ALL of my photos and my iPhoto library are missing!!!

Anytime I want to download photos (whether it is from an SSD card, iPhone or iPad) I simply plug in the device, wait for iPhoto to open, then choose the photos I want to upload. Today when I did so a message appeared saying "Which photo library do you want iPhoto to use?". The window options were blank! There were no libraries!!! I did a bit of research on the web and looked at quite a few other discussion threads. I cannot find my iPhoto library anywhere - under my user account, etc.
I have done nothing out of the ordinary lately. The last update to the system was May 22nd: OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 and iTunes 11.2.1
I don't have a back-up, because the 1TB external hard drive I have has other files on it, and I haven't wanted to erase them to use it for Time Machine. And I can't afford another external hard drive at the moment. I HAVE transferred about 60-70% of my photo library, but not all of it. Also, I downloaded iPhoto Library Manager as some of the other threads suggested. It found no other libraries to restore.
Can anyone tell me why my photos would have mysteriously disappeared in the past two days (my iMac is at work - a church where no one has been the past few days due to the holidays)? And where they might be?
This is serious!! (hundreds, if not thousands, of pics missing)
Thanks!

Give this fix a try:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager demo version and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - 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
4 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. 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.

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I want to remove all of my photos out of iPhoto there are approximately 35000 some imported from an old hard drive and a SD Card from my Nikon D500 how do I do this

I want to remove all of my photos out of iPhoto there are approximately 35000 some imported from an old hard drive and a SD Card from my Nikon D500 how do I do this?
I have iPhoto version 9.1.5 (615)
Mac OS X version 10.6.8
I want to do this because when I imported from my old hard drive there was an error message stating that 12 photos were not imported as the programm did not recognise the format even though they were jpegs like the other photos in that particular album. The dates of the photo folders are wrong I have multiple copies of photos and every time I start iPhoto I get the following message 12 photos have been found in the iPhoto library that were not imported would you like to import them No or Yes
if you press Yes the same message comes back again and if you press Yes again the program flicks to last import for 2 seconds and then opens events.
if you press No the message The photos have been placed in the folder/user/judith/pictures/iphoto Library recovered photos then if you press OK the original message 12 photos have been found.............
if you press No at this point the message The photos have been placed in the folder/user /judith/pictures/iphoto Library recovered photos_11 the end number goes up by 1 every time you go through this process
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Did you import an iPhoto Library from the old Hard Drive? Do you still have that old Library?
The way to clear out a Library is to Export the photos - Apps like iPhoto2Disk or PhotoShare will help you export to a Folder tree matching your Events.
For the annoying start-up message:
Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.
Look there for a Folder called 'Import' or 'Importing'.
Drag it to the Desktop. *Make no other changes*.
Start iPhoto. Does that help?
If it does then look inside that folder on your desktop. Does it contain anything you want? If not you can trash the folder.

I photo and the iphoto library

Guys -
Being fairly new and inexperienced with the whole iphoto thing i think i have mad "a fatal error". Allow me to explain...
I have put a several dozen pictures into iphoto and begun organising events. all going well..
There were some pics i didnt want so deleted them - and found them in iphoto trash - so i deleted them too. Thought everything was fine so i was browsing in the finder and found the option "all photo" clicked there and the deleted ones were there too..this is where i did something stupid - inadvertantly - i selected them all and deleted them - sent them to trash - and then emptied trash - Ahh - i know what your all saying! When i realised what happened i couldnt open iphoto any more - i think i deleated that too! So had to reinstall iphoto from the install disc - that went well - now - when i use the finder and browse to iphoto library the library size is nearly 50mb - which COULD suggest my pics are still there - but when i open iphoto now my events are shown with the correct number of pictures in each event - but no pics - is there a way of importing the iphoto library containing this 50mb - back into iphoto - ive tried the iport function and i browse to the iphoto library but cant select it. Any ideas of have i just been a numpty and lost all my pictures??!!

I wish that 'All Images' link in the SideBar did not exist at all. It's causing more grief than it is worth.
That's a saved search. It's no way to access your images - especially if you use iPhoto. Please ignore it from now on.
If your iPhoto Library is 50 mb then you have maybe 30 photos in there? Does that sound right?
SOme background: iPhoto is a database. This is why your Events are reporting the correct number of images - they are entered in the db, but I'm afraid you trashed your images.
iPhoto will not import from the active Library - to prevent duplication.
I think the best you can do now is start over. You're posting in the v6 forum, but as you refer to Events (a v7 feature) I'll guess that you're using that.
To create and populate a new library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder *and only the originals folder* drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

All of my pictures from my iPhoto library are gone after upgrading to Mavericks

I just upgraded to Os X Mavericks and now all of my pictures are gone from my iPhoto library, and of course I am unable to access this version of iPhoto on OS X Mavericks.
I tried to find them using a different application or in Finder, and in both cases "iPhoto Library" is in Gray and no contents are available. My system memory doesn't seem to be reflecting the number of photos I have either.
If I go back to my old operating system will it work? If not, I have lost all my pictures since February of 2011. I have been crying nonstop for an hour trying to figure out what to do.

Open the App Store and upgrade iPhoto to the Mavericks version. Installing OS X does not do anything to your iPhoto Library.
The iWork apps are free with a new iOS device since 1 SEP 2013. They are free with a new Mac since 1 OCT 2013. They are also free with the upgrade to OS X Mavericks 10.9 if you had the previous version installed when you upgraded.

Photos from my iphoto library are just green in imovie - Why?

I just bought iMovie 10 and I am using maverick. I imported a project from iphoto to imovie and started to work wih clips and photos. But now most of my potos are just green
see below:
Why?

Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.
Look there for the iPod Photo Cache.
Trash it. Start iPhoto and try sync again.
Regards
TD

HT5043 My daughter was taking pictures in photo booth and now all of our photos from the iphoto library appear to be missing. Any ideas how to recover them?

Does anyone know how to recover or view pictures after importing photos from photo booth? My daughter said that she was asked if she wanted to start a "new card". Is this term familiar to anyone. So sad to lose all our photos....

Sorry - what exactly was done? iPhoto and PhotoBooth have no relation to each other -
If she deleted the iPhoto libreary in error then take it out of the trash and put it back in the pictures folder - if the trash has been emptied then restore your backup of the iPhoto lbiarary - that is what backups are for - to protect against mistakes and failures
LN

There's only one photo on all of the photos in my iphoto library

what will i do? im a newbie on mac, help guys =) TIA

You mean the same thumbnail for all the shots? 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 options to rebuild the thumbnails. You may need to repeat three or four times.
Regards
TD

HT5260 Hi, my name is Gerard and my iphoto library is getting very large I would like to know if I can store all or most of my photos in a external hard drive and access them from Aperture?

Hi, my name is Gerard and my iphoto library is getting very large I would like to know if I can store all or most of my photos in a external hard drive and access them from Aperture?

Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

After updating to IOS 6.0.1 I cannot copy photos from the iPhoto library to the iPhone. The events appear correctly but the photo count in all the Events is 0

After updating to IOS 6.0.1 I cannot copy photos from the iPhoto library to the iPhone. The events appear correctly but the photo count in all the Events is 0

Same problem here, and it's not isolated.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20228281#20228281
I believe you will find you can again sync Photos if you delete the "iPod Photo Cache", but predict that any subsequent attempt will fail. In my case, the enxt sync removes all the photos again - I've seen other reports of error messages upon sync. Mine just fails silently. :-)

Having installed aperture 3 and imported iphoto library (15000 photos) Apertue 3 does not render most of my photos corectly most a blurred pixellated and distorted. Reverting to photo produces perfect results. Any suggestions

Having installed aperture 3 and imported iphoto library (15000 photos) Apertue 3 does not render most of my photos corectly most a blurred pixellated and distorted. Reverting to photo produces perfect results. Any suggestions

Galdaplh,
What do you mean by "reverting to photo"? "Revert" is not a function in Aperture so you must be talking about something else.
If you just performed the import of that many photos, Aperture will take some time to generate thumbnails. You can see if it is doing this sort of thing by {Command}-{Shift}-0 to show the Activity window.
Once Aperture generates all its thumbnails, you will have nearly instantaneous access to much, much better thumbnails than Aperture uses immediately after importing photos.
nathan

I just purchased Aperture and have 20,000 photos in my iPhoto Library. Can I import only certain events from iPhoto into Aperture or do I have to merge the whole iPhoto library?

I just purchased Aperture and have 20,000 + photos in my iPhoto Library. I see that I can create a unified library between the two. I am wondering if I can import only certain events from iPhoto (like only 2014 events) into Aperture or do I have to merge the whole iPhoto library? Are there any benefits to bringing the whole iPhoto library over to Aperture (iPhoto is SO SLOW for me, I wonder if it is because I have so many photos). Or, any detriment to only bring a few events over?
And, if I don't merge the two libraries, I assume that means I cannot do it at a later date?
Help. My local Apple store has had very few Aperture workshops, and the next one is like 2 months away.

Thank you so much for this information. Here are some responses/comments:
Disk space - it says 114.43 GB out of 499.25 GB free. I have no idea if that is enough.
iPhoto version is 9.5.1
Again, I am not sure how to know if I have 3rd party software...but I don't think I do. Is 3rd party software anything non-apple?
I will try rebuilding the library. if that doesn't help, maybe I need more memory...? That is what Apple suggested, but that, of course, means buying something else. I've already bought APERTURE, on their recommendation...
It wasn't, and they told me it was slow because I had too many photos for iPhoto to handle and that I should buy Aperture. Which I did.
What is your iPhoto version? Are you using the most recent version 9.5.1?
iPhoto can handle 20000 photos, no problem. Your computer can be slow for several reasons:
The most common problem for slowness - insufficient disk space. Don't let your free disk space drop below 20 GB of free space, better more. If the operating system does not have enough working space and the applications you are using, you will notice a very lagging behaviour.
Older or incompatible softweare can cripple your mac. Do you have any older third-party software installed, that might have installed incompatible kernel extensions?
Aperture might be slow or keep crashing, if you imported a corrupted image or incompatible video, that cannot be processed. Then Aperture will try over and over again to create previews and never succeed. You could test for this situation, by launching Aperture with the Shift-key held down. This will defer the generation of previews. If Aperture will launch and work better this way, you probably have some bad media in your photo library.
Another problem to check for is a corruption of your Aperture/iPhoto library. You have run the First Aid Tools to repair the iPhoto Library, but have you ever tried to rebuild the library? See this post by Old Toad: Rebuild iPhoto Version 11

Photos in my iPhoto library will not enlarge when double clicked on. they fill the screen and then screen goes black. hasn't happened before. thanks--

photos in my iPhoto library will not enlarge when double clicked on. they fill the screen for a second (or less) and then screen goes black. hasn't happened before. thanks--

There are several possible causes for the Black Screen issue
1. Permissions in the Library: 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 check and repair permissions.
2. Minor Database corruption: 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.
3. A Damaged Photo: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and right click on it. From the resulting menu select 'Show File (or 'Show Original File' if that's available). (On iPhoto 11 this option is under the File -> Reveal in Finder.) Will the file open in Preview? If not then the file is damaged. Time to restore from your back up.
4. A corrupted iPhoto Cache: Trash the com.apple.iPhoto folder from HD/Users/Your Name/ Library/ Caches...
5. A corrupted preference file: Trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder. (Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)
If none of these help: As a Test:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?

I have 8000 photos in my iPhoto library. Many are duplicated in the "Pictures" folder in the Finder. Is there an easy way to detect and delete duplicates in the "Pictures" folder?

Anyone know how to detect and delete duplicate photo files that exist in the Pictures folder in the Finder that are also in the iPhoto library?

There's no way to compare the photos in the library with those outside the library. However, as long as you're running a "managed" library
You can import batches of the photos, i.e by folder, into the library. If the photo is already in the library you will be given this notice:
Check that checkbox and clik on the Don't Import button. When that folder is finished importing (or not) delete it and go to the next.
If you need to check for duplicates in the library you can use one of these applications to identify and remove duplicate photos from an iPhoto Library:
iPhoto Library Manager - $29.95
Duplicate Cleaner for iPhoto - free
Duplicate Annihilator - $7.95 - only app able to detect duplicate thumbnail files or faces files when an iPhoto 8 or earlier library has been imported into another.
PhotoSweeper - $9.95 - This app can search by comparing the image's bitmaps or histograms thus finding duplicates with different file names and dates.
DeCloner - $19.95 - can find dupicates in iPhoto Libraries or in folders on the HD.
OT

When i go to attach a photo to email or load it to facebook it will not display any photos from my iphoto library and only allows me load ones that are in photo booth or saved on the desktop. Any ideas?

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ALL of my photos and my iPhoto library are missing!!!

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