[xximranxx]

Hi everyone,

unfortunately, I have lost all my iPhoto pics (not sure how, but somehow all are deleted from my computer, iPhoto library has small size (700MB), used to be 5GB; I must have done something stupid when copying the Originals and Modified folders to my new iMac - which did not work)

but when I open iPhoto, I can still see all the thumbnails. when I try to enlarge the thumbnail and see the pic, it shows nothing (actually a big gray ! mark)

does anyone have an idea how i can extract at least these thumbnails and put them on my new imac? or make these thumbnails into pics (of obviously worse quality then the original pics)?

i guess it must be something including the thumb64segment and jpgsegment files...

i would be very thankful for ideas, as these are our sons pics from his first year!!

many thanks,
imran

[Spheric Harlot]

I'm afraid I can't help you - probably nothing can, but for the record:

The "stupid thing" probably WAS copying the Originals and Modified folders to the new machine.

iPhoto REQUIRES EVERY LITTLE FILE AND FOLDER in the "iPhoto Library" folder. Inadvertently move or delete any of those files, or copy just a few select ones, and you are GUARANTEED to permanently **** up your iPhoto library.

This is why newer versions of iPhoto/Mac OS X do not allow you to look into the iPhoto library folder.

What you are now seeing is probably just the iPhoto thumbnail cache. I am unaware of any way to "restore" even the low-res images from that, short of zooming every one in just as far as it will go and then making a screen shot of that.

[turtle777]

Ok, so the obvious question is: have you already given up on recovering the photos ?

I assume you don't use TimeMachine, but have you considered / researched other tools that might be able to help ?

To you original question: I think the thumbnails are in a folder called "Data.noindex" inside the iPhoto library. You need to right-click on the iPhoto library and then select "Show package contents".

-t

[xximranxx]

Hi,

thanks for your help

1) yes, i guess moving the originals was the stupid thing (though can t remember whether i moved or just copied it; cant imagine why i would move it, not just copy)

2) no time machine, generally my experience is that deleted files are gone foreever on a mac (experience from past)

3) data.noindex folder !!! this is great. this is exactly where the small pics are. these I can copy and save. thanks!! i think this is the best that can be done


thanks again,
imran