Importing photos crashed & now froze, how do I "stop import" in iPhoto?

Question

I connected my camera to the macbook and once all my photos displayed, I selected photos I wished to import, and clicked/dragged them into a new Album that I created. I have always done this in the past, but this time while the photos were being imported, it seemed to have 'freezed' in the middle of it.
The camera listed under Devices still appears as if its importing. When I click onto the "Stop Import" button a pop-up window appears, asking: "Do you want to delete or keep the photos imported so far?"
It allows me to choose between 3 options:
Continue importing, Keep photos, Delete photos.
I've tried all 3 options, however nothing seems to work. There were no photos imported into the album; nor will the device cancel the import. Now I can't get it to go away, even when my camera is disconnected from my laptop. furthermore, when I tried reconnecting my camera, it will show up as a second device (meanwhile it is the same camera) and when trying to import other photos from it, it won't allow it because iPhotos thinks it is still importing the photos from the initial try. Please help me fix this, thanks!

Answer 1

While I am not sure what is going on with iPhoto & why it seems to have
failed while you were attempting to import image files from a camera, the
thing to try and do now may be to repair disk in the computer. This can be
done in a variety of similar yet slightly different ways, using Disk Utility.
Presuming you are familiar with using Disk Utility from either/or the booted
OS X installer DVD (options menu in Installer's header, once started from
the disc while holding C key down.) - OR from the Disk Utility version in the
computer (see GO in Finder, go to Utilities folder in drop-down menu, and
choose Disk Utility and launch it) and when this utility is running, choose
the Macintosh HD from the left-side menu within it, and then select the
'repair disk permissions' from the choice of click-on buttons available.
One fair choice before doing the latter, in the above, would be to start
the computer while holding the Shift key down, and hold that down
until you see a login screen, after logging in (admin password) then go
and launch Disk Utility, and run 'repair disk permissions' then when done,
quit Disk Utility and restart the computer. (Starting in SafeBoot, helps;
and running disk utility to repair permissions does a little more.)
Starting the computer with the Installer disc in the optical drive and the
C key held will start from the Installer; from the Installer's header, there
are options in drop-down menus, including Disk Utility. You can choose
to 'repair disk' or 'repair disk permissions' and 'verify' the disk. While
there, you could do all three. When done, quit Disk Utility and choose
to restart the computer using the Startup option in the Installer menu.
There may be something else going on in the computer, so to start with
what could be called 'general maintenance' may help; for more depth in
matters such as this, there are free-running utility interface tools that do
tasks in the OS X that should be done, one way or another. Instead of
doing some of these in Terminal or single-user modes, you can run one
of these utility tools to perform routine upkeep on the OS. The one I use
more often (maybe once every two or three months) is OnyX; it is free
and can be downloaded from Titanium Software online. In this, I use the
selection accessed in the Automation choice, and check-box all options.
(This can do many more things, so some effort should be taken to learn.)
If the computer's hard disk drive is getting too close to full, odd things
will happen to the system and whatever apps you run in it. Between
having sufficient installed chip RAM, and adequate unused space in
the computer's hard disk drive, these factors will affect performance
and the lack of working space in the hard drive can cause data loss.
Using Activity Monitor, you can tell the running status of the computer
and its OS, and the resources available to the configuration. You can
also identify the computer for the sake of discussion (precisely define)
by using the System Profiler; and note there are several kinds of info
disclosed in these two different processes.
Crashes and freezing events leave an activity log; there are several
kinds of logs available through the Console (utility) in its menu. The
logs of events can be relatively cryptic but sometimes they repeat a
message and in those, some do cite a cause or event. Date/time of
these is part of the logged event schedule.
If the hard disk drive is getting fuller than ideal, the computer can
freeze or apps can be slow to react to your interaction with the GUI.
So, to find out what else is going on in the computer system & apps,
will take some effort. There is cause & effect, and when things get
strange, symptoms can vary. Troubleshooting can take some effort.
Some kinds of crashes that do not take down the computer, are
different than those which obviously do; some are 'kernel panics'
and others are sometimes lesser events. There are times when
a lesser kernel event may affect the apps and OS; but they go
back to a cause. By providing some information on the status of
the computer's hard disk drive, used capacity verses unused, and
the amount of installed chip RAM, these may help tell a story.
So, there may be more than just the camera and iPhoto involved.
Sometimes, just by restarting the computer, a simple issue may
cease to be a problem; but by starting up as suggested previously,
you can initiate some basic repairs and maybe get that camera
issue to go away, at least for now. But more is going on to cause it.
Good luck & happy computing!
PS: Welcome to Apple Discussions!
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