Can't open iPhoto library on External HD

Saved photo library on iMac (iPhoto '08 version 7.1.5) to external HD (Mac OS Extended - journaled), it shows 50GB of photos saved, which is the correct size.
connected ext HD to MacBook Pro (Mavericks) running iPhoto 9.5.1.
Opened iPhoto while holding option key and switched from default library (on MBP) to library on external HD.
iPhoto opens new library but there are no photos only a yellow sticky note that asks to either connect a camera, drag files or import photos.
Used iPhoto Library Upgrader to update iPhoto '08 library but note said the library (on the external HD) did not need updating.
Any suggestions? 

I dragged the iPhoto library from the Pictures folder to a WD EHD.
The iPhoto library from the iMac is backed up with Time Michine on a Lacie EHD.  How do I rebuild the database on the WD EHD?  When I open iPhoto while holding the option and commansd keys it opens the library on the iMac.  It took 18 hours to move the library to the EHD and I would rather not have to do that again.  I would rather rebuild the library on the EHD.
Thanks for your help.

Similar Messages

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    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:
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  • Can't Open iPhoto Library on External Hard Drive

    Hi, please help!
    I currently have 2 iPhoto libraries. 1 is on my external hard drive- and isn't recognized by iPhoto anymore. And the other is a newer one, on my internal hard drive.
    Here's what I did:
    I copied my entire iPhoto library to my external hard drive (it is a Seagate, Mac OS extended drive) a few months ago, and I went ahead and deleted my iPhoto library on my internal hard drive. Then I started importing new photos from my camera, and a new iphoto library was created automatically on my internal hard drive.
    I tried to access photos from my old library yesterday by plugging my external hard drive in, and by hitting the "option" key when opening iphoto. Unfortunately, when I search for the library on my external HD, the only items that appear are music. None of my loose photos or my iphoto library are recognized by iPhoto.
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    Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
    Sounds like iPhoto is not seeing a valid database there.
    Try these in order - from best option on down...
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    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.
    3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
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    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
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    Of course you need to back up first. You should always have a back up before you upgrade or update anything.
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    Does anyone know who to open photos stored in the iPhoto Library without having to first save them to the desktop or some other folder?

    Last link does not work.
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    n Topic name: Can't Open iPhoto Library in CS3 Ext or through Bridge
    Forum name: Photoshop Macintosh - Message #3
    Posted By: mfettig - Mar 29, 2008 02:56 pm
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    Posted By: Ramón G Castañeda - Mar 29, 2008 02:20 pm
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    n Topic name: Can't Open iPhoto Library in CS3 Ext or through Bridge
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    Posted By: Ramón G Castañeda - Mar 29, 2008 02:18 pm
    iPhoto buries the images deep inside a package. :/ This question comes up often, but I don't recall anyone giving a straight solution. Do a forum search on
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    Discussion: Topic name: Can't Open iPhoto Library in CS3 Ext or through Bridge
    Forum name: Photoshop Macintosh
    Posted By: mfettig - Mar 29, 2008 02:56 pm
    Does anyone know who to open photos stored in the iPhoto Library without having to first save them to the desktop or some other folder?
    n Topic name: Lounge Gallery 3
    Forum name: The Photoshop Lounge Basement - Message #909
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    Dunno much about Picasa yet, Mizz Lizardie, since I only just rediscovered it about 45 minutes ago. But that first album I created was easy as pie. I downloaded the Google Picasa desktop app for uploading peekchairs, so I have to explore that, too. I a
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    Posted By: Micah Diamond - Mar 24, 2008 10:23 pm
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    Posted By: -macman - Mar 2, 2008 01:20 pm
    Arlen, take a look at this: http://www.macworld.com/article/50671/2006/05/photobrowser.html I just tried it, and it seems to work pretty slick. iPhoto doesnt even have to be running to use it. Simply drag files from the browser to wherever you choose
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    Posted By: -macman - Mar 2, 2008 11:30 am
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    Thanks -macman & Nani, I was hoping for a better solution. Yes I can export all my photos, but that defeats the purpose of using iPhoto to organize them. And yes I can find the originals with show in finder, but it's a bit tedious. I think
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    Forum name: Photoshop Macintosh - Message #1
    Posted By: Ramón G Castañeda - Mar 2, 2008 12:17 am
    Forget about what you have "imported into" iPhoto. Open the originals.
    Discussion: Topic name: iPhoto & Photoshop
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    Posted By: Arlen Nagata - Mar 23, 2008 06:50 am
    I'm using iPhoto to manage my photos, but I can't access the pictures in photoshop. What do I do? The closest thing I've found is in iPhoto I changed the "Preferences" of edit to open Photoshop. Is there another solution to integrat
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  • Downgraded OS from Mavericks and now can't open iPhoto library.

    Updated to Mavericks which made my machine unusable. Consequently reinstalled 10.8.5, and now I can't open iPhoto Library without updating to Mavericks again and installing latest version of iPhoto. Any ideas how to make my iPhoto library compatible with iPhoto 7.1.5?

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    Thank You for your help. I did what you sugested and it works. Only one more question. Just to make sure.
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