Restoring an iPhoto library folder -- can it be done?

[matre]

I'm looking for information on how to successfully restore an iPhoto library folder.

 

I had to restore mine due to a drive failure and the iPhoto application will not recognize it. I did a check on the Apple support site, and though it did not specifically address 'reconnecting' to an existing library folder, it did state that any changes made directly to the folder itself (instead of through the app) may make it unrecognizable to iPhoto. I did not make any changes to the folder after restoring it, but the app will still not recognize it.

 

I would imagine that if I were restoring an entire drive using a snapshot, it may not experience the same problem. But I had my library folder on an external drive (due to its size, I'm a professional photographer), and that drive had a grinding head crash.

 

No matter where I restore the library now, the app will not recognize it. iPhoto does have an import option, but by using the import option, an enormous amount of information is lost. It loses all the grouping information (i.e., which 'roll' each photo was on and the date), loses all album groupings, loses all keywords, and disconnects original photos from their modified copies. With the quantitly of photos I have, I'd really like to avoid that option.

 

I would have to assume that the Mac iTunes music library folder may have the same structure, and hence, the same restore problem.

 

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Lar

 

[CallMeDave]

Can you recount exactly _how_ you executed the Restore? Step by step?

 

You might consider moving ~/Library/com.apple.iPhoto.plist to the Desktop after the restore (and beforre launching the application) but I have no idea if this will help or not.

[matre]

I used the "Restore an entire disk" option and dumped everything onto a new external drive. When I launch iPhoto and navigate to the restored folder, iPhoto does not recognize the folder. I then copied the folder to the internal drive, just to see if I got any better results by placing it into my Home -> Pictures folder, and still nothing.

 

Does that help? Thanks.

[matre]

Ooops.

 

Also, I do not have the file you mentioned (com.apple.iPhoto.plist) on either drive -- I did a search.

 

Thanks

 

[matre]

Just for the record:

 

• G4 Dual 1-GHz

• OS X 10.2.6

• 1.5-GB RAM

• Retrospect 5.0.238

 

The restore was from DAT

 

[matre]

Quote:

---

matre said:

 

Also, I do not have the file you mentioned (com.apple.iPhoto.plist) on either drive -- I did a search.

 

 

---

 

What I meant to say was that deleting the (com.apple.iPhoto.plist) file did not make any difference is accessing the iPhoto library folder.

 

[AmyJ]

I'm not sure if you've gone this route yet, but I would recommend posting these questions on the Apple boards also. You may find users who are familiar with the exact files you need to make iPhoto recognize your restored folder.

[Tresy]

Is there any way to add this thread to my favorites without having to post a reply?

 

In any event, I would be very interested in hearing of a solution to this, as I am depending heavily on Retrospect to bail me out should disaster strike my multithousand image iPhoto Library.

[matre]

This thread is turning into more into a monologue than a dialog, but I've just made a startling discovery.

 

First off, thanks Amy, i did post on Apple's site. It appears that many people have a similar problem of losing access to their iPhoto libraries, but usually after they did something they weren't supposed to. Apple states clearly not to make any changes to the library from the Finder, but to make all changes through the iPhoto application. I did a full snapshot restore and I did not make any changes to the library, whatsoever. It worked fine when it was backed up.

 

Since I did not make any changes, the restore should, in theory, be identical to the original, and hence, I should have one happy iPhoto library with all 1400 photos right where I left them. Well, I should ... but iPhoto now launches with a blank screen, i.e., an empty library.

 

So, I did some investigating. In iPhoto, when you group photos into "albums" the images appear to be duplicated, but iPhoto simply creates an alias to the original. Every "album" is essentially a folder with aliases. And as is usually the case, the alias name matches the name of the original file -- in this case, each one ends in either .jpg or .tif

 

This is where Retrospect comes in. In going through my Retrospect log, I realized that it had reported 137 execution errors on the restore I performed, and all 137 were: error -36 (i/o error, bad media?). Odd, because these were brand new Sony DATs, with a new Sony DAT drive with probably only 30 or so hours on it (it's gone through two head cleanings). Upon closer inspection, all 137 files that reported an error happened to be the 137 aliases residing in one of those album folders. Every single alias in that one folder reported the same error, yet no other files on the 40-GB restore reported any errors. When I opened the folder, everything looked fine because the files appeared to be there. But remember how an alias uses the same name as the original? Well, those 137 aliases aren't aliases any more. They now think they are jpegs.

 

I went back into Retrospect and did a get info on those 137 files, and next to "Kind" they are listed as "Headers Document" while the aliases in all the other album folders are listed as "UNIX Symbolic link." Permissions are the same, and all the files -- both the other alias files and the 137 -- are all the same size, 29 bytes.

 

From this point on, I'm stumped -- but I think I now know why I the iPhoto application couldn't reconnect with the iPhoto library. Apple says any changes will cause you to lose the library -- changes were made, but I didn't make them. And iPhoto worked fine for me until I restored it.

 

In summary, this is what those 137 files were before the backup:

 

Kind: UNIX Symbolic Link

Size: 1K total (29 bytes used)

UNIX mode: lrwxr-xr-x

 

And this is what those files are now (as reported by Retrospect get info):

 

Kind: Headers Document

(Type slnk, Creator: rhap)

Size: 1K total (29 bytes used)

UNIX mode: -rwxrwxrwx

 

I guess the Finder is so confused that it's just going by the suffix ("jpg" or "tif") and thinks they're image files.

 

Any ideas how this happened? ? Any ideas on how I can fix it?

 

Thanks,

Lar

 

[AmyJ]

Type -36 error I/O Errors (bummers)

 

Apple identifies this error as follows:

 

----

http://docs.info.apple.com/article2.html?artnum=55743&sessionID=anonymous|7728692&kbhost=kbase.info.apple.com%3a80%2f

 

Type -36 error (I/O Errors (bummers)

 

This file is having difficulty while either reading from the drive or writing to the drive. The file

may have been improperly written data to the drive or the hard drive or disk may be damaged. This is almost always indicative of a media error (hard error on the disk). Sometimes (rarely) it is transient.

 

Solutions: Try copying the file to another drive. Use a disk recovery software, such as Disk First Aid to examine the disk. You can try rebooting with all extensions off. Once in a while this will allow you to read the data. The file in question should be restored from a backup that was stored on a different disk. Regular backups can reduce the time to recover from this error.

-----

 

These errors are generated by the OS, most likely when these files are being written to the drive. I would suggest trying to restore these files to a different location - preferably to your internal drive. Without an error free restore on these files, they will not be usable.