Can't see backup library after accidentally deleting library

Question

In trying to free up some hard drive space - it was almost empty - I accidentally deleted my entire iPhoto Library, emptying it from the trash. Thankfully I do back up to an external hard drive, and have moved the backed up library back to my Pictures folder. However, I cannot see the library in iPhoto, even when i Option-start the app and "Choose" that library. I only get 95 photos that i have imported since the accidental deletion and moved to that back up folder after re-copying it.
Any ideas why I can't see the Library in iPhoto even after choosing it? I'm not going to have to go through and import every photo am I? (I hope not as they are stored by year/month/day in hundreds of folders).
I would also like to know how to get this to work as I have ordered a new iMac today, and will want to choose the same Library on it too.
Thanks.
15 PowerBook G4 1.33   Mac OS X (10.3.8)  
15 PowerBook G4 1.33   Mac OS X (10.3.8)  

Answer 1

HI roger,
Navigate through the iPhoto Library folder and see if all your photos are in there. I just want to make sure that the backup library does indeed have your photos in there. If it does, and iPhoto still can't see your library, maybe a data file got messed up.
In that case, you can create a new library and import from the old very easily by following the next instructions below.
Close iPhoto
Rename your messed up iPhoto Library to "iPhoto Library_old"
Drag this library to your desktop
Hold down the Option key and launch iPhoto
This is the window you will get
Create a new library or choose a library to open
Choose to create a new library
Once this new empty library is open it is time to import the images from your old library
Go to File>add to library
Navigate to the old library on your desktop and highlight it in the window, then click the "import" button.
iPhoto will start importing the images from your old library
This is what to expect:
Your images will be imported in nice dated rolls. (make sure your view is set to sort by rolls to see it) There are a couple of caveats to this. You will get rolls named "Originals" These rolls will contain your video clips and your original images that you had edited. If you had RAW files they would be in those rolls too (I don't do RAW, so I don't know for sure) Delete what you don't want from those rolls. You will also get the jpeg pointer files to your video clips imported. They will just be jpegs and will not point to the video clips anymore as iPhoto made new ones when the clips were imported again. You can delete those. they should be in a roll right next to the newly imported video clips so they are not hard to find. The thumbnail files don't get imported as iPhoto makes new ones when the images are imported.
Once all you images have been imported, check through the library and make sure everything looks ok.
You can now start making your Albums, and do your keywords or any other organizational steps.
You can also delete the old library on the desktop.
It is also a good time to backup this new library to CD/DVD by burning the iPhoto LIbrary folder in the Finder, or copying the iPhoto Library folder to an external drive formatted for Macs, or copying the iPhoto LIbrary folder to an iPod.
Good luck!