Current iPhoto library keeps disappearing

Hello,
I keep having the same problem with iPhoto. I open iPhoto and it asks me to choose a library, offering me only one suggestion. I choose it, and I get an old version of the library with the last 2 years of photos and events, etc. gone. This happened a couple of weeks ago, and I found a message here that helped me fix it. It has happened again, but I can't seem to find the same answer that I did a couple of weeks ago? Anyone know how to fix this and how to keep it from happening again and again???
Thanks

After moving it to the final location, repeat step two.
Regards
TD

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IPhoto library completely disappeared from Lacie drive

Hi
I would be so grateful if anyone could help me.
My mac was backed up to an external hard drive (Lacie) then wiped. Within the back-up was iPhoto containing pictures from 2008 to 2013. They are my only copy and none have ever been printed out.
My daughter was making a movie for prom so I connected up the drive to get her some photos and videos. Indeed it was always my plan, that when she leaves for uni I would spend a year making albums of all of the pictures that no one has ever seen.
I went into time machine back up, latest and older copies, and there is no reference to iPhoto whatsoever. Many of the answers on line refer to empty iPhoto libraries. Mine is just not there, no reference to it at all. The back up is showing about 180 gb so the iPhoto library is not within this back up anymore as the library is much bigger.
I cannot understand what has happened.
I have googled every possible way of asking the question but i cannot find anyone whose iPhoto library has disappeared without reference to it.
Please help me
Thank you

What system and iPhoto versions are you using? Do you keep your MBP on all the time and iPhoto open? I
Do you have Time Machine enabled even when the EHD is not mounted? If so you may have "local" backups on your MBP that might have the library. See this site for more info: What are Local Snapshots?

I cannot open iphoto from my external hard drive. its there but when i open it, it just opens my current iphoto library.

anyone have any clues about this? I backed up my iphoto library last november. Now i would like to open it up and use some of those images. but when i plug in my external HD and try to open the iphoto library, all that happens is it opens my current iphoto library. i know all of my images are on the HD bc i can control click the iphoto library in the HD and click 'show ackage contents' and all images are there. plus the amount of space is correct. I do not understand why i cannot pull up the images??? any help would be greatly appreciated there has to be an explination, as well as a better way to retrieve all those images other than dragging each file indivdually and resaving it back to the computer.

The way to switch default libraries in iPhoto is to depress the option key and launch iPhoto - use the select library command to switch to a new default library which will remain the library until you switch again
And note that if you make changes to your backup library it no longer a backup but a different library
LN

When opening the latest version of Iphoto 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 lat

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.

My iphoto library has disappeared. How can I get it back?

My iphoto library has disappeared. How can I get it back?

I'm very new to this sort of thing, so bear with me. I had my computer in to the Apple store on Jan 10th, & they replaced Leopard with Snow leopard because of problems. I have iphoto 8.
This morning opening my computer a picture briefly appreared that I had saved to iphoto. I decided to place it in its correct event box, and ! sign appeared. Upon opening iphoto, I found a blank. I've not backed up my files. I've looked everywhere on the system, including Trash, applications, Pictures, all my document files.
Also I had 2 icons of iphoto on my desktop because it had disappeared 2 years ago & came back some months later. Two days ago I decided to clean up my desktop & moved the icons to the pIcture file and a document file. I don't know whether this triggered the disappearance. The main icon is still in the dock.
Does this help?

I cannot find my current iPhoto Library. I cannot remember the exact message but part of it said that the library might be being used by another application. (Could that be Elements 12)

I cannot find my current iPhoto Library. I cannot remember the exact message but part of it said that the library might be being used by another application. (Could that be Elements 12)

Rebuild the iPhoto Library > Rebuilding the iPhoto library

All of a sudden, I'm getting an error that says I can't open my current iPhoto library using this version of iPhoto. Then it tells me to use the latest version. But I don't know how and I don't know when it changed....

I cannot open iPhoto. The error reads: "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."
But, I don't ever recall doing that, and I need to access my iPhoto. Anyone help?

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

Sorry folks, I did something bad, I was looking how to save my current iphoto library to my external drive and I hit a wrong button, lost my current iphoto and now have only the backed up version from 2007, Woops I never was the quick witted one... PLEASE

I switched my current iphoto library out for the saved one on my external drive by mistake. It said, Switch Libraries.... Do you want to switch the current iphoto library from AAA iphoto library (what I called the old one I guess - in my OWC) toOWC Mercury on-the-go and relaunch iphoto? cancel or relaunch
Sorry, I was looking for a way to save my current iphoto images to my hard drive. Yeah, I guess just drag something over right? Anyway, now I cannot retrieve my last 2 or 3 years of photos, Can You HELP me?
Mac os X version 10.6.8
2.66 GHz Intel core 2 Duo
etc

Depress the option key and launch iPhoto = use teh select library option and select the correct one
yes to move your library to an external drive
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

My iPhoto library just disappeared!

All of a sudden my iPhoto library is missing. iPhoto can't find it, and it is not located in my pictures folder anymore. How can this happen? I googled this problem, and it seems it has happened to people occasionally over the years. Luckily, I have backed up my hard drive, but how can an entire 12 gb iPhoto library just disappear?

The computer works just fine. The iPhoto library is the only thing that disappeared. My friend plugged his iPhone into my computer to charge it, and when I opened the computer, I was asked something about which iPhoto library to sync with it. That might have something to do with it.

ITunes library keeps disappearing with network home directories&MacBookPro

I've been using iTunes with network home directories for years. My wife & I have network home directories on our Macs and we can log into any of our Macs with our network home directories. The actual iTunes Music folder is also on the network server and shared between our user accounts.
This has always worked fine with my G4 cube, my PowerMac G5 and my PowerBook. As long as I only open iTunes on one machine at a time, I can open it on any of my machines and everything works great.
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I can't figure out how to get any feedback on what's happening. Is there a debug log file I can enable?
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Iphoto Library Photos Disappeared

Using iphoto 8, just finished downloading photos from camera. Clicked umount on camera and disconnected mini usb from camera.
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Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Do you see anything in iPhoto, like thumbnails or empty thumbnails?
It's a damaged database file. The following may help: try the three fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library. Select all options.
Fix #2
Rebuild the library using iPhoto Library Manager as follows:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 -Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
2 -Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your User/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
3 - Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File->Rebuild Library menu option
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - Click on the Create button.
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Fix #3
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Creating a new library while preserving the Events from the original library.
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4. Drag the Originals folder from the iPhoto Library on the desktop into the open iPhoto window.
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TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. There are versions that are compatible with iPhoto 5, 6, 7 and 8 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
NOTE: The new rebuild option in iPhoto 09 (v. 8.0.2), Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup" makes this tip obsolete.

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And... after doing all that, I need to keep backups of my photos on an external drive. What is the best way to do this?
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Thank you so much for any advice you can provide!

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Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries
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Hello Goldie24,
And welcome to Apple Discussions!
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http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9345281
Hope this helps.
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Current iPhoto library keeps disappearing

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