos from iDVD, so the problem seems to be with iPhoto.
I also checked out Apple's support database, and found the article at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75491, "iLife: Cannot See iPhoto Files in Other iLife Applications." Following these instructions, including the recreation of the XML file, yielded no positive results.
After some experimenting with iPhoto/iMovie on other computers and in other accounts, I found that when I imported a particular set of pictures was when the pictures disappeared from iMovie. I tried deleting these pictures from my own main iPhoto library, but the problem was not solved. I finally found out that once the corrupted photo had been imported into iPhoto, nothing I would do would allow the iPhoto pictures to be viewable from other applications.
I eventually solved this by renaming my iPhoto library, using GraphicConverter to convert the suspect files in batch mode and importing the converted files into a new iPhoto library. This at least allowed me to get the movie finished, but I now have two iPhoto libraries on my computer, only one of which is visible to other iLife applications.
I found out that if I held down some keys while launching iPhoto, I would be given the option to rebuild the iPhoto library using four checkboxes: Rebuild small thumbnails, Rebuild all thumbnails, Rebuild Library database and recover orphaned photos. I've done all four to no effect.
So, after all of that, my final question is, is it possible to restore my iPhoto library such that I can again access it from other iLife applications without losing the many albums I've created?
Thanks,
Chuck

So far, no go with iPhoto Library Manager, although the program and the help files that come with it have suggested some leads.
First of all, when I open iPhoto Library Manager, it reports:
The album data file for this library is malformed.
XML parser errors:
Encountered unexpected character k on line 59525
Old-style plist parser error:
Malformed data byte group at line 1; invalid hex
So I opened AlbumData.xml in BBEdit and checked out line 59525 (as suggested by the iPhoto Library Manager help files) and found that it looked like this:
<string> <key>274</key>
Above it is the line:
<key>771</key>
Most <key><string> pairs look like this:
<key>XXX</key>
<string>KeywordName</string>
So for some reason, the problem line isn't closing the string tag. I tried editing the keyword that came after the problem line, but it didn't fix the parse error. From what I can tell, manually editing the AlbumData.xml file won't solve the problem, as iPhoto only writes to it for other applications, and doesn't read it. The next time I launch iPhoto, it would simply write the same data.
I also checked for the string 771 in the file as that's the keyword ID that appears before the parse error, but it's only found in relation to an album and a roll.
Because of this, iPhoto Library Manager can't rebuild the library. However, the help files do offer the author's email address, and it's obvious that he's spent time looking into this type of problem (the help files describe exactly the problem behavior I'm having with the error message seen in iMovie). So I'm going to zip up the AlbumData.xml file and send it to him. While I do that, I may look through the keywords more closely and see if any of them look like they have suspect characters. Perhaps renaming them will solve the problem.
Of course, this keyword clue doesn't explain why importing un-keyworded photos would cause the problem in the first place, but if I can get it fixed, I'll be happy.

Corrupted photos in iPhoto

Hello,
So I have had some problems with some photos in my iPhoto library appearing to be corrupted somehow. I have tried to research the problem and fixes with no success. I shoot in RAW format with a Nikon D5100. Any information on what could be causing these errors to appear on my pictures in iPhoto and/or ways to fix them would be highly appreciated. Here is somewhat of an example of the problem I have been having. I would also like to not that not all corrupted pictures look just like this one, the lines may be in different places and colors may be different as well in other pictures with errors.
Thank you.

Odd. I've shot with both the 5000 and the 5200 and have seen no such issues.
Try switch to another user account and import a couple of raws, see if they repeat the problem.

URGENT - Corrupt photo file

Can anyone help with the following error message :
Unable to Assemble Book
There is a problem with the photo with the file name "DSC_0090.JPG" The full resolution version of this photo either cannot be located or is corrupt. Please replace the photo or delete it from you book.
My problem is that this photo is not even in my book and I have tried to delete it and reload another copy but am still getting this annoying message.

Finally I could order the photo book. I figured out, that you cant't open these "corrupt" files in iPhoto: you get a big "?" on black background when you open these pictures in iPhoto (e.g. Events). But I could open without problems the "corrupt" files in the iPhoto library (in Apple Finder). So what I did is: "repair" these "corrupt" photos by reimporting these files into iPhoto (got doubles) and then deleted the "corrupt" ones from iPhoto. After doing the same within the photo book, everything worked fine.
The question remains: how did I get these "corrupt" photos in iPhoto? The process of rebuilding the iPhoto databases (press alt-cmd at start of iPhoto) somehow did not work.

I reinstalled my system on a new hard drive, from time machine. However my old photos seem corrupt within aperture. iphoto seems okay. Have you heard of this?

I reinstalled my system on a new hard drive, from time machine. However my old photos seem corrupt within aperture. iphoto seems okay. New photos take a long time to load as well.
Have you heard of this?
Thanks

We need a little more information to be able to help.
However my old photos seem corrupt within aperture.
What kind of corruption? And when do you see it? All your images, or only some? Are the images distorted, discolored, or not displayed at all?
Are you shooting in raw? Is your library referenced or managed? Is your library on your system volume or on an external harddrive?
And it would help to know your MacOS version and Aperture version too.
Regards
Léonie

IPhoto 6 corrupted photos

Here I am back 2 yrs later with the same problem that has never been solved and is only worse now. i photo continues to corrupt photos and they become only available as little thumbnails. Trying to rebuild is impossible because of individual Alert msg. that orig item cannot be found. This becomes daunting because there are probably 1200 to 1500 lost. Trying to create and populate a new library takes immense patience too because there are over 500 rolls some with only one photo in them. 2/3's of original photos are on DVD but many aren't. I use Super Duper to an external hard drive and have found out that the backup has just replicated the latest corruption every time I backup "newer files". I should mention that if I ever search via spotlight or search window in iphoto6 for a photo that has been corrupted that once it starts it makes me go through individually searching for every photo and won't let me out until I finally have to shut down the hard drive. TD was helping me b4. Anybody have any new ideas? Thanks

I'm sorry but you're not explaining how iPhoto is corrupting photos. What you're describing is how the database file is damaged and it's too long to fix?
The solution to the problem is one of the problem regardless of the time it takes:
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 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 6* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
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 on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Roll 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

IPhoto 11 upgrade corrupted photos, Photo showing up black white outlines

I am going to post in the iPhoto and Time Machine forums. I tried to upgrade to the iPhoto 11, and bunch of my photos are now showing up blank with white outlines. I would only say that about half of my photos between July 4th and when I did the upgrade are showing up in this manner.
I went back to iPhoto 9 and tried to restore my iPhoto Library back to the point just before I upgraded. When I go into iPhoto "Browse backup" it still shows the the photos blank with white outlines. Also on the right side of Time Machine there are only white bars until Nov 17th. The bars before then are gray. What does this mean?
Any suggestions on how to recover the corrupt photos?

Are you sure the photos are corrupt? Sounds like the thumbnails need to be rebuilt to me: 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.
Regards
TD

Importing photos from iphoto to aperture causes blacks to turn blue. color corruption?

I have a large library of jpg photos in iPhoto 11 v 9.3.1 and imported the library into aperture 3.3.1
After importing to aperture, the thumbnails all look normal, but when I view the photos in full size, pure black is turning blue and pure whites are turning red.
is there a setting that i'm missing or do i need to prepare the iphoto library before importing to aperture to prevent this problem?
Has anyone else had this happen?
The original masters all look normal when viewed in the finder, so it seems like a problem with aperture.

To add to Kirby's excellent advice: Depending on the layout of your keyboard or your own command settings, the "Highlight Hot & Cold Areas" may be bound to a different key; You see the key when you select the command directly from the "View" menu. On my machine - with a german keyboard- the key is much more complicated "⇧⌥H" :
Regards
Léonie

I was backing up my iPhone and importing photos onto iPhoto at the same time , then suddenly it says no more space available (i had 48GB before i do this and now i have 18GB) i can't find the back up or the photo anywhere , how can i delete them ?

i was backing up my iPhone and importing photos onto iPhoto at the same time , then suddenly it says no more space available (i had 48GB before i do this and now i have 18GB) i can't find the back up or the photo anywhere , how can i delete them ? i dont need the pictures or the back ups , i want to delete them but they are not there

Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown asBackups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Reboot and it should go away.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
If you have more than one user account, make sure you're logged in as an administrator. The administrator account is the one that was created automatically when you first set up the computer.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders, sorted by size with the largest at the top. It may take a few minutes for ODS to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

I cannot upload photos from iPhoto 9 to Flikr. When I attempt to do so, I get the message "the login details or auth token passed were invalid." Please help.

I cannot upload photos from iPhoto 9 to Flikr. When I try, I get the message "the login details or auth token passed were invalid." I am using iPhoto 9 version 8.1.2, and my OS is 10.9.5. My computer is a MacBook Pro. I do not have this trouble with my iMac. This trouble started before I updated to OS10.9.5. I do not have this problem when uploading to FaceBook or sending by e-mail.
This problem started when I tried to upload some photos after hitting the "use other account" tab. This took me to a Flikr site asking me for permission to make my iPhoto information available to others. I clicked "yes," and then I changed my mind and clicked "no." I haven't been able to upload to Flikr since.
I searched Flikr and Yahoo for a solution, and Yahoo says the trouble is in iPhoto. I checked my Flikr account, and iPhoto extensions are enabled.
I need to upload some school and alumni photos, so I sure could use some help. I am Not computer proficient. Thank you.

1. You did not get an error message telling you that your iPhoto library was getting full. You got a message telling you that your HD was getting full, right?
OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on.
Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially.
Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do.
Purchase an external HD and move your Photos and Music to it. Both iPhoto and iTunes can run perfectly well with the Library on an external disk.
Your Library has been damaged from being run on an overfull disk.
How much free space on it now?

I would like to move my photos in iPhoto to my NAS?

I would like to move my photos in iPhoto to my NAS.
Some state simply drag and drop it then point iPhoto to the new Location
quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive
Some say it isn't possible.
Unless the NAS is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) you will not be able to run the iPhoto library on it
I am not particularly fussed about other users seeing it, I just want it off my iMac? I am using iphoto 9.5.1. its a synology DS213J NAS.
thanks,
ooops think i am in the wrong section, if someone can move it then great. apologies.

for anyone else reading this, this is what I was told in the other forum.
iPhoto is problematic with referenced original files, because iphoto has no tools to recover from broken references, but Aperture has been designed to handle referenced images and libraries distributed across several drives well and has tools to fix broken references.
But both, iPhoto and Aperture, are not network databases.
Apple says: Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library
Putting your originals on a network storage will make Aperture slower, and you are risking library corruption by transmission errors. The safest and option, and the solution with the quickest access to your original files will be a directly connected drive.

How do I delete photos in Iphoto library that have not been imported?

How do I delete photos in Iphoto library that have not been imported?

How did they get there and how do you know that they are there?
If they were not imported and iPhoto is not aware of them then you can be sure your current backup is up to date and tested, quit iPhoto and drag them to the finder trash - But be very careful because if you trash any items that iPhoto knows about you will corrupt your library
Before you empty the trash, launch iPhoto again and be sure everything is working correctly
It is recommended that you never modify the iPhoto library using anything except iPhoto or iPhoto aware programs like iPhoto Library Manager including adding, modifying or deleting items, files or folders within the iPhoto library
Your current case may be one of the very unusual exceptions to this - if they were put there without iPhoto's knowledge
LN
Message was edited by: LarryHN

How can I see photos in iphoto 7.1.4 that don;t show up?

There are photos on my hard drive (under originals) that do not show up in Iphoto 7. When I try to drag the photos over to I photo from the Originals file, I get an error message saying that the photo already exists in the library.

Katie
Welcome to the Apple user discussion forums
first you should never be mucking around in your iphoto library and especially you should never move or change any files inside the iPhoto library - doing so may corrupt your iPhoto library and cause you to lose data
Second you can not import photos into iPhoto from the iPhoto library - this is to protect you from damaging your library and to prevent creating duplicates
What specifically is the problem? how did the photos get into the iPhoto library? have you modified the iPhoto library using the finder in the past?
LN

Adding text to a photo in iPhoto 08

New to Mac and iPhoto and while laying out a birth announcmnet I wanted to add text on top f the phots to places the Apple card templates didn't allow. Is there a way to add text to a photo in iPhoto? Thanks.
Message was edited by: sdenby

sdenby:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. You can't with iPhoto. You'll need a 3rd party editor like Photoshop Elements for Mac which can add text in a variety of ways and do advanced editing. PSE is the consumer version of the pro Photoshop and has about 80% of it's capabilities at 1/7 the price. There are other editors available that can do the job. Go to VersionTracker.com and search for image editor. You'll get a number of possibilities.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

I have just installed Photoshop Elements for a MAC. MY photos were in iPhoto, I have 47,000 pictures and my drive on my Mac laptop is not large enough. I store my photos in iPhoto on an external drive. Can I store all my photos on an external drive when u

I have just installed Photoshop Elements for a MAC. MY photos were in iPhoto, I have 47,000 pictures and my drive on my Mac laptop is not large enough. I store my photos in iPhoto on an external drive. Can I store all my photos on an external drive when using Photoshop Elements? If so, in what format should they be stored in? I do I move them from iPhoto to the new storage location? How do I call them up in organizer? And how do I call them up to Edit? I do not want to store any pictures on my Apple Mac laptop. I want to store pictures on several external devices.

Yes you can store images on an external hard dive and have them referenced in Organizer. It’s best to export copies to separate folders/subfolders and that will ensure iPhoto does not get corrupted.
Alternatively you could continue to use iPhoto with the Elements Editor set up in the iPhoto prefs as your external editing app. Then there is no need to use Organizer and no need to duplicate your images.
You can then call up photos directly from iPhoto as normal with the additional option e.g.
Double-click on a thumbnail to edit in iPhoto editor.
Control (right) - click on a thumbnail to edit in the elements app.
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/photoshop-elements-iphoto-mac-os.html

Corrupted Photos on iphoto

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