Cannot see photos with iphoto

Question

I tried to backup my photos with a new drive.  I had them all on an external lacie drive that was full.  I moved the photos and now iphoto cannot see them.  I made a copy on my hard drive but iphoto still cannot seem them.  I opened the package and all the photos are there, thank god.  However, I cannot get them into iphoto for browsing.  Any ideas?  I am running iphoto 08 and 10.6.8.
Bill

Answer 1

If you don't have a Preferences option under the iPhoto menu then you have a damaged iPhoto preferecne file or a damaged applicaiton.  First make a temporary, backup copy (if you don't already have a viable backup copy) of the library and try the following:
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
     User/Home()/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your
     User/Home()/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder. 
3 - launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto.  You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
If that doesn't help you'll need to reinstall iPhoto. To do so you'll have to delete the current application and all files with "iPhoto" in the file name with either a .PKG or .BOM extension that reside in the HD/Library/Receipts folder and from the /var/db/receipts/  folder,
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Then install iPhoto from the disk it came on originally.