pictures disappearing in iphoto

[ashpeck]

i have a powerbook g4 running panther. iphoto was working and i could view slideshows and preview pictures...

now they show as thumbnails in iphoto but cannot be viewed in a slideshow or full size? how do i get them back...


if i play a slideshow it is black for quite awhile then says something like " the file folder is empty. please select different file folder or place pictures into the folder."

please help me get my photos back!!!

thanks
ashpeck

 

[zeyhra]

hey, welcome ashpeck-
iPhoto looks for the actual image files to be kept in YourHardDrive->Users->YourUserName->Pictures->iPhoto Library and then in "year->month" folders depending on when they were taken/imported into iPhoto... first thing to do is check to make sure that 1-the photo files are actually where they belong, and 2-none of the images or file names have been changed from what iPhoto expects them to be.

 

[ashpeck]

can you do anything if they have been changed? or are they lost forever?

 

[zeyhra]

If the photos are still on your computer, either with a different file name or in a different location than iPhoto was expecting, it's a fairly easy fix... is that the case for you photos (they've been renamed or moved--and you know where on your computer they were moved to)?

 

[ashpeck]

yeah i think so. what can i do?

 

[zeyhra]

If that's the case, the easiest way to get your photos back in to iPhoto is open iPhoto and open the folder where the photos currently are. Select all the photos you want to have in iPhoto and drag and drop them on the iPhoto window. You should get a message that says "preparing to import" and then all the photos you just selected will import into iPhoto... the downside to this method is you may end up with duplicated thumbnail images in iPhoto, but that's fairly easy to resolve... just delete the copy of the thumbnail that can't find a normal sized picture to go with it...

The reason you can see thumbnail sized pics in iPhoto and it can't find the "normal" pics is cause iPhoto keeps a seperate file for thumbnails..

 

[ashpeck]

i get a popup that says "the following files could not be imported (they may be an unrecognized file type or the files may not contain valid data)."

 

[zeyhra]

Aside from being moved and/or renamed, has anything else been done to the photo files (like the format changed, or compressed or something else)? Do you have your computer set to show all file extensions (Finder menu->Preferences->Advanced tab-> click the checkbox to show all file extensions)? That's a fast and easy way to identify the file types to see if anything's been changed from what you expect it to be.

What happens when you just double-click on one of the image files iPhoto is complaining about?

What exactly has changed with the files and/or the computer itself between the last time you were able to properly view the images in iPhoto?

 

[Ric]

Hi ashpeck,

what does it do? Any sound or anything on the screen ?

regards

Ric

 

[ashpeck]

i did get it turned on...

in reference to the picture files...
nothing has been done to the files except being renamed and/or moved.
my computer is set to show all file extensions and nothing looks different.

when i double click a thumbnail in iphoto it briefly says "loading picture" then i get a pinwheel that doesnt stop.

the changes were made in the harddrive under iphoto library... just reorganizing within the library. i didn't know that was bad. i didn't rename anything just organize it.

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

yes, moving and organising in the Finder is bad as far as iPhoto is concerned...

Can you send me one of the 'rogue' pics, and I'll see whats up with it...

regards

Ric

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

thanks I got the pic, all looks fine and imports into iPhoto and opens okay in Photoshop...

First, have you any backup software and an external drive...I would back up the drive first...then (and only then) create a smart folder containing all jpg's on your drive...then copy those to a fresh folder...

Now go back to iPhoto and delete all the files...then quit, reopen and reimport all the files in the 'fresh folder'...

regards

Ric

 

[ashpeck]

i don't have backup software or an external drive. not sure what to do now.

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

do you have a CD burner ?

regards

Ric

 

[ashpeck]

yeah can i burn them onto a cd from the finder menu? then delete those files in photo then reimport the images from the cd?

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

Yes, but before deleting them double check that all the files you want are definately on the CD, and that you can copy them back off...the belt and braces way would be to do two Cd's of all the images...

If for any reason you are not sure that you 'are' copying the correct files to the Cd's then don't do it !

regards

Ric

 

[ashpeck]

Looks like they're all back!!! thanks so much!