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Imported photos keep disappearing
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mjames
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Jun 12, 2013, 04:14 PM
 
I have the latest version of OS X and iLife with an iPhone 5. I have Photostream enabled on all devices, along with iCloud. When I import photos from my iPhone to iPhoto on my iMac, I notice a day or two later that all of the photos and events I imported are gone! For some reason, no matter what I import, they disappear. Luckily I saved the photos on my Camera Roll, but I already lost a few that I had deleted before I realize this. Any ideas?
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ibook_steve
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Jun 12, 2013, 05:41 PM
 
How are you doing the import? If you're using Photo Stream, you don't need to manually import photos into iPhoto. They will appear in iPhoto automatically. Can you explain in more detail exactly what steps you are performing?

Steve
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mjames  (op)
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Jun 12, 2013, 06:21 PM
 
I am importing them manually because I want my photos organized as events, not just in one photostream. Please help!
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Spheric Harlot
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Jun 12, 2013, 06:51 PM
 
You can tell iPhoto to split the Photostream event into individual events.

(I realize that this doesn't answer your question, but it may help avoid the problem in the first place.)
     
mjames  (op)
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Jun 16, 2013, 07:19 PM
 
Any other ideas? It happened to me again after I posted this. I imported photos I took on my iPhone to iPhoto, named my new events, etc. Closed iPhoto and everything was as it should be. Then the next day or two, I open iPhoto and everything I imported is GONE, like it never happened. I do notice every time I open iPhoto I get a box for a few seconds saying it's upgrading the iPhoto library. Is that normal?
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Spheric Harlot
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Jun 17, 2013, 12:30 AM
 
Hold down the option and command keys when you open iPhoto. Repair the iPhoto library and have it recover lost images. See what that does.
     
mjames  (op)
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Jun 17, 2013, 06:48 AM
 
I did that and it only recovered one old photo. I just opened iPhoto this morning and the couple events and photos I imported are once again gone. And it again says it's scanning and upgrading my library when I open iPhoto. Ugh!
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Spheric Harlot
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Jun 17, 2013, 07:21 AM
 
Did you use all the repair options? Repairing the iPhoto library permissions, rebuilding the database, etc?
     
mjames  (op)
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Jun 17, 2013, 08:52 AM
 
Yes, I did both the repair and rebuild options last night after I imported my photos and events, and now they are gone this morning.
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Spheric Harlot
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Jun 17, 2013, 12:37 PM
 
It might have been a good idea to do that *before* importing them.
Now that the library has been ostensibly repaired, watch closely whether new images stay in place or not.

Are you running as a regular user? Is the iPhoto Library in the "regular" place - i.e. in your user's Pictures folder?
     
mjames  (op)
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Jun 17, 2013, 02:42 PM
 
Yes and yes. It's not that there's something wrong with these photos I'm importing because the same thing has been happening over the last 6 months to all photos I take. I have no new events since January because they keep disappearing. I lost some trip photos because I imported them and then deleted them off my phone, only to have them also mysteriously gone off my computer, too.

Maybe I'll have to take this to an Apple Genius? The issue is it's on my iMac (heavy) and the problem doesn't occur until the next day.

Could it be something related to iCloud? I notice that when my photos/events have disappeared, Photo Stream is also turned off ... I had enabled Photostream the night before when I imported the photos/events.

Is it normal for iPhoto to be saying it's upgrading files every time it opens like mine does?
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andi*pandi
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Jun 17, 2013, 02:51 PM
 
this is why I don't trust photostream.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Jun 17, 2013, 03:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by mjames View Post
I have no new events since January because they keep disappearing. I lost some trip photos because I imported them and then deleted them off my phone, only to have them also mysteriously gone off my computer, too.
Can't you restore them from Time Machine?

Originally Posted by mjames View Post
Maybe I'll have to take this to an Apple Genius? The issue is it's on my iMac (heavy) and the problem doesn't occur until the next day.

Could it be something related to iCloud? I notice that when my photos/events have disappeared, Photo Stream is also turned off ... I had enabled Photostream the night before when I imported the photos/events.
Did you have Photo Stream activated during the previous incidences, as well?

Originally Posted by mjames View Post
Is it normal for iPhoto to be saying it's upgrading files every time it opens like mine does?
No.
     
mjames  (op)
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Jun 18, 2013, 08:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Can't you restore them from Time Machine?



Did you have Photo Stream activated during the previous incidences, as well?



No.
I don't use Time Machine, I use SuperDuper.

I've tried this with and without Photostream. Everything I import disappears a day later.

Should I just take my Mac to an Apple Genius?
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Spheric Harlot
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Jun 19, 2013, 12:52 AM
 
Not to be snarky, but what's the point of using a backup method that will still lose your data?
     
Spheric Harlot
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Jun 19, 2013, 01:00 AM
 
Suspicion:

Do you clone your hard drive nightly using SuperDuper, and keep it connected all the time, even though it has the same name as the original?

If so, I'm willing to bet that iPhoto (and probably not just iPhoto) is using the wrong hard drive's library, and you're overwriting it daily with the other one.
     
   
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