After installing new HDD, some iPhoto Events/Photos won't display

Question

Problem: I upgraded to 1TB HDD a couple of days ago and tried to use the System Restore from Backup under Disk Utility. It never worked, got to a blue screen and just hung. So I reloaded Snow Leopard and then used Setup Assistant to move Apps/Files/Settings from my Time Machine Backup.
Today I was going through files to see if anything was missing and found a number of Events from 2010 that wouldn't display in iPhoto '08, just dark squares but with the event name underneath.
Rolling the mouse over the empty square displayed the correct number of photos for the event but photos wouldn't display.
Next I "Browsed" the Time Machine Backup (from iPhoto) and the same Events were also empty on Time Machine Backups.
The funny thing is the empty events are scattered meaning I have a full Events from Feb and March 2010 but empty events from Jan, Feb and May 2010. And then when I go into the Empty Events on Time Machine, I can call up the photo number but the photo won't display.
Is there a way to recover these photos? I'm pretty sure there on the TM backup and also on my new HDD.
As a "suspenders/belt" type person, I have the photos backed up on a Windows PC but rather work through this problem first.
iMac 20" 2.4 Ghz Mac OS X (10.6.4) AEBSn AXg

Answer 1

You can enter TM while in iPhoto and do a search for some of the missing photos by file name. When you find a version that appears to have them in exit TM, go to your Pictures folder, reenter TM, go to that version and restore the entire library. I'd keep both your current library and the restored. Then you can check to see if the missing photos are in the restored library.
If neither library have all of the photos but do combined you can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to merge the two libraries into a new 3rd library setting the option to not import duplicates. That should get you a complete library.
OT
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. There are versions that are compatible with iPhoto 5, 6, 7 and 8 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
NOTE: The new rebuild option in iPhoto 09 (v. 8.0.2), Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup" makes this tip obsolete.