iPhoto freezes on flash drive

I transferred my iPhoto Library to a flash drive/memory stick. When I plug the stick into the Macbook Air, and start iPhoto (either by clicking on the icon in the dock, or by clicking on the iPhoto library icon on the memory stick), I get the spinning ball.

flash is extended journal format
32 gb flash drive, 6.25 gb available
i cant check iPhoto version because it freezes, but i always install updates, etc.
the spinning ball doesn't stop, i usually wait about 5 minutes, then i have to force quit

also, the flash drive keeps blinking on and off, but nothing happens

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Why OS X.9.1 and not X.9.5?

How much memory? How full is the hard drive?

I transferred my iPhoto Library to a flash drive/memory stick. When I plug the stick into the Macbook Air, and start iPhoto (either by clicking on the icon in the dock, or by clicking on the iPhoto library icon on the memory stick), I get the spinning ball.

Click to expand...

The flash drive could be defective since it's blinking on and off. Move your library back to your Mac hard drive if possible and then try reformatting the flash drive. If the same thing happens, toss the flash drive and get a new one. Frankly, I wouldn't trust a flash drive to store my iPhoto library. Thumb flash drives and the like are too easily damaged and subject to failure.

I do have OS x 10.9.5

There isn't any kind of switch on the flash drive.

Thanks for the advice about keeping my photos on the flash drive. I also have them backed up on iCloud, Dropbox, and I do a Time Machine backup to another external hard drive.

I will try copying the whole shebang onto my laptop, reformatting the flash drive, and copying the files back.

did you tell iPhoto where to look for the library before you deleted it off of the main drive.

the reason you need to do this is iPhoto will run around like a chicken with its head cut off while looking for the library if it can't find it it will go into beach ball mode

I did move the iPhoto library icon to the flash drive. Not sure if I bothered to tell iPhoto
Hopefully you can view the images below, which show my flash drive in Finder, and what happens every time i start iPhoto.



imgur: the simple image sharer

<a href="http://imgur.com/VQmYqQA"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/VQmYqQA.png" title="Hosted by imgur.com"/></a>

http://i.imgur.com/VQmYqQA.png" title="Hosted by imgur.com

iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location

try this