Portable Home Syncing corrupts iPhoto Library

Server setup:
Snow Leopard Server 10.6.2 (clean install)
Everything setup according to spec; works great.
Client setup:
Snow Leopard 10.6.2 (clean install)
iLife '09
Portable syncing rule set to sync the Pictures folder ONLY at login and logout. At no other time is it sync.
Bug:
Everytime it syncs; the entire iPhoto Library gets corrupted and I get a 'There was a problem syncing this file'
When I check the file, the iPhoto Library is a generic white icon with a size of a few megs versus the original 5GB. (yes I have a backup).
Any idea what may be causing this?
I cannot deploy Snow Leopard Server for my clients because of this silly bug.

Hi all.
I'm also having serious problems concerning "Home Syncing".
So far those are my conclusions:
• Home Syncing cannot understand when a file is locked. It will simply replace the "archived" file on the server with a corrupted and incomplete one. (Time Machine, for instance, delays the syncing of that file until it is no longer being used):
• Because of the last problem it's impossible to use the syncing interval on the System Preferences. It's simply begging for havoc and chaos.
• Home Syncing (again on direct opposition to Time Machine) does not understand the concept of bundles (or packages, whatever is the correct expression in English... English that I'm not a native nor a fluent speaker, sorry about that
Not being able to understand those wonderful "folders as a single file" concept makes it try to copy my full Aperture library, even if I just open and close the thing.
So it's guaranteed fun for almost half an hour every time that I do some logout sync.
• Even using only login / logout sync, Aperture library will get eventually corrupted, as will pretty much every other item that I try to sync that happens to be a bundle (That God for 1Password automatically backup of it's own library, otherwise I would have lost all my logins passwords and Software serial numbers).
• Every so often files that were deleted on a machine on the last day, simply find their way back at login syncing.
And the opposite also happens. Changes made in a user folder on one of the machines, simply don't replicate when a user logs in onto another one.
• If a folder or file name is changed, Home Syncing will not understand that as a change.
Instead it will get from the server the old file/folder while keeping the new one.
Since it will copy the full content of the folder, just changing the name back to the old one, you better pray that there's not that much info inside otherwise it's time to grab a coffee and the daily newspaper.
• Copying is slow. Painfully slow!
In a full Gigabit Ethernet connection, whose transfer while using AFP are extremely fast, Home Syncing can take 10x the amount of time to copy a similar folder.
Home Syncing seems pretty much as a 2nd class citizen on the Server package.
It's copy capabilities are way bellow of the expected, showing basic errors that were quickly fixed on Time Machine but that still remain here since (at least) Mac OS X Server 10.5.
I like this concept... actually I like it a lot.
As long as you have access to a Mac OS X Server, you can basically create your own cloud.
Even without having to sync the full home folder, just a specific "cloud" folder (something like a dropbox folder).
That connected with a Time Machine backup to allow you to retrieve older version of a file (whenever necessary) and you would have a great and safe working environment... something that I would love to do, if only Home Syncing wasn't just a big disaster.
Let's hope that Apple can figure out what's happening and release an update to fix this.

Similar Messages

10.5 portable home sync rules not being respected on the client...

Portable home syncing is working great for me on my Tiger server and clients, and I'm an old hat at Apple server and OD.... However in my test environment for 10.5, my client machines reuse to respect the rules that I've set in 10.5 Server Workgroup Manager for portable home syncing. I was hoping 10.5.2 would fix this for me, but no luck....
I can tell that the clients are bound to the OD and are reading the MCX settings from the server, because I can change the sync time interval, and that is being reflected on the client. WGM is set to NOT allow settings to be merged with user's settings, so I can eliminate the client settings as a variable.
Both Login/Logout and background sync are effected by this problem.
Is anyone else having this issue?

Bruce's solution above does indeed work. However, I must have stared at his answer for 20 minutes trying to figure out what he was talking about. Undoubtedly, my inability to initially parse his solution comes from my more basic understanding of OS X Server. Since there are likely others out there with this same Home Sync problem and my same level of experience with OS X Server I wanted to give Bruce's answer again but with more detail.
The problem, as explained by the original post, is that Home Sync settings for a user or group aren't necessarily respected. For example, if I were to open Workgroup Manager (WGM), select myself as a user (Berylium), click Preferences, select Mobility from the Overview tab, and select the Rules tab I would be in the Home Sync preferences. If I tell the Login & Logout Sync tab to Always do what I select and then I uncheck the Sync at login and logout checkbox one would expect that when I log in or log out I would not see a Home Sync dialog popup and perform a sync operation - but I did.
The issue as Bruce explains occurs because of another setting I have enabled, Background Sync, and a quirk (bug?) in Leopard Server. I have Background Sync enabled, set to Always, and told to sync in the background my ~/Documents and ~/Desktop folders. Leopard Server, it seems, performs the following operation when I login or logout:
1. Is Login & Logout Sync enabled? No, ok skip this part.
2. Is Background Sync enabled? Yes! Ok, sync the background sync items now even though this is a login or log out.
Clever, Apple. Ok, now that the problem has been explained let's get to the solution.
1. Open WGM, select your problem user or group, click Preferences, and select the Details tab
2. Click the +, navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/, select ManagedClient, and click Add
- At this point, at least in my installation, several more items appeared in the preference editor list.
3. Select Home Sync in the preference editor list then click the Edit button (looks like a pencil)
4. Expand the Always list item
- Obviously, this is where some people's solution could begin to differ from mine. You may want to edit items in the Once or Often list items.
5. Click the New Key button, a New Item will be created and selected, click New Item and select Sync Background Set During Login from the list.
6. Change the Value item for Sync Background Set During Login from automatic to dontSync
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 but select Sync Background Set During Logout
8. Click Apply Now followed by Done
Now you should be all set. Thank you Bruce for the solution to this problem and I hope someone else finds my more detailed explanation helpful.
-Berylium

How can I sync my iPhoto Library from my iMac to my iPad?

How can I sync my iPhoto Library from my iMac to my iPad?

Thanks so much. As always with Apple products---it was super easy. Who would have guessed to open iTunes?
Thanks again for the magic first step!

Hi, iTunes is no longer syncing my iPhoto library to my iPhone 4. Everything was syncing fine when I first got the phone, but, over the past week or so, it's stopped syncing photos. Now, after attempting to start from scratch by deleting all the photos

Hi,
iTunes is no longer syncing my iPhoto library to my iPhone 4. Everything was syncing fine when I first got the phone, but, over the past week or so, it's stopped syncing photos.
Now, after attempting to start from scratch by deleting all the photos on my iPhone, iTunes won't sync ANY photos from iPhoto back to my iPhone. I've restarted my phone, computer, etc., force quit all photo-related apps on my iPhone, and tried various combinations of turning iTunes' photo syncing on/off, switching photo sync folders, etc., all to no avail -- I can't get my iPhoto library back on to my iPhone no matter what I do.
Anyone encounter a similar situation? (I've already sent feedback to Apple.) Thanks in advance.

Try deleting what is called the iPod Photo Cache.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1314

I just cant get this iPod to sync my iPhoto library

Hey, I am getting kinda frustrated here...I am able to sync my music and so on, but when I try to sync my iphoto library I get ( THIS IPOD CANNOT BE SYNCED, REQUIRED FILES CANNOT BE FOUND ) ..
mind you, when I sync photo's from my picture album, everything shows up from there ..So why isnt my iphoto library syncing ?it's itunes and iphoto and a ^%$#@& ipod! why doesnt it work?
Please help me cause I tried everything and apple doesnt even give me a half fast answer ....
all they tel me is well we have had a few people call with the same issue and I asked , so what did you tell them, and I get nonsense, they just decided to work on it cause there's no apple store in their neck of the woods !
I need help !
it's an 80 gb ipod and Im on a intel based mac running leopard .all my software is up to date..evrything is as it should be .EXCEPT FOR MY IPOD !

Okay guy's, I figured out whats wrong and I worked down the line and found that if I just synced folder by folder, one by one ..I would see where it's going wrong.
and I did, Some of the photo s I have in iPhotoin those particular events were edited in different apps and so on. several times I estimated ..
So in short, if any of you guy's remember editing your photo's over and again , it just screws up the metadata and doesnt allow it to be reconized after imported into iPhoto.
so I found all my original pics and not the ones in the iphoto library but the ones I have stored in an external camera drive, and reimported them into iPhoto and then edited as much as I wanted and it workes just fine now..
I hope this helps and I hope I didnt sound to much like I was rambling on.
Thanks for your answers to ...

Help removing a corrupt Iphoto library

Hi All
I am posting this here as i don't think its a iPhoto specific issue, rather a corrupt file issue
I was hoping some one can provide wisdom in removing a corrupt iPhoto Library
The file suggests it is 500Gig in size, and no matter what i try i can't delete it
What i have tried
Deleting it through the trash can - system just hangs
Deleting using OmniDiskSweeper, using this app it suggests the file size is 11Gig, but when you ask it to trash it again just hangs
Running disk verify and repair to see if that would resolve the problem
Repair the file by holding down Command and Option while opening in iPhoto - it brought up an error message and would not let me proceed
I have even tried deleting using Terminal with no success, however in saying that i am a beginner using this launguage
At the moment my Mac thinks its occupying 50% of my hard drive space, i know it not that size, but i am at my wits end
I would be grateful if any one could help me solve this problem
Note i am running the latest software, and i no longer require this file

Trash Can’t Empty – Big Files
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Corrupt iPhoto library - what next?

I've spent the last few days trying to fix my corrupt iPhoto library. Pictures I've imported in the last month are no longer visible within iPhoto (I get the exclamation point and the triangle). The imported pictures are stored in the iPhoto library, where they should be, i.e. using the year/month/day file system, so I haven't lost them, but iPhoto can't see them. I've done the following;
Used the rebuild function when launching iPhoto
Repaired permissions, both when launching iPhoto and using Disk Utility
Ran iPhoto Library Manager to create a new library
Downloaded Aperture - but it was too much of a resource hog to be used effectively
Backups using Time Machine
I know I'm not supposed to alter the iPhoto library file in any way, but I'm not sure how to get the program to recognize those photos without reimporting them and then having two copies taking up space. iPhoto Library Manager didn't do anything other than shrink my picture size by about 500, but I'm not sure how confident I am that other photos weren't "missed" by that program, since it missed the last 400 pictures that were in the iPhoto library file. Any suggestions on next steps would be appreciated.

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 <a href="http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/"><b><u>iPhoto Library Manager</b></u></a> 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 11 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. This really is starting over from scratch.
Move the damaged iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the desktop
Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
Go into the damaged iPhoto Library on the desktop (Right Click -> Show Package Contents)and find the Masters folder. From the Masters 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 damaged iPhoto Library on your desktop.
While you do this, your penance is to remember that with a back up none of this would have been necessary.
Regards
TD

How can i sync my iPhoto Library to 2 macs using the same Apple ID?

Hi,
I have 2 mac book pros (1 in the office and 1 at home) and I have all my photos saved on my office mac iPhoto Library. Is there a way I can sync both iPhoto Libraries? I will be using 1 Apple ID or account for both macs.
Thanks

What do you mean by "Sync".
The general term means when two Libraries (A and B) are compared and files in Library A are copied to Library B, while files in Library B are also copied to Library A so that both Libraries are identical.
This is bi-directional copying and you cannot do this automatically with iPhoto. No Syncing software is capable of parsing the iPhoto Library in this manner. One or both of your Libraries will be damaged if you try this.
You can have uni-directional copying - files in Library A are copied to Library B - this is essentially backing up. Obviously you can also copy from Library B to Library A. So, if all your Photos are on Machine A then just back it up to machine B.
The nearest you can get to syncing is to use iPhoto Library Manager to move files/Albums/Events plus associated metadata between Libraries. This process cannot be automated.

Portable Home Directories and iphoto - problems

Hi
We have recently set up the 'mobility' funtion for our staff via our 10.4 server - thuse creating Portable Home Directories. This all seems to be working fine and documents sync perfectly. What is not behaving is iphoto - we keep getting synchronization conflicts based around iphoto files - not the images themselves but files such as:
Library6.iphoto
iphoto.ipspot
Dir.data
Albumdata.xml
.lpoptions (not sure if this one relates to iphoto but is recurring on numerous acccounts)
Anyone have any clues on this. Iphoto does not seem to be syncing the images at all........and I can't resolve the conflict.
Chris

iPhoto works fine with my users so I can't offer much assistance there, but .lpoptions is where the default printer is stored, and that's typically not something you'd want to synchronize. I personally exclude it.

Corrupt iPhoto Library

Hi Everyone,
How can I figure out what is corrupting my iPhoto Library? It seems fine, as far as I know, all my photos will open (I haven't tried them all). I get an error when I try to sync with my iPod (The iPod ...can not be synced. An unknown error occurred (-50)). I have been trying to use RapidWeaver web page creator and I am unable to create a Photo Page. Tonight I moved an old copy of my iPhoto Library (from October 2006) to my 'Pictures' folder and RapidWeaver works, and I pointed my iPod to the old iPhoto Library and it is syncing as I type this.
BTW. I have rebuilt the iPhoto data base...more than once, fixed permissions using Disk Utility. Any thoughts????

It could be a corrupt albumdata.xml file. This is the file that other apps use to access your iPhoto library, and rebuilding the database doesn't seem to correct it.
This is often caused by a keyword. Check your and look for non-ascii characters, which can cause this problem. Also remove any spaces in your keywords that come before or after the word itself. One user had a blank keyword that wasn't apparent on her keyword list.
Look at this thread for instructions on reading the .xml file. Dave E.'s post shows you what it should look like, and how to spot the offending keywords. If you do find one that is troubled, you have to fix it from inside iPhoto (not from the .xml file itself). You can delete the keyword or rename it and see if it corrects the error in the .xml file.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3870956&#3870956

How do I sync my iPhoto library on my mac to my iPad

How do I sync photos from my Iphoto library to my iPad 2? Any help would be great!

Photostream wouldn't work because it can't stream videos.
I don't have iTunes Wifi sync enabled.
My USB sync is working but I can't find a way to select iPhoto photos that I want to sync onto my iPad.
On an older version of iTunes, I could select "My iPad" under my devices and then click on the Photos tab, but it's not there on the new version. If anything, I would love to get my photos on to my iPad through the USB connection.
Thanks

I have a problem when syncing my iphoto library to my iphone 3gs. There apprears to be more than 40 events with the same names but containing only 2-5 pics in my itunes sidebar when in fact I only have around 10 events on iphoto. How do I fix this?

This has never happened before, and I've tried deleting all photos off my phone then syncing them all instead of specific events and nothing. I have around 10 events in my iphoto library but around 3,500 pictures. I have more than enough space on my phone but I only like to sync certain events, so when I go sync them I notice there are over 40 events listed, and all of them have the same name but it seems as though each "event" has like 2 photos.. On my phone all the different events come up as well. This is super annoying, does anyone know how to fix this ?

I have the exact same problem!
I have about 25 albums and a total of 8,100 pictures. When i go to iTunes -> "My iphone" -> Pictures, and then check the box to sync choses events the list of events is messed up. The same events shows up like 3-4 times and the events only have a couple of pictures in them.
Does anyone know what can be causing this? Or what can be done to fix it?
Using iPhone 4, latest IOS and latest V of Snow Lep..

Time Machine corrupted iPhoto library? Help!

Hi,
I need some advice. It appears that I have lost thousands of photos. I know that's not true cos I have a Time Machine backup, but I want to run my situation past you before trying to recover my library. You see, I had a Time Machine backup error. Actually, scratch that, I had a problem with iPhoto not showing some particular photos. They showed up as just a dotted outline, yet when I chose 'show original file' or clicked to edit the photo, it appeared. So, the photos were there, but the thumbnails had a problem.
After some time spent searching for a fix, I started iPhoto with the command and option keys pressed and chose all options to rebuild iPhoto. This looked like it was gonna take some time (I have over 4500 photos) so I left it alone and went to bed. In the morning, iPhoto appeared to be fixed but Time Machine had reported an error while backing up. I clicked ok, did a new backup by clicking 'backup now' which worked fine and carried on as usual.
I've used iPhoto some more today and then, this evening, another TM backup failed. I tried again, and it failed again. I searched the internet to figure out why and discovered how to view the log file. This reported this: Jun 19 21:22:59 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/leewebb/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Library6.iPhoto to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Lee Webb’s intel iMac/2010-06-19-210546.inProgress/5A645817-7095-47FC-A658-A447B5A5814C/mac hd/Users/leewebb/Pictures/iPhoto Library
Jun 19 21:23:46 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Copied 1656 files (294.5 MB) from volume mac hd.
Jun 19 21:23:46 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Copy stage failed with error:11
Jun 19 21:24:17 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Backup failed with error: 11
So, something seems to be wrong with the iPhoto library. I reckon that the rebuild process was somehow interrupted/corrupted by a TM backup. Following some instructions I found in C3 here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2057525 I ran a verify on my TM backup drive. This returned with OK. I then excluded my iPhoto library from my backup and ran the backup again. It worked fine, which would confirm that the iPhoto library is indeed the problem. Good. Ok. So, that's where I am now. Except it isn't. When I now start up iPhoto, my library has shrunk down to 748 photos! Eeek! What's happened, and what can I do about it? In iPhoto, those 748 photos add up to 1.4gb yet the iPhoto library file is still 12.87gb.
Please can you help me.
I just want to make sure I do the right thing instead of panicking. I've switched off my TM backup for now.
Many thanks,
Lee

Hi,
I need some advice. It appears that I have lost thousands of photos. I know that's not true cos I have a Time Machine backup, but I want to run my situation past you before trying to recover my library. You see, I had a Time Machine backup error. Actually, scratch that, I had a problem with iPhoto not showing some particular photos. They showed up as just a dotted outline, yet when I chose 'show original file' or clicked to edit the photo, it appeared. So, the photos were there, but the thumbnails had a problem.
After some time spent searching for a fix, I started iPhoto with the command and option keys pressed and chose all options to rebuild iPhoto. This looked like it was gonna take some time (I have over 4500 photos) so I left it alone and went to bed. In the morning, iPhoto appeared to be fixed but Time Machine had reported an error while backing up. I clicked ok, did a new backup by clicking 'backup now' which worked fine and carried on as usual.
I've used iPhoto some more today and then, this evening, another TM backup failed. I tried again, and it failed again. I searched the internet to figure out why and discovered how to view the log file. This reported this: Jun 19 21:22:59 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/leewebb/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Library6.iPhoto to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Lee Webb’s intel iMac/2010-06-19-210546.inProgress/5A645817-7095-47FC-A658-A447B5A5814C/mac hd/Users/leewebb/Pictures/iPhoto Library
Jun 19 21:23:46 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Copied 1656 files (294.5 MB) from volume mac hd.
Jun 19 21:23:46 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Copy stage failed with error:11
Jun 19 21:24:17 lee-webbs-intel-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10907]: Backup failed with error: 11
So, something seems to be wrong with the iPhoto library. I reckon that the rebuild process was somehow interrupted/corrupted by a TM backup. Following some instructions I found in C3 here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2057525 I ran a verify on my TM backup drive. This returned with OK. I then excluded my iPhoto library from my backup and ran the backup again. It worked fine, which would confirm that the iPhoto library is indeed the problem. Good. Ok. So, that's where I am now. Except it isn't. When I now start up iPhoto, my library has shrunk down to 748 photos! Eeek! What's happened, and what can I do about it? In iPhoto, those 748 photos add up to 1.4gb yet the iPhoto library file is still 12.87gb.
Please can you help me.
I just want to make sure I do the right thing instead of panicking. I've switched off my TM backup for now.
Many thanks,
Lee

? lost or corrupt iphoto library ?

Hi - my folks use my "old" iMac and don't know how or why iPhoto no longer has a library to open. I did a quick look around but could not see any libraries on the HD. I created a new library to confirm iPhoto at least opens and the application works. However they would like to get back to their former library of photo's and naturally the external backup system is not working so I do not have anything to restore from. Their iMac is running OS X 10.6.8 and iPhoto 8.1.2. Is is possible to restore a corrupted library by using "iphotolibrarymanager" or other utility? Thanks in advance for any help.

You can't rid yourself of the Ebay album until you can access the iPhoto Window, I'm afraid. Let the Library Manager do its thing.
I feel that the writers of iPhone, who are protecting us from harming our photo collections by preventing deletions, are protecting us to death!
Well, assuming you mean iPhoto, if that's what they were doing, then probably. However, folks damaging their library by mucking around with it was a cost to Apple, because many times some one did it, it wold result in a call to Support. And Support is a cost not a profit centre in any organisation. So, they ain't protecting you from you, they're protecting the bottom line from you.
Not that it's a great protection: Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.
Standard Warning: Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Now even that access won't solve the Ebay Album issue, as you will see there is no folder for that Album. Albums are entries in the database, and that's why you'll need to get to the iPhoto Window to rid yourself of it.
Regards
TD

Any way to repair a corrupt iphoto library?

iPhoto seems to hang on startup because the library appears to be corrupt. What's the procedure to rebuilt the library?
Thanks,
Dwight

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

Portable Home Syncing corrupts iPhoto Library

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