Can't locate the right iPhoto Library
I have a friend who can't find the right iPhoto Library. Mac OS X 10.7 or 8... latest iPhoto. Searching in Finder for "iPhoto Library" produces no results, even though we see an iPhoto Library item in her Pictures folder (not the right one).
So this leads me to believe that for some reason Finder won't display that....not sure why it would do that...but anyway. She's a professional photographer, and doesn't know the name of most of the photos, because they are photos name by the camera. She tried to find some with just the .jpg extension but everything was email or web based results that we found. Thousands upon thousands. This has happened before, and it was fixed, but we can't remember how.
Any help on how to locate the right version would be great. Also, her Time Machine only seems to have the same one as in Pictures. I think the iPhoto Library she uses is located somewhre else on the drive.
I also tried Locate and Find in the terminal, but neither brought up anything.
Thanks in advance.
Download and use Find Any File to search for "Library6.iPhoto" which is a file in every iPhoto Library. If there's another library on your hard drive FAF will find it as it can search areas that Spotlight can't.
OT
Similar Messages
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I upgraded to Lion last month AFTER wiping the hard drive for the second time on my 2011 macbook pro. I am now suspecting that transferring my photos (I have over 8,000 saved on sd cards) to my computer is bringing all this trouble.
I was able to rectify some problems by dragging import file from library to desktop etc... But I am worried that these Copied Libraries and recovered photo files and AlbumData.xml file are a sign of something darker loomng ahead...Sorry but we have no idea what's going on, or gone on, on your machine. Neither can we see it. We only have your somewhat sketchy post. You mention that you can rectify "some problems", you mention "all this trouble" but neglect to mention what these problems and trouble actually are. So, I'm afraid it's hard to respond to your post in a meaningful way.
A couple of thoughts: 8,000 photos is not a problem. iPhoto is good for 250,000 in any one library. So, unless you have very limited HD disk space, this is not the source of whatever issues you are having.
If you're dragging parts of the iPhoto Library around the place, yes there could be trouble ahead. Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things, deleting them or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
There are two ways to get a copied library: one is to duplicate the Library yourself (either accidentally or deliberately) or while restoring from back up.
Regards
TD -
After iPhoto crashed, it automatically tried to rebuild and ten repair itself. iPhoto opens and all my albums are there, but no thumbnails. I've tried rebuilding the thumbnails twice, to no avail. So I tried restoring from backup (Time Machine) to the last version before the crash, but I can't because it says there's no enough free space to do so. What else is there left to try?
That is the file I tried to restore, /Pictures/iPhoto Library (I only have one library package). In Time Machine, I had choose "Restore to" and then manually select the Pictures folder again, not sure if that makes a difference. According to the finder, the package is 396gb in size, far more than the free space I have on the boot drive or backup drive. Time Machine seems kind of useless in this case, unless I go out and buy a new external drive just to restore the backup library file. But rebuilding hasn't worked yet.
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How can i share the same iPhoto library so that i dont have to update each computer?
Not easily. iPhoto is designed for a single user. While it is possible to share the Library there are significant limitations.
Some questions: Do you want all three libraries identical? Same photos, same Albums, Same slideshows?
Do you import and arrange photos on one machine or on all of them?
What networking do you have?
Regards
TD -
I tried to move my images (over 25,000) to an External Hard drive to open up some memory, hoping to make my computer run faster. It took three hours to move the images and I see them all in the mac's menus. However when I try to open them with iPhoto now, none appeared. and when I tried to import them back to the main HD they come in to iPhoto just fine, but not with the albums nor any of the massive organization i'd created in the original. this represents years of images, and I can't imagine that I'd have to recopy them into folders/albums again.
Terrance Devlin answered a similar question back in April of last year. He said to make sure the ExHD is formatted to MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and to move the library to the ExHD and then open iPhoto with the option button and select "Choose Library" from the resulting menu.
Command "I" tells me that the new drive is formatted correctly. I can't locate the "Choose Library" when I open iPhoto with the opt button.
First, I wondered if the application needs to be on the same drive as the Library. I sure would like to know if I can find out how to restore all the folders I had them in. Terrance's advice helped the user that had asked the question.
Here's the url for that archived discussion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3849933?start=0&tstart=0
Can anyone help? I'm using iPhoto 5. My MAC is an OS X version 10.4.11.
thanks, brokenlomHere are Apple's instructions:
If you are using iPhoto ’06 or earlier, you will need to follow these steps to tell iPhoto where the Library is now located:
Hold down the Option key on the keyboard and open iPhoto. Keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto Library.
Click Choose Library.
Locate and select the iPhoto Library in its new location.
(from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229 )
Below (in the link below) is what you should see when holding down the option key and opening iPhoto. Keep holding down the option key until this dialogue comes up. You want to select the Choose Library button.
http://appleclinic.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/change-default-dir-iphoto/ -
My iPhoto software got set up with two separate libraries of photos, one marked as default. I have saved photos to the non-default library, however now can't seem to find a way to open the non-default library. Every once in a while when I open iPhoto it will ask me, but usually it just opens the default library. How can I open the non-dafult library of photos?
When you launch iPhoto with the option key depressed you'll get this window:
Click to view full size
All libraries on your hard drive (and on external drives) will be listed and the currently used library will be listed as (default).
OT -
I tried moving an album from iPhoto to Pictures, but the entire iPhoto Library moved.
I now cannot open iPhoto. How can I get it back?A folder named Library popped up in Pictures. I didn't want the entire Library, just the one album.
When I open the Library Folder in Pictures, I get sub folders dated with years.
When I open the subfolders, I just keep getting more folders.
This looks like you were viewing your iPhoto Library; the contents of the Masters folder. Is your original iPhoto library still there?
Where do you keep your iPhoto library? In the default location in your "Pictures" folder? -
My aperture library lives on an external hard drive that is corrupt and I can not locate the library. I do have it backed up with TM. How do I safely restore the library from TM to my laptop? I am using the newest version of aperture on my macbook pro.
Hello Sandra,
The article linked below details how to go about restoring items from Time Machine in Snow Leopard.
Mac OS X 10.6: Recovering items using Time Machine and Spotlight
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6379
Sincerely,
Allen -
I know many have this issue but i can't find a solution to the problem. i get message saying insuffisiant disk space in the volume iPhoto library and i have plenty of space available. i have the new macbook pro with retina display. i have never seen this message before and i have 2 other macbooks and have had many other also. i am assuming this is a problem with the new macbook retina. does anyone know the exact fix to this issue? i have seen many sugestions to try to fix this issue but none have solved the issue for anyone that i can find in the Apple Support Community. thank for looking into this in advance.
******A true apple fan********Actually your suggestions are the ones that i have tried. i have seen that you have tried to help others with this issue and the only one that i could find that said they found the problem said that it was an ilife update issue and it fixed it and i have no available updates. i know it has to do with something in photo stream because it happens when i create a new library and it is loading the photos but i get the message before i reach the maximum 1000 photos. so i've tried updating, new library(first backing up photos and then deleting them from iPhoto), reinstalling OSX many times, running disc utilities. I called Apple the first day i had this issue and i was the first person to call them for support with the retina display and i actually had it escalated to a senior advisor and we thought we fixed the problem but we did not. i am pretty fluent in dealing with troubleshooting these type of issues and this is the first time i'm reaching out to the community. i figured now that the retina has been out some time now that there would be an obvious answer to this issue. thanks for the quick reply.
Bebers5 -
Hi. I need some help on the following problem. I opened iPhoto and, suddenly, it tells me " WHAT IPHOTO LIBRARY DO I WANT TO USE?" but i had a iPhoto library. When i search on my Pictures, i have the file IPHOTO LIBRARY but is was not the icon on it i previously remembered and it appears on a dim letters and it can not be opened ... How can i recover it??
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 Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords 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 -
I plugged my iPod into the computer and it says that my iPod is synced with another iTunes library, but it's not. So all my music and apps are gone. What can I do to remind the computer its the right iTunes library and get all my stuff back?
Same as you would if you bought a pc; copy everything from your old computer to your new one. Then you can just sync everything from the new computer, as you did with the old one.
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When I plug my Ipod into my computer it shows all my songs on it as reloading onto the device,
and sometimes it can't locate the files or they are just gone. All my songs are in my Itunes library
on my computer, and I do have it in my settings not sync the Ipod with my computer so I can
manage the content myself. It has happened multiple times.
I have cleared my Ipod off as well as my computer, and put all the music back on without seeing
any improvement. And as of today when I tried again it shows some songs on there but with 3 copies
of the same song trying to upload onto my ipod. And have of my playlist where empty. I am getting
frustrated and don't know what to do. Help.See these previous posts on dotted circles
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20813679#20813679
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20792130#20792130
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5524609?tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4643160?start=15&tstart=0 -
I am using UPK developer 12.1.0 single user. My sofware has crashed and needs reinstallation. Please suggest how can I take back up of my source files. I am unable to open the application and i can not locate the library backup folder on my local machine.
Also, does reinstallation takes the back up automatically or the files will be lost. Please help.Here are a bunch of scripts to get folder size under all circumstances. Take your pick.
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/site/search?query=get%20folder%20size&f%5B0%5D.Value=get%20folder%20size&f%5B0%5D.Type=SearchText&ac=2
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -
When opening the version of Iphoto i have an error message appears that says; You can't open your current iphoto library using this version of Iphoto. You have made changes to your photo library using a newer version of iphoto. Please quit and use the latest version of iphoto. What? If I can't open the current library using the latest version of iphoto, and I am asked to make changes the the newest version!!! I'm asked to run in circles chasing my tail...I had a new hard drive installed about 6 weeks ago. I am running MAC OS 10.5.8
What version of iPhoto do you have? If you're on 10.5 then you're not running the latest iPhoto
Any chance that the library was opened with another version?
Simplest solution will be to just restore from your back up. -
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
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