# Iphoto problem- will not transfer library to external hard drive



## juanjuanston (Dec 3, 2008)

I have looked at a ton of posts on this site and others and find similar problems but cant figure out what is wrong. If someone could point me in the right direction that would be great. I have an Imac 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo 3 gigs of ram.  I have an Iphoto library that is 190gigs .  I have been trying to transfer the library to an external 1 tb hard drive so I can get my computer to run normal again. When I try and transfer the Iphoto library to the external I get a really lame error code. The transfer will start perfect it will get to about 142 gigs complete then the message :"the finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "iphoto library" could not be read or written. (error code -36).  I have looked up the error code and it seems to be one of those codes that doesn't really tell you anything. At first I thought it was a problem with the external, maybe it was not formatted correctly. Then I tried with an alternate drive I had and the same thing.  Just to make sure I took back the original drive. Re formatted the drive only one partition, and mac os extended journaled using GUID partition as suggested by many posts. So I don't believe it is the drive at all I can transfer other files no problem. I have not tried to transfer something as large, but everything else, photos, movies, ect seem to be no problem at all. I really do think now there is something wrong with the library but I don't know what to do. I would love to try and make a copy on the computer itself, but there is not enough room. I think I may need to rebuild the Iphoto library but do not want to lose everything.  Any suggestions? Any help would be appreciated.


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## Doctor X (Dec 3, 2008)

Stupid question: _Does any of that 142 G actually make it to the Ext-HD?_

If it does, you may want to just save that and try sending "the rest" separately.  If not, the next question is is one of the photos corrupt?  I do not know why that would halt a transfer; I am guessing at this stage.

Heh . . . that error codes seems to be saying that you cannot access to your iDisk?  Okay:

Next Stupid Question: _give the make of the drive and the connection: maybe the problem is with the connection?_

Not sure if that will help, but perhaps the information will assist the Smart People.

--J.D.


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## juanjuanston (Dec 3, 2008)

I believe all of that 142gigs make it.  If you click on the library it seems that the library is opened from the external. I am not sure if I could accurately find which photos or albums are missing.  Also I am not sure that I would know how to find which photo or photos are corrupt. Is there a way to do that. When I go through Iphoto nothing stands out as something that does not work. The drive itself is a 1tb firewire/usb 2.0 external drive by Verbatim. I have it connected with firewire currently. I have made the transfer with both, using the supplied cords. I have also tried my own trustworthy cords that I use with other drives and the same thing happens.  The last few times I have tried the transfer it all seems to fail at about 142gigs. thanks for posting


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## Doctor X (Dec 3, 2008)

Usually the fastest way to see if a photo file is corrupt--in my experience--is if you "lose" the "thumbnail" quality of the icon--icon is a mini-version of the pickie.  Of course, *Preview* does not do that by default.  So that only works if BEFORE all of the pickies had a thumbnail icon and you notice a few do not.

Right, if you try to open a pickie on the Ext-HD and it opens then the file made it over.  You can even try burning a few on a CD as a final check to make sure the file "made it over."

I would then keep those and try to sort out the last one--only a few Gigs . . . --to see if one is causing the problem.  You can try sending half the remainder and so on.

This is not a solution to your overall problem; just a way to save your data until one can sort it out.

Programs like *Disk Warrior* and *Spring Cleaning* can identify corrupt files.  You then try to open that file and it cannot be opened.  I have had this happen with photo files before, which is why I save a hard copy--DVD/CD.  Granted, I do not have 100 Gigs of photos!

Again, "corrupt file" may NOT be your problem, so I defer to the Gurus.

--J.D.


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## VirtualTracy (Dec 3, 2008)

Hello juanjuanston 

If you hold down the Option & Command key (&#8984 as you launch iPhoto, you will be presented with the following window:







By default, only the first option is ticked but feel free to tick as many as you like.

When the task has completed, quit iPhoto then relaunch it and using the Export feature under _"File"_ in the menubar, export your Library to a folder you need to first create on your Desktop.

Once the export has completed, see if you can drag'n'drop the folder containing your exported library, to the ext Hard Drive.

Let me know how it goes


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## juanjuanston (Dec 4, 2008)

I will try and re-build. I don't have room to export the library to the desktop. Can I try exporting to the hard drive itself or is that a bad Idea.  I will let you know how the rebuild goes.


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## Bryanoz (Dec 5, 2008)

juanjuanston said:


> I will try and re-build. I don't have room to export the library to the desktop. Can I try exporting to the hard drive itself or is that a bad Idea.  I will let you know how the rebuild goes.


Hi juanjuanston
I have had this exact problem and like a few others here, have not had the size of library you have mentioned.
That is huge and by now after the great advice from DoctorX and VirtualTracy, your thumbnails and database might be ready.
What I did was exported a few events till I found the bad file, which there was.
Alternatively, get into your iPhoto Library, right click on it's icon and Show Package Contents, in there is all your files, Modified and Originals, from here you could a drag and drop copy over to your EXt HD
Have fun
Maybe do your back ups a bit sooner (smaller)
Just saves a lot of worry
cheers


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## alexmoose1986 (Jul 31, 2012)

Is your iPhoto fails to transfer your photos to the external hard drive or any external storage media that means its unable to sync your storage media to its assistance to transferring photos. At such situation you need to repair or reinstall your iPhoto and its library. After following these you will be able to transfer your photos to the other storage media easily. In case if this above method fails then you can visit: http://www.iphotorecovery.net
Source: http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto


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