IPhoto disappeared from external hard drive

My 3TB hard drive died recently, and I purchased a new iMac and attempted to restore all of my data from my external hard drive. This was successful EXCEPT that my iphoto library has completely diasppeared from my time machine/external hard drive. I have checked every back-up recorded for years and it has completely vanished. I know iphoto had been backing up correctly as I used it just 2 months ago to restore some photos. It would appear from the usage on my external hard drive that the photos are all still there, but I cannot find them anywhere. When I search for iphoto, iphoto.library, and even any jpg files, nothing comes up. Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation please?

Your problem is with the ED, then, isn't it?
And you canmot have an iPhoto Library on a Network share.
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
See this article
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168
for more. Note also the comment:
“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”

Similar Messages

Tried to reinstall iPhoto library from external hard drive, it shows that the photos and events are there but there are no thumbnails and if you click on an image or video nothing comes up.

My hard drive crashed recently and we took it to apple to get repaired. The apple employees said that they would have to replace the hard drive but they didn't have the equipment to get the data off my hard drive. So I took it to a computer store who had the right equipment after a month and a half of waiting they finally got all the data off my hard drive and put it on an external hard drive (Seagate Expansion Portable Drive). I then took it back to apple who replaced the hard drive. Now I'm in the process of reinstalling everything. I have never done a Time Machine back up or backed my laptop up to . Which I now will do very often once I've reinstalled everything. I have reinstalled all of my desktop images and folders as well as my iTunes library with no issues. However when i went to reinstall my iPhoto library it came up blank. I then Rebuilt the library several times and this was the result.
It shows that the photos and events are there but there are no thumbnails and if you click on an image or video nothing comes up.
Please help i have three years worth of images from holidays on here and would be devastated if i lost them.

iPhoto cannot find the thumbnails or the original pictures.
Go to your iPhoto Library in the Pictures Folder.
Right-click on it and from the resulting menu, choose 'Show Package Contents'.
This will bring you inside the iPhoto Library package. There you should see a Folder called Masters. Within that, there should be folder containing your actual photos.
Are they there?

Copying saved iphoto library from external hard drive back to Macbook Pro

Please help, I have accidentally managed to permanently delete my iphoto library and by this I mean that I somehow dragged my library into trash and then emptied it. I don't know how this happend but I quite quickly found out I had done it and shut my computer down. I have since done a recovery with disk drill and have hopefully recovered most of my photos though I havent had time to look through all the 1000's of photos yet. I do have a copied version of my library on an external hard drive that I did in 2012 and I have tried to copy this library back to my pictures folder so i at least have my photos up to 2012 back but it is not working. I have read through some of the threads on here regarding iphoto library back ups and I think the issue might be that the external hard drive is formatted Fat32 and not os extended.
I am hoping someone can help me get this working. Here are the facts.
1. I am running iphoto 11, version 9.2.3 on a macbook pro running os x 10.6.8
2. The copied iphoto library is on an external hard drive that is fat32 formatted. I can open the package contents and see the originals folder with all the yearly folders inside and all the numbered folders inside that with the pictures in them, so I know the pictures are there.
3. If I try to copy the library folder over to the pictures folder on the macbook i just get a pop up window saying 'preparing to copy iphoto library' and the scrolling bar but the copy doesn't actually start.
4. If I try to open the library through iphoto by holidng down the option key, iphoto tells me that the library has to be upgraded but i am reluctant to upgrade the original copy of the library. I would prefer to copy it first in case anything goes wrong but then i have the problem above that the copy doesn't work
Thank you in advance for any help.

The copied iphoto library is on an external hard drive that is fat32 formatted.
Therein lies the problem. iPhoto libraries need to be stored, placed on a disk formatted OS X Extended (journaled). The FAT format doesn't support the complexity of an iPhoto library and can, and more often than not, corrupt a library.
Try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download the free version of iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed, i.e. in the Pictures folder of your MBP. Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

Can't open iphoto library from external hard drive

I'm backing up my enormous iPhoto library to two external hard drives in order to free up space on my computer. Before deleting the photos permanently from the laptop, I wanted to double-check that the copies of the library I made on the two externals would actually work on another computer, should something happen to my laptop. When I plug my external hard drive into my laptop and use option+click on iPhoto to choose which library I want to use, it opens up the library from the external just fine, no problems. However, when I plug the same external into a different Mac computer and do the same process, I get the immensely frustrating message of "You can't open photo library blah blah blah changes have been made using newer version of iPhoto". However, both my laptop and the second computer are running the exact same version of iPhoto (the most recent), so that can't (or at least shouldn't) be the problem. I found suggestions to rebuild the library, which I did, but the same result occurs. I double-checked to be sure that neither computer needed updates (they didn't).
When I plug one of the externals into the second computer, though, I can open up the package contents of iPhoto library and all the photos are visible, so I know the information is all there. But I don't want to lose my albums, etc.
So do I just delete the copies of my library from the externals and try it all over again? I'd prefer not to, since I have 40,000+ photos, and that takes a while.

To reinforce what Larry pointed out both Macs must be running the same version of iPhoto. And the external HD must be formatted as shown in this screenshot:
and don't forget the ignore ownership.
OT

Backing up iPhoto Library from external hard drive through ChronoSync to Time Capsule

I have a 2008, 2GB Mac Mini. I moved my iTunes library, which is mostly movies, to a 4 TB My Book Studio, as it exceeded the space on my Mac. I back up my computer to a 2 TB Time Capsule. I exclude the My Book Studio from being backed up on the Time Capsule as it takes up all the space due to the iTunes library. I am wanting to move my iPhoto library as it is starting to take up to much memory on my Mac also.
My question is, if I move my iPhoto library to the My Book Studio, then get an application such as ChronoSync (or an App that will do incremental back ups & not do a completely new back up each time) to automatically back up my iPhoto library to my Time Capsule, can I set it to specifically bak up the library off the external hard drive, or will it only back up info that is stored on my Mac?
Thanks!

Thanks Terence!!! I received a reply back from Chronosync. I will be purchasing their app......it sounds pretty slick
Here is their reply to the same question I asked here:
ChronoSync Express will back up the contents of whatever volume or folder you target as your source target to the volume or folder you choose as the destination target. As long as you can access the volume or folder via Finder of your Mac, ChronoSync Express can access it as well. You can create a sync document that targets your iPhoto library and nothing else on the My Book Studio and backs it up to the Time Capsule then schedule it to run automatically.

Retrieving iPhoto pictures from external hard drive

Yesterday, I was finally successful in finding and retrieving E-mail files from my external hard drive. This long-awaited success made me optimistic that I would be able to do the same with missing photos from my iPhoto library. That turned out to overly optimistic, and I failed completely. Anyway, I think I found an important clue for my failure, and I'm hoping that someone here will be able to unravel that clue.
I have been unable to copy the screen where I find my iPhoto files, but I think the important thing is that many of them open up into a picture of a flower, which is probably a representation of a photo album. However, there is more to it than that. The last such picture I found showed--I think--that it contained 3.12 GB. If I'm right, these "photo albums" contain all of my missing iPhoto pictures. The problem is how to open up these "photo albums". Can anyone help?
One last thing: these iPhoto pictures were added to my computer over a period of years, so several different operating systems were involved. I remember Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion, but I've had some kind of Mac for at least ten years, so there were probably several others. Also, of course, several versions of iPhoto. I only mention this because I can remember notices on the screen to the effect that "this file cannot be opened because it was created in another operating system," or something to that effect.

I can't take a picture of the screen showing the iPhoto files, but here is what's there:
iPhoto Library
iPhoto Library (original 2)
iPhoto Library (Original 2) Recovered Photos
iPhoto Library (Original 2) Recovered photo 2
iPhoto Library (Original 3)
iPhoto Library (Original)
iPhoto Library (rebuilt).photolibrary
iPhoto Slide shows
When I click on them, I get different results. Sometimes photos, but also the following messages:
(1) iPhoto is unable to open this library. The library has issues that require rebuilding to correct.
QUIT REBUILD
(2) The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of iPhoto.
Your iPhoto library will not be readable by previous versions of iPhoto after the upgrade. The upgrade process for very large libraries may take an hour or more to complete.
QUIT UPGRADE
(3)
To get started with iPhoto, do any of the following:
Connect a camera or memory card
Drag photos into iPhoto
Chose file>"import to library"

Can't transfer iPhoto Library FROM external hard drive to iMac

I just bought a new iMac. Before I said goodbye to my old computer (a MacBook), I dutifully backed up my iPhoto library onto an external hard drive. Upon setting up my iMac, I easily accessed the iPhoto library on my HD, but I didn't import it. I was able to see all photos, albums, etc.
But when I went to import the entire iPhoto library into my iMac's hard drive (into the Pictures folder), it wouldn't import. A mesage comes up that says "Preparing to copy" and the blue-and-white bar just spins and spins, without actually copying anything. So, it's weird -- there's clearly communication between iMac and external HD, but I can't take the iPhoto library off the hard drive to make it my new computer's iPhoto library.
Any hints? Thanks.

Have you tried restarting your machine?

All final cut events, projects disappeared from external hard drive

I had a re-start this morning and the event I was working on lost its purple box and its white star. Can't find the project, can't find the event.
Even more troubling, the Final Cut Events and Library folders on my external hard drive is also gone. Really need some help here. Any ideas?

It almost looks like all of the original media is gone.

My iPhoto photolibrary disappeared from external hard drive.

Due to its size, I keep my iPhoto on an external HD. I'm sure the photos are still there, but they do not show via my mac. I read a suggestion to delete the photolibrary from iPhoto Manager, but now iPhoto will not open. Ratherm I receive an error message, "The photo library needs to be upgraded to work with this version".
Help, we have 5 years of family pics on this library. I did back it up, but it's been a year or so ago.

Your problem is with the ED, then, isn't it?
And you canmot have an iPhoto Library on a Network share.
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
See this article
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168
for more. Note also the comment:
“Additionally, storing the iPhoto library on a network rather than locally on your computer can also lead to poor performance or data loss.”

Had to restore iPhoto library from external hard drive. Key Photos Blank!

Photos seem to be there, but the key photos are either blank or all have the same one photo. How can I restore the key photo setting to automatically use the first photo in each group?
Is there anything else I need to do to formalize this process and get iphoto running normally again?
Thanks!

Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Include the option to rebuild the thumbnails - it can take three or four goes to work.

How do I get the pictures from my iPhoto on my external Hard Drive to show up in the already existing iPhoto on my MacBook?

I have an early 2008 MacBook. I had been using iPhoto on this MacBook until I purchased an iMac in 2011, at which time I copied my iPhoto Library from my MacBook to my iMac. Then I realized that my pictures and music were consuming the memory on my iMac, so I moved iPhoto and my iTunes LIbrary to an external Hard Drive. Now I am in a situation where I do not have access to my iMac, but will need to use my MacBook as my main computer for the next year. So, I have my iPhoto on an external hard drive and I plug it into my MacBook and see the iPhoto Library folder, but when I click on it, it opens up the old iPhoto that is still existing on my MacBook and will not show any of the new pictures?! At first I thought it wasn't able to show up anything because my MacBook was running two operating systems behind what my iMac was when I was running my iPhoto Library from that computer. So, I upgraded to OS X 10.7.5 and upgraded the existing iPhoto on my MacBook to iPhoto '11 version 9.4.3. However whenever I plug in the external hard drive and click on the iPhoto Library folder to open it up, it is still just opening up the already existing iPhoto on the MacBook (with my older pictures) rather than the iPhoto on the hard drive (with my newer pictures). How can I access my pictures that are on my external hard drive?

Thank you for your advice. I followed your directions, but came up with the same results. However, I did discover that whenever I open up the iPhoto Library that is already existing on my MacBook a certain set of pictures shows up. But then when I open up the iPhoto Library from the Hard drive another set of pictures shows up. BUT not ALL of my pictures are showing up on the iPhoto Library from the hard drive. At least the last two years of pictures are not showing up?! Actually, it appears that all the pictures are there from when I started using iPhoto about 5 years ago up until around the time that I got my iMac desktop computer and started using that (2 years ago). I have noticed that more recent videos I have made are showing up in a folder on the hard drive, but will not appear when I open up iMovie?! Any ideas on how to access my pictures from the last 2 years off of the hard drive???

I am trying to save photos from iphoto to an external hard drive

Help!
I bought a "WD Elements" external hard drive to save photos and make more room on my Macbook Pro. I can't move pics from iphoto to my "WD Elements" hard drive . I've recently gone on a few vacations and have a few thousand pictures to download. I'd like to save them onto my computer and then my external hard drive, but would first like to place old pics from iphoto onto the external hard drive and I am unable to figure out how to do this. I've tried selecting pics and then dragging them into the "Elements" external device, but this is not working (a white circle with a line through it pops up, as if I am unable to do this). When I select pics and click export, a message says that it's unable to export these pics to the hard drive device.
Please help! ~Thanks!

1. What format is the external drive? It sounds like it's ina format that Macs can't write to. Is it a NAS or NTFS?
2. Easiest thing: just move your iPhoto Library to the external
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

Importing iphoto from external hard drive

I was wondering if importing 4 gigs of photos takes longer than 30 minutes to import from external hard drive. The iphoto status after importing still shows "working" as the bar graph "charges" continuously. Does this mean it is still importing? Should it show any other info such as the number and title of photos being imported? Should I stop it after awhile and try a new method of importing? Help.

maxus2:
What method are you using, the copy files or use aliases? I imported 14,000+ files from my second HD and it took between one and two hours, I don't remember exactly as I was doing it 10-12 folders at a time. I was using the alias method thus giving me an 8G library folder on my boot drive for about 25.5G (14,100) of image files. See my reply in this thread, http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=327144&tstart=0, more some more thoughts on the alias method.

I have moved my iPhoto to an external hard drive. so now I have to have the external hard drive connected to my laptop to view the photos. Now when I want to import photos into iPhoto from my media card, I don't have room to connect both devices.

I have moved my iPhoto to an external hard drive. so now I have to have the external hard drive connected to my laptop to view the photos. Now when I want to import photos into iPhoto from my media card, I don't have room to connect both devices at the same time as the usb ports are side by side. How do I import my photos from the media card to the external hard drive now?

First transfer the photos to a folder on your MacBook using Image Capture in your Utilities folder. Then move them to iPhoto.
BTW, you might want to invest in a cheap USB hub.

Iphoto library on external hard drive now does not show all the photos when i access it from macbook

i backed up iphoto library to an external hard drive. Deleted photo library on the macbook. After transferring some new photos to macbook from a camera, when i access the iphoto library on external hard drive only the new photos show up. Originals are still in files, but don't appear when opening iphoto library on external hard drive.

Make a temporary, backup copy of your library if you don't already have one (Control-click on the library and select Duplicate from the contextual menu) and apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

IPhoto disappeared from external hard drive

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