IPhoto not importing photos

Question

Good evening-
Backstory: I installed a ssd into my macpro.  I have an internal raid card where my old iphoto library has been stored.  I copied and pasted the original files from within the iPhoto Library files and tried to reimport those files into iPhoto.  The problem is that iPhoto says that the file format is wrong (all video files are from our iPhones.  When I click the video file on its own, it opens up in QuickTime and plays with no problems. 
I have spoken with Apple on a couple occasions and nothing seemed to work. I tried creating a new library and reimporting everything in.  I have tried importing 5 years worth of files (well over 20k files) in at one time and I have tried to chunk the process by importing individual years... then I have tried to import individual files.  There does not appear to be a rhyme or reason as to which movie files are rejected and some are accepted. 
Any advice, please?
Thanks!
Blessings,
Donny

Answer 1

Rather than trying to copy and paste - and that can go badly wrong depending on exactly what you're copying and where you're pasting to - why not try a simple repair of the Library.
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. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
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.
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.