iPhoto 11 problem

I just joined the Forums and do not know if I selected the right link to ask my questions.
I need help to solve iPhoto 11 problem.
My iPhoto library froze while importing selected photos from USB memory card. The importing icon kept on circling but photo import stopped.
I could not close the iPhoto library. Message said 'Photos are being imported to the photo library, please wait for import to complete'.
I selected to 'stop import' Message asked ' Do you want to delete or keep the photos imported so far' I selected to 'keep photos', no action was taken. Afraid of my photos on my USD card will get deleted also, I dare not to select 'delete photo' option.
I dare not to force shut my Mac afraid of damaging the plugged in backup external hard drive and my USD card.
Please, Please can some one help?!

CMM

Firstly welcome to Mac Forums, secondly where you posted is perhapes not correct that depends if you are new to Mac computers.
Apart from the fact that we need a little more information;
Your computer model and year,
The Operating System you are running,
How much storage and RAM
and a little bit about your USB storage device. Is it formatted for a Mac? Or Windows?
What format are your photos in eg. TIFF, jpeg etc.

Apart from all of that, in general I can say that it should be safe to eject the device. The process is one of copying not moving files. You can quite iPhoto but you may need to Force Quit.

If you force quite iPhoto and do not select Delete Photos from source they should all remain.

You will find Force Quit under the Apple Menu.

The safest way to do what you wanted is copy your photos by dragging (from the open window of your device) to the desktop of your Mac. Then choose Import from the iPhoto File Menu and select what you want.

Hi Rod,
Thank you so much to come to rescue me. As you can see I only use computer very carefully to avoid problems because I do not know much of the rest. Your answers relief many of my worries. At least I can save my USB card by ejecting it without damaging it. Following are the additional information:
I have MacAir 13-inch mid 2012 model
Operating System OS X version 10.9.5 Mavericks
Memory 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
1.8 GHz Intel Core i5
MacIntosh HD: 113.72 GB free out of 250 GB
Photos format: JPEG
USB storage: It was a brand new one. I used it for the first time. San Disk extreme Plus 32 GB. I did not format it before using. I have a Cannon digital camera. I tried to import close to 5000 this time. I intended to delete a lot of them after I was able to view them from my computer.
I love to take photos although I am not good at photography. I already stored close to 9300 photos in my iPhoto library. I do not know and did not appreciate the necessity of having multiple libraries. Now I do not know how to break them up into different libraries. But for new photos I mange them by creating new libraries for them from now on. I allocated two new libraries in iPhoto this morning for the new photos I took recently.
After I plug in my USB card, iPhoto automatically opened up/display all the photos from that USB card. I selected first half of the photos and imported successfully into the first library I created. Then I created the second library. Again it opened up all the photos from my USB card. Then I selected the second part of my photos and import. It went smoothly first but froze about half way to its completion.
I do not know what should I do first. Should I try something else first before force quit the iPhoto? After I read your reply I am much relieved knowing there is one way out at least.
It was a great suggestion to copy all photo to my desk top first then import from there. I will do that from now on.
By the way I could not find the 'Thumbs up' icon any where. It says on the top right. Which screen's top right?
CMM

I see, this is a SSD storage card from your Cannon so no, you don't have to format it other than on your camera.
5000 images is quite a lot though, what resolution are you using?
Either way you need to eject your card and quit iPhoto I assume you cant eject from the side panel/column in iPhoto. If you click on Force Quit in the apple Menu you will see the running Applications. If iPhoto has a "Not Responding" message at the end then you can select it and force quit.
It is quite possible that iPhoto just got bogged down with all of the information. Lots of photos plus a library creation can do that sometimes even with sufficient RAM which you have.
After you quit I would suggest a restart or shut down and reboot, then try again.

Rod,
Thank you so much. YOU ARE THE BEST!!!
Following your directions and explanations, my problem was solved. The tips you provided was precious. I learned a big lesson not to be carried away with large USD card's capacity. Shall I say more mistakes I made, the more I learn? Just be careful not too big though.
Thank you again.

CMM

And cmm,

Should you want to record your thanks to Rod via the reporting system—look at any of Rod's posts in this thread, say, #4. His name, Rod Sprague is top left of his post. On exactly this level, but far right, you will see #4 (PERMALINK) and next to it a sort of upper torso icon with a thumbs up hand overlying it. Click on that. Choose approve and, if desired, you can leave a short text message in the box.

Ian

IWT said:

And cmm,

Should you want to record your thanks to Rod via the reporting system—look at any of Rod's posts in this thread, say, #4. His name, Rod Sprague is top left of his post. On exactly this level, but far right, you will see #4 (PERMALINK) and next to it a sort of upper torso icon with a thumbs up hand overlying it. Click on that. Choose approve and, if desired, you can leave a short text message in the box.

Ian

Click to expand...

Thanks Ian, I have a little screen shot of that.