After mandatory update of IPHOTO why did I lose all my photos

Question

After my harddrive died unexpectedly, apple installed a new harddrive.  As I was reinstalling from my backup drive, I received a message that I could not import my photos if I didn't update ILIFE-IPHOTO.  I followed directions and now have a blank IPHOTO.  My event names show, it indicates there are ex 48 photos, 120 photos, etc in each event, however the images are blank.
I have contacted IPHOTO support and went thru the procedures that they recommended (option command open iphoto and completed all four steps there, however I remain unable to access my photos (76000)
As bad gets worse, while attempting these changes, my external drive stopped being recognized by the computer and the computer store I took it to has still not been able to get into the partition.
So, I sit here after a couple of weeks, frustrated and lost.  Besides not seeing the photos, every time I spend 5 or 10 minutes in the 'new'IPHOTO', it shows and error and shuts down.  I am not impressed.  If there arent any other ways to fix this, then I will delete IPHOTO from my computer and start again with Adobe Photoshop Elements and never touch IPHOTO again. 
Fortunately, at least 50000 of my photos were backed up on other media so it is not a total loss - just a ton of work!
Any suggestions before I throw in the towel.

Answer 1

Frankly, I'm not sure where to go from here as your explanations are not clear to me. Upgrading from v8 to v9 required a purchase. Apple do not require you to buy a new version of the app just to restore from your back up, so I'm not sure what went on there. iPhoto is an element of the iLife suite of applications. It would seem to me that you have damaged backups and some confusion rather than a problem with iPhoto.
Try the following: I have no idea if it will help but it won't harm...
Option 1
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. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.  
Regards
TD