i'm using 10.2.8 and iPhoto 2. All of a sudden all my photos are gone. I tried to import through iPhoto from the iPhoto library. After watching all photos seemingly imported, none actually show up in iPhoto. Please help.
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help iPhoto 2 just lost all my photos
- Thread starter wolf9988
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Same Here
The same thing just happened to me. I automatically delete the originals from my camera when I import them. I just saw it begin to import, and then when it finished, there was no sign of my photos in iPhoto, and they are also no longer on my camera. I received no error messages or warning messages -- no sign to tell me anything went wrong.
I realize I can protect against this in the future by not deleting the originals until they're safely imported. But right now, I would like to know what happened to these photos, so that I can recover them if possible.
Thanks in advance for any help!
The same thing just happened to me. I automatically delete the originals from my camera when I import them. I just saw it begin to import, and then when it finished, there was no sign of my photos in iPhoto, and they are also no longer on my camera. I received no error messages or warning messages -- no sign to tell me anything went wrong.
I realize I can protect against this in the future by not deleting the originals until they're safely imported. But right now, I would like to know what happened to these photos, so that I can recover them if possible.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Can only tell you that the same happened to me at one point (all the photos on the camera were reduced to zero size in my case), and so I simply decided not to trust iPhoto for transferring files from cameras.
If iPhoto automatically starts when you plug in the camera, you can turn that off. Find and launch Image Capture in your Applications folder (with camera unplugged), and go into its preferences. Make sure it's set to "When camera is connected, open: No application."
Assuming your camera is set up to work as a removable drive, you can just use the Finder to copy the picture files onto your hard drive. iPhoto can work with those, and leave your poor camera alone.
If iPhoto automatically starts when you plug in the camera, you can turn that off. Find and launch Image Capture in your Applications folder (with camera unplugged), and go into its preferences. Make sure it's set to "When camera is connected, open: No application."
Assuming your camera is set up to work as a removable drive, you can just use the Finder to copy the picture files onto your hard drive. iPhoto can work with those, and leave your poor camera alone.
"Recovered Photos" in iLife '04?
Have any of you had this problem: iPhoto (from iLife '04) claims to have recovered photos but a lot of them are just blank? This happened to me. I started deleting them until I realized that a portion of my library is missing. (Incidentally, the missing photos are from when my daughter was born.)
I think the pics are still on my hard drive but tracking down all of them is going to be a pain. (I'm not in the habit of naming my photos.) Can you think of an easier way?
Thanks in advance.
Squire
Have any of you had this problem: iPhoto (from iLife '04) claims to have recovered photos but a lot of them are just blank? This happened to me. I started deleting them until I realized that a portion of my library is missing. (Incidentally, the missing photos are from when my daughter was born.)
I think the pics are still on my hard drive but tracking down all of them is going to be a pain. (I'm not in the habit of naming my photos.) Can you think of an easier way?
Thanks in advance.
Squire
Did you lose all of your photos in your entire library? or just the ones that you were importing?
Have you searched through your iphoto library folder on your hard drive to see if the photos are actually gone?
Actually, I wasn't importing photos at all. I was just running iPhoto '04 for the first time after my install. The program claimed to have recovered lost photos- I don't think they were lost at all- and put them in a "recovered photos" album. About half of these recovered photos from the album are blank. In addition, there are other sections of my library with "blank" photos- simply a white rectangle.
Yeah, I've found some of the missing photos on my hard drive but I know that if I just go by memory, re-importing the lost photos one by one, I'll miss some. I was looking for a more sure-fire and less tedious approach.
Thanks for the help, by the way.
Squire
I always keep every photo I have backed up in a folder totally separate from iphoto. Yes it's a hassle, but I can spare the drive space, and I just don't trust iphoto anymore. 
Originally posted by QCassidy352
I always keep every photo I have backed up in a folder totally separate from iphoto. Yes it's a hassle, but I can spare the drive space, and I just don't trust iphoto anymore.
Great idea. I make DVD (could be CD) backups of all pics. I actually keep these CD/dvd's at my work to have a back up just in case of a fire.
You should be able to just drag your iPhoto library photo onto iPhoto and it will find all the photos and import them automatically.
I'm not sure I know what you mean. I tried dragging the iPhoto Library folder onto iPhoto while the program was running but nothing happened. I'm backing up my library now and I'm going to try re-installing iPhoto. Good idea or bad?
By the way, when I opened iPhoto ALL my photos from the past 3 years were gone except for the last import- 13 pics. This is getting worse and worse.
Squire
You're not seeing any other issues on your drive? This sounds like a hard drive directory corruption. A very insidious thing because it slowly grows and causes more and more files to go missing or be unopenable.
If it isn't automatically adding all photos found within a folder set then there is something wrong. Reinstalling iPhoto is worth a try but I'm not sure that will fix it. It could very well be a system problem.
I don't think that's it. I'm not losing any files that I know of. The problem seems to be in iPhoto's ability to display my library. I'm importing them from a backup I made last night but I'm not convinced that's going to help. (The re-install didn't help, either.) Oh, by the way, thanks for your help, MacBandit.
Squire
<edit: In my library, there are sub-folders named thumbs, originals, and data. In addition to these, I have my photos. The thumbs are obviously the thumbnails and I assume that the data folders contain any text I inputted. What about the original folder? If they contain the original pics, does it mean I have doubles of everything? Also, is it okay to delete these folders?>
Squire
<edit: In my library, there are sub-folders named thumbs, originals, and data. In addition to these, I have my photos. The thumbs are obviously the thumbnails and I assume that the data folders contain any text I inputted. What about the original folder? If they contain the original pics, does it mean I have doubles of everything? Also, is it okay to delete these folders?>
Yes, iPhoto never modifies the original file. This in my opinion is a very wise idea. You can always revert to the original even after weeks of modifying the file within iPhoto. All photo editors need to take this line or do it within layers.