IPhoto can't find original image

I'm trying to find the original photo b selecting File>Reveal in Finder. It works for some but others it doesn't.
I get a windoow that pops up and says "The operation can't be completed because the item can't be found"
Why does this happen and how can I fix it?

Go into the Pictures folder where your current library is and enter TM via the TM menu in the toolbar:
Navigate back in time to get the backup copy you think is good. When you restore it keep both versions so you won't lose any new photos.

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IPhoto can't find original photos after volume name change

I had to reformat my drive and do a fresh install of Mountain Lion. I was pleased that the Migration Assistant imported all the user accounts, apps, etc. from a Time Machine backup. Never could have done *that* with Windows...
However, in iPhoto, I *do not* copy pictures from my Pictures folder into the iPhoto library and iPhoto can't find them. I expect that this is because I changed the volume name when I reformatted the drive, which is embedded somewhere in the iPhoto package in my Pictures folder.
Does anyone know which iPhoto files I can edit or batch edit to change references from the old volume name to the new one? Is this information stored in text or XML files that I can edit or is it embedded in binary files? I thought I might be able to reimport the photos from the current volume and iPhoto would sort out the duplicates (not a great option if I get prompted for each one though...) but I wasn't sure if that would preserver events, faces, etc.
When I try to rebuild the iPhoto library, I get a dialog indicating each file cannot be found on the volume. While it provides an option to browse for the location, this isn't practical due to the 1000's of photos and movies on the drive.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

As OT says, the primary reason not to run a Referenced Library, and, most especially, not one where you have the Library on one Volume and the photos on another.
You're going to have this problem again and again any time you make a change to your hardware set up - including upgrading your machine and so on.
Going forward: Do you have Aperture? This has a command to Locate Referenced Masters which should help. Other than that, how are you at hacking SQL databases? That's what this guy did:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3216539?tstart=30
back up first...
Regards
TD

IPhoto can't find original photos, but I can!

When I launch iPhoto, I get error messages telling me photos are missing, and asking if I want to "find original" or cancel. If I try to find the original, I can't navigate into the library file itself, even though a search in spotlight reveals the missing photo is inside the iPhoto library bundle itself.
So I hit 'cancel' but I have to do this dozens of times each time I launch iPhoto, which is a huge hassle.
The 'missing' photos show up as blank thumbnails with a dotted white line around them in the photo viewer. If I scroll around iPhoto's viewing pane, the same message appears constantly.
I have rebuilt the library, repaired disk permissions, and even tried reverting to an older library from backup. No dice.
I'm out of ideas, other than exporting all the photos and then creating a new library and reorganizing everything. Seems like a huge hassle for 9000 photos, though.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for the insights, Terence. I'm glad I didn't export then re-import.
I did try iPhoto Library Manager before posting here, but it told me it couldn't rebuild the database because it was corrupt! Yikes.
Okay, so I did what someone suggested on another thread, and tried to identify all the 80 or so photos that were supposedly 'missing'. I wrote down the name of every photo on a text edit doc.
Then I did something strange that seems to have worked: I went to Spotlight, and searched for one of the image names. I found it inside the iPhoto library. (I'm not sure why you can't navigate to photos from inside iPhoto, but you can from Spotlight - note, you can't find them in any other finder window, just Spotlight).
I dragged the culprit file to my desktop. Then, when the alert came up again, I used File > Reveal in Finder to navigate to the photo...interestingly, iPhoto then pointed to the original location of the missing file...I then dragged the photo from my desktop back into iPhoto's library via the Finder. Voila, the photo was re-linked.
But here's where it gets interesting. Somehow other photos got re-linked, too!
I quit the program, and the same problem reoccurred. So I took the steps again above, but this time I did something slightly different afterward.
I went to the TextEdit doc, and I found each and every photo, and dragged it into an album I'd created (I called it something like "Photos to Fix" or something). I then went to the Trash, and found some broken aliases in there, too. I emptied the Trash, after clicking 'cancel' on each error message. Then, I quit and restarted iPhoto several times. The problem is gone! I then moved the photos out of the "Photos to Fix" album, and the problem has not returned.
In short:
- Find a broken photo in iPhoto, note the name
- Navigate to the photo in Spotlight (not finder)
- Drag it out of the iPhoto Library and onto the desktop
- Go back to iPhoto
- Select "Reveal in Finder" on the broken thumbnail
- iPhoto will go to the location the photo USED to be
- Go back to Finder
- Drag the photo back into its old location
- Go back to iPhoto
- Move that photo, and any other problem photos, to a new album
- Empty Trash if there are any problem files there, too
- Restart iPhoto
- Problem solved
That's what worked for me, though I admit it is wonky and illogical. Maybe someone can shed light on why this worked.

Iphoto can't find original photo

Back when I was new to iPhoto I imported some high resolution photos and apparently renamed the folder where they were located in the Originals folder. I now know this is a big "no no". I've searched using Spotlight for the file name of one of the photos. The only results I get are for the small res file located in the Data folder. I can see the thumbnail of the photo in iPhoto but when I double click to edit it doesn't show anything. However, the photo info still says its 3 MB. I don't believe I deleted the high res photos - just renamed the folder. Is there any way to find the high res files on my computer? I've search the Originals folder and the Modified folder and can't find them.

I've search the Originals folder and the Modified folder and can't find them.
Well if there are not in either of those folders, then they are not in the Library.
Regards
TD

IPhoto can not find the original photo, does iPhoto copy the photo or just make a thumbnail?

Hi,
I'm scanning and putting all of my (paper) photos into my computer and then into iPhoto, tagging them, and doing all the time consuming things necessary to build a good library.
I've tried to open a few of the events and look at the photos I put in but I get an error that iPhoto can not find the original photo. When I put a photo into iPhoto does the program only make a thumbnail copy with a link to the original, or does it actually copy the photo into the library? I'm thinking the former. Because I have a Time Machine backup, a hard copy, and (presumably) a copy in iPhoto, I have been deleting the photos AFTER putting them into iPhoto. Do I need to keep the photos I put in iPhoto on my computer? Will I need to go into TM and restore them? Will I loose the information like Faces, Places, Keywords, if I do?
Thank you much,
I'm working with 9.1.2

I have exactly the same problem except my photo is named "L1000093.jpg" and it's been there for a year now, but suddenly, when I wanted to view it in it's album, ("Favorite" which has been there for a year too), it says "The photo P1010311.jpg cannot be found"!!! What the heck is going on? So I canceled, went back to the album, clicked on L1000093, clicked "show event", went over to Event, clicked "reveal in finder" and there it is, iPhoto Library/Master/blah blah blah... L1000093.jpg!
Where the hack did that P1010311.jpg came from? Sure I have that photo, but it's in a completely different event and a different album! What's is iPhoto 11 / Lion / iTunes 10.5.3(3) up to?
So I threw L1000093jpg into the trash, went into Lightroom, find the original, re-export it, load it again into iPhoto, added it again to the album (favorite), and guess what? I just did all those and the same "The bloody photo cannot be found" message popped up and when I go to finder, there it is.
This is a bug. It's been a bug since 2006 as far as I can remember. And Apple had never done a complete fix. It's an if thing!
And the most frustrating part: Althought they call this an Apple forum and you have to sign in to participate, I have never seen one Apple software guy here saying "this is what to do", just us victims helping each other and many non-Apple folks guessing to the best of their ability to comfort us.
Oh, toys are toys. I sometimes wonder if Steve had fought so hard yet the cancer in Apple actually won!

IPhoto endlessly asks for original image

I use referenced files in my iPhoto library.
Sometimes though iPhoto says 'cannot find original' when I have not even opened the event the image is in.
Hitting Esc is ineffective, it just goes to the next image it can't find and so on, through the entire library.
It's maddening, once it's stuck in this loop there's no way out unless I plug in the drive the originals are in or force quit iPhoto, but sometimes the drive is not available.
How can I prevent this?

1. Don't run a Referenced Library where the files are on one volume and the Library on another. There are a number of reasons why this is not a good idea, not least of which is the work involved rebuilding the Library if the path to the files changes.
Or
2. Always ave the external available when you launch iPhoto.
That's the only way around this.
If you really want to work in this format consider upgrading to Aperture. None of this an issue with it.
Regards
TD

Lightroom 3 Can't Find My Images

I use several external hard drives for my images and they occasionally get moved either to another folder or to another hard drive. When this happens, Lightroom can't find the image so I go to the image in its new location and Lightroom finds it and all its neighbors. That worked great in Lightroom 2 but does not work at all in Lightroom 3. I can't change the original file folder structure at all. Lightroom can't find the image even though I'm clicking on it. Then I try to click a bit harder and eventually start pounding on the keyboard and shouting at Lightroom, "It's right here!" Any suggestions or bug knowledge regarding this?
Thanks,
Richard

brianbotticelli wrote:
If you right click on the folder in the navigator and choose Update Folder Location, this will not work in LR3 running Mac OS 10.6.4.
This should definitely work! What is happening if you do that, and what are your detailed steps?
... Also, if you right click on an image thumbnail and choose Show in Finder, then reset your image path from the dialogue box, this will not work either.
As noted here, this seems to be a bug.
Beat Gossweiler
Switzerland
Edit:
If you move an entire folder from outside LR, you should get a "?" right next to the folder, and the option "Update Folder Location" is not availble, but "Find missing Folder". If you only move some images from one folder to another, "Update Folder Location" is not the correct way to go.
Message was edited by: b_gossweiler

HELP!!! Aperture can't find original files!

Help!!! I imported a 64 Gig SD Card into Aperture for an engagement shoot. It imported the files, about 2,000 CR2 files. I had to clear the SD card to do another shoot. When I returned to Aperture, it shows a thumbnail of the file, but yellow exclamation point saying ORIGINAL IMAGE NOT FOUND!!! I'm guessing Aperture tried saving original files to the SD card and NOT my hard drive. When I was clearing the card, highlighted the files and put them in the trash on my IMAC. Then I emptied the trash. I also re-formatted the card on my Canon. So... I have downloaded Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery, Data Rescue 3, and ISkysoft Data Recovery to see if they will either recover files I emptied from my trash, OR recover the files on the SD card. I can't find the files! To this point, this my best work as a photographer. I'm mortified! If someone will help me I will be indebted to you forever. Thank you!

If you really deleted the files, there is little hope, but data recovery.
If you have you not restarted your mac, since you imported the images, don't do it., before checking the caches. Sometimes Aperture will write to the $TMPDIR, if the drive it trying to write to gets offline during import.
Check these system folders, if youcan find any cr2 files:
Quit Aperture.
Open a Terminal window and enter the following two line:
open $TMPDIR
This will open a Finder window with cryptically named folders. Dive into them and look for Aperture's Media cache folder. Are there any image files in the folder "com.apple.Aperture"?
Sometimes Aperture will write to that directory, if it cannot write to the Aperture library.
Also check the following location:
open /tmp
Can you find any images in the these two caches?
When I returned to Aperture, it shows a thumbnail of the file, but yellow exclamation point saying ORIGINAL IMAGE NOT FOUND!!! I'm guessing Aperture tried saving original files to the SD card and NOT my hard drive.
Are you using Aperture 3.5.1?
This version will tell you, where the missing originals should be, when you select the thumbnails and use the command "File > Show in Finder". When I try this, I get a panel showing the path to the missing original. Does that really point to a file on your SD card?
What are your Import settings in Aperture? What is set in the "Store files" option? "In the Aperture library " or something else?
-- Léonie

Can't find original white headphones..(Help)

I've been looking all over the apple site trying to find the orginal white headphones that came with my i-pod mini. It keeps showing me the in-ear headphones, but I dont want them I wan't the orginal's.
I've also looked at my local electronic stores, but they just tell me to look on the apple web site.
What do I do???

If you really deleted the files, there is little hope, but data recovery.
If you have you not restarted your mac, since you imported the images, don't do it., before checking the caches. Sometimes Aperture will write to the $TMPDIR, if the drive it trying to write to gets offline during import.
Check these system folders, if youcan find any cr2 files:
Quit Aperture.
Open a Terminal window and enter the following two line:
open $TMPDIR
This will open a Finder window with cryptically named folders. Dive into them and look for Aperture's Media cache folder. Are there any image files in the folder "com.apple.Aperture"?
Sometimes Aperture will write to that directory, if it cannot write to the Aperture library.
Also check the following location:
open /tmp
Can you find any images in the these two caches?
When I returned to Aperture, it shows a thumbnail of the file, but yellow exclamation point saying ORIGINAL IMAGE NOT FOUND!!! I'm guessing Aperture tried saving original files to the SD card and NOT my hard drive.
Are you using Aperture 3.5.1?
This version will tell you, where the missing originals should be, when you select the thumbnails and use the command "File > Show in Finder". When I try this, I get a panel showing the path to the missing original. Does that really point to a file on your SD card?
What are your Import settings in Aperture? What is set in the "Store files" option? "In the Aperture library " or something else?
-- Léonie

Recently Image Capture does not work. It can't find one camera and can't find the images from another camera. Help?

Recently Image Capture stopped working. It can't find one camera and can't find the images from a different camera. Help?

Launch iPhoto. From the menu: iPhoto>Preferences>General: Select Connecting camera opens>Image Capture.

IPhoto can not find several photos, shows icon, but not pic itself and I did not move anything

I have more then 12'000 photos on iPhoto. After the last update it shows me all pics in the small icons, but when I click on them, severals are not whown - a black background with a grey triangle opens and a "!" in the mid. I suppose this means that iPhoto can not find the data. I already looked into the database and the files are really not there. But I did NOT move them! What happened? What can I do? (I would highly appreciate if I would not have to check every single photo and reimport it again!!!) Thank you in advance for your help!

Restore from your back up.
Regards
TD

I tunes can't find original song files of all my songs. How do I fix this?

I tunes can't find original song files of all my songs. How do I fix this?

Itunes stores ripped cds in the 'itunes' folder called 'itunes music' which under normal installation should reside into your 'My music' folder. Your music folders on the DVD then have to be copied into the 'Itunes music' folder for itunes to find it.
The tracks with the exclamation marks have registered with the incorrect location into the library. You can do two things:
Either search in the folder where you copied them from the DVD at the earlier step described above which means that you will have to do this for every single track, or the fastest way, delete all the incorrect entries and re-import by drag and drop into library the folders with the music you want to show in the library.

IPhoto can't find photo even though the thumbnail is present. Any help, there are dozens of photos in my library that won't open as iPhoto can't find them.

iPhoto can't find photo even though the thumbnail is present. Any help, there are dozens of photos in my library that won't open as iPhoto can't find them. This is probably a very common question!

With the amount of information you've provided it's impossible to offer a potential solution. We need to know the details of your problem and situation, i.e.:
what version of iPhoto are you using?
what system version are you running?
what do you see when you launch iPhoto to open your library?
what fixes have you tried before coming here?
where is you library located?
how long has this been occuring?
did you apple any updates or upgrades just prior?
are you running a "managed" or "referenced" library?
what type of Mac?
how much free space on your boot drive?
What do you see when you click on a thumbnail?
OT

IPhoto can't find my Nikon Coolpix S5 camera

iPhoto can't find my Nikon Coolpix S5 camera. It will not mount on my desktop. What do I do? I have used this camera for a few years and now it will not work any more. Is it the new OSX 10.5.3?
Thank you.

Ok
Does the same thing happen when connected to any of your three computers?
Is this being plugged into a usb hub or straight into the computer?
could It be the cable?
You can buy an SD card reader that is usb for less than $10 at your local Fry's
if none of the above works.
If it connects and says the pics aren't the right format, plug your camera into a peecee
and see if that works.

IPhoto can't find my Nikon Coolpix s3 camera

iPhoto can't find my Nikon Coolpix s3 camera. What do I do? I have used this camera for a few years and now it will not work any more. Is it the new OSX 10.5.3? TIA

Ok
Does the same thing happen when connected to any of your three computers?
Is this being plugged into a usb hub or straight into the computer?
could It be the cable?
You can buy an SD card reader that is usb for less than $10 at your local Fry's
if none of the above works.
If it connects and says the pics aren't the right format, plug your camera into a peecee
and see if that works.

IPhoto can't find original image

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