Can't import from card

[DavidTO]

I've got this weird, new behavior on my MacPro running Snow Leopard and LR3.

I have to copy my files to the desktop before import; they won't import directly from the card.

This happens both with SD cards via USB directly from camera and also from my CF cards via Firewire 800 and my card reader.

Any thoughts on what could be going wrong?

[David_S85]

David, did you ever solve the mystery?

[DavidTO]

Nope. Not yet.

[Richard]

Hmm...did anything change on your machine? New hardware? Updates to system or application software? New application software installed? New firmware on your camera?

[DavidTO]

Probably the only thing that's changed is the version of LR. I can use Image capture to import to the drive then import to LR from there. Or I can drag. I've been too busy to mess around with it much.

[ian408]

I guess the other thing you could do is look at the device with the disk utility and see if it thinks things are OK. Also, have a look /var/log/system.log to see if you see an error on accessing the FW device (permission denied or something like that). Maybe something happened during the install which causes LR to be unable to read the device because permissions were incorrectly set?

Open a terminal window and do "tail -f /var/log/system.log" then start LR. Then try and access the FW drive or import from the camera--you should see any error in the terminal window. "<CTRL>+C" stops the "tail" process.

Does LR come with any tool that might allow you to repair the install? That could also be helpful.

[DavidTO]

Thanks, Ian. Next time I get on that system I'll give that a shot.

[T. Bombadil]

Probably the only thing that's changed is the version of LR. I can use Image capture to import to the drive then import to LR from there. Or I can drag. I've been too busy to mess around with it much.

I don't use LR, so can only make a generic suggestion. If you are able to access the cards through other avenues (Finder, Image Capture, etc.), then I suspect the hardware is fine but there is a software glitch.

Try quitting LR, moving your LR preference files to the desktop, and launching LR again. These files exist in user/library/application support (that's where Aperture puts its Import preferences) and user/library/preferences (that's where Aperture puts its general preferences).

A new preference file is created if the system doesn't find one upon launch - and a corrupt preference file can cause strange behavior (like not looking for import sources). If this procedure doesn't fix the problem, just quit LR and move your files back where you found them (thus over-writing the new ones and getting your originals back).

[DavidTO]

I don't use LR, so can only make a generic suggestion. If you are able to access the cards through other avenues (Finder, Image Capture, etc.), then I suspect the hardware is fine but there is a software glitch.

Try quitting LR, moving your LR preference files to the desktop, and launching LR again. These files exist in user/library/application support (that's where Aperture puts its Import preferences) and user/library/preferences (that's where Aperture puts its general preferences).

A new preference file is created if the system doesn't find one upon launch - and a corrupt preference file can cause strange behavior (like not looking for import sources). If this procedure doesn't fix the problem, just quit LR and move your files back where you found them (thus over-writing the new ones and getting your originals back).
Will do! :thumb