Desperate for help: My iPhoto library is "unreadable"

HELP!
Earlier I tried to open my iPhoto library and it prompted me with a weird message that I've never seen in all of my years using the software. I forget the exact words of the alert because this occurred like two hours ago, but it was something along the lines of needing to upgrade my software in order to view my current library. Although I have an up-to-date version of iPhoto '08, I continued.
Now, my iPhoto library quite literally went back in time; I don't have any of the photos I've imported since 2007, and the ones that are there are unnamed and unorganized.
I was able to locate the images on my hard drive, but when I try to import them to the library, I get an error message: "The following files are unreadable because they are an unrecognizable format," or "The following files are unreadable or are already located in the library."
I'm desperate to get those photographs back into my library, and I have tried everything. I downloaded a software called iPhoto Library Manager, and I've tried to rebuild iPhoto directly, but I kept getting error messages. Does anybody have any advice?

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
iPhoto will not import pics from the active iPhoto Library - a sensible protection against duplication.
Your database file is damaged, and as iPhoto Library Manager cannot rebuild it, you’ll need to either
1. Restore from your back up
or
2. Create a new Library and start over:
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
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
TD

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How did you back it up before re-installing?
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TD

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KathysKode wrote:
Java install won't accept <Ok>?? Desperate for help??Such a poorly worded question.
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KathleenAnyone so foolish as to post their e-mail in a public forum like this is open to having their competence questioned. Hope you like spam.
%

If You Are Desperate For Help..

Hey guys, if you are desperate for help, go to this website...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61711
When it finishes loading, you should be able to see a box on the right-hand side that says "Chat With A Support Agent"
Hope this helps with your problems! Good Luck!

Stewart
This forum is for questions regarding the LabVIEW Datalogging and Supervisory Control Module. You will have more luck posting this question in the general LabVIEW forum.
Good luck

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my 4S keeps showing me sos only only invalid sim? desperate for help?

Ok, so I just went to Australia from NZ and the same thing happened to me. I was so annoyed as I couldn't text, ring or anything. I returned to NZ this morning, rang telecom and they said it's a hardware issue and talked me through this:
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My IPhoto Library is unreadable Tried everything recommended even deleted IPhoto and I still get the error message

Hi
I keep getting the error message (photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable ) I've tried everything that has been suggested, I've even deleted Iphoto and reinstalled it ,but this doesn't work, I even reinstalled Lion, without success. I've checked for virus s and that is ok. Any ideas as to what the problem is and how can I solve it.
Regards
Richard

Try this solution:
Start over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Move the existing library folder to the desktop.
2. Open the library package like this.
Click to view full size
3. Launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
4. Drag the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the iPhoto Library on the desktop into the open iPhoto window.
Click to view full size
This will create a new library with the same Events as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects. Your original libraruy will not be affected. It will still exist in case you want to try other fixes on it.
OT

Suggestions for archiving an iPhoto library? (and more questions)

Ok, so here is my issue:
Over 12,000 photos
Over 65GB
New camera that doubles the average file size of most previous pics to ~3MB
I've thought about starting a new library and archiving the current one, but there is one thing I am scared of: having an old library sitting around and not getting progressively updated. The times I have had problems with my library have been when skipping between versions of iPhoto and the library essentially gets "combo" updated (not the program itself, but when it updates the library files as it often does).
I don't think I would like to access the library from an external. It was a mess when I did it with iTunes, and regardless of available space, I think a new library that doesn't have any left over data from when it was started in 2002-2003 would be a good idea.
With that out of the way:
What are your ideas?
What have you done for this?
Just in case there is a drastic change like Final Cut X, or it is dropped like iWeb/iDVD in 10 or 100 years in the future, how can I make a clean backup that does not rely on iPhoto? ("show package contents" is just messy as I have many modified and don't require the originals in those cases.).
Any thing else that I haven't thought of, or any sites you could point me to or personal experiences with this would be great. Thank you!

There are several different questions in there.
I've thought about starting a new library and archiving the current one, but there is one thing I am scared of: having an old library sitting around and not getting progressively updated.
Simple solution: keep progressively updating it? In other words, use it all the time. Move your existing Library to an external drive.
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager
Think of it this way: You have a Master Library which contains everything and another which contains more current material.
I don't think I would like to access the library from an external. It was a mess when I did it with iTunes, and regardless of available space, I think a new library that doesn't have any left over data from when it was started in 2002-2003 would be a good idea.
There is no reason not to use an external as described above, This is also true of iTunes. I have no idea why you might regard it as a benefit not have data from 2002. It's much more convenient to have all the data in one Library.. If it was a mess when you did it with iTunes then respectfully I suggest that maybe you didn’t do it right . My iTunes Library runs to hundreds of gigs so it has to reside on externals, and does with no problems.
Getting Photos out of iPhoto is simple and safe: File -> Export. You can choose to export Masters. Or just current versions and so on.
Apps like iPhoto2Disk or PhotoShare will help you export to a Folder tree matching your Events.

What Mac should I purchase for our large iPhoto library?

My name is Mike. We have an iMac from ~ 2005/2006. It's the first one wit hthe Quad-Core CPU from Intel. It's body is white.
It is still solid for everything but iPhoto; iPhoto's now quite slow and frustrating to use.
iPhoto is generally ok viewing photos, but it's really slow when I add text descriptions to the pictures. I add the text to help find the photos later... mostly via Smart albums, and also via the Search function within iPhoto.
We are still on iLife 09 (maybe 08... before Faces & Places).
Given the following iPhoto specs, what minimum Mac machine tech specs do I need?
We have 27,000+ photos, consuming 105 GB disk space.
We have almost 800 events.
We have 500+ smart albums and approximately the same number of regular albums. Purpose? Make photos easier to find on the iPod, when showing others via output to their TV screen.
Do we need the max of:
- RAM?
- Video RAM
- CPU
- Other?
Can any of the Apple laptops support our needs (with a big enough hard drive assumed)?
Thanks,
Mike

They didn't have any quad core iMacs in 2005/06. The just switched them from PPC to Core Duo/Core 2 Duo chips.
All the modern Macs come with 4GB RAM standard and most of them discrete graphics chips. If you were to purchase even the newer iMac base model, it is way ahead of the early Intel Macs. Infact, I am running a new i5 Quad Core iMac. It's the base model with only a 500GB HD. I use professional apps like Final Cut and Logic Studio on a daily basis. I don't use iPhoto anymore, but my Aperture library is about 80GB so it is close to your iPhoto library. My iMac opens everything instantly. I can browse my photo library by albums, faces or all events and it never even slows down.
If you were interested in a notebook, I would recommend the 15" or the 17" Macbook Pro with quad core i7. Since you work with a lot of photos, the base model doesn't give you enough native pixels on the screen and uses dual core CPUs, and only the higher end models have a discrete graphics chip with 1GB or more of dedicated graphics memory.
So what I am saying is any modern iMac, or Macbook Pro 15" or higher should suit you well. Stay away from the Mac Mini or Macbook Air because the CPUs are slower, the new ones rely on HD 3000 integrated graphics, and you will run out of hard drive space faster!
My base model iMac only has a 500GB HD, but all other models have 1TB standard. All the audio and video files I do not store on my internal disk, I always put them on an external RAID array through firewire. But my Aperture photo library is stored locally and is super fast browsing. But I only have about 20,000 photos right now.

Unable to restore from Time Machine after an erase and reinstall - MacbookPro cannot access my old Time Machine backup volume. Desperate for help please?

My MacbookPro would not move past the Apple logo and spinning wheel for a number of hours. After trying the numerous suggestions to solve the issue I eventually opted to erase and reinstall feeling confident my Time Machine backups would come to the rescue. After a successful erase and reinstall I tried to restore all my data from my TIme Capsule using Command-R during start up and by using the Migration Assistant. Neither worked and I have received messages to the effect that the backup volumes on my Time Capsule cannot be access because I have entered a wrong password or because the backup volume is damaged.
When I open my Time Capsule in Finder and click on my sparsebundle I get an eror message saying that the disk image could not be opened and that the resource is temporarily unavailable.
Desperate for some help and comfort that many years of personal data have not been lost.
Thank you.
M

When I try to Verify option it says Unable to Verify - Resource temporarily unavailable.
Here is the past of the log screen:
2013-06-09 15:00:00 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:09:01 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:13 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:21 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Attach Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Initializing…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Attaching…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Finishing…
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500: Unable to attach “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:02:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:05:22 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:07:11 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500:
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2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500:
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2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500:
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2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
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Need help saving iPhoto library from damaged hard drive

Trying to help my wife, she has the following:
MacBook Pro running OS X Lion version 10.7.3
iPhoto 11 version 9.2.2
Her hard drive failed last week and she had a ton of photos on it, of course not backed up.
We took her machine to the local Apple Store, they confirmed they couldn't recover the data and they installed a new hard drive in the MacBook. We took the old hard drive to my local PC supplier who's very clever, he worked on the hard drive and was able to copy all my wife's documents to another storage device.....but, he couldn't copy the iPhoto library and is requesting some help.....he doesn't know much about Macs, nor how iPhoto works.
I've read a lot of the posts on this forum and am learning about how the iPhoto library works....and how it requires a Mac based back up hard drive in order to copy it. Okay, here are my questions:
1. My PC troubleshooting guy can see the iPhoto library icon on the damaged hard drive, he says its a huge file. It appears we would need to supply him with a Mac formated back up hard drive, then he could just move that iPhoto library icon (which contains all photos) to the new back up drive. Is this correct?
2. Once we have this old iPhoto library on the new back up hard drive, we could bring it home of course, but then I need to get it into the new hard drive on my wife's MacBook Pro. I'm assuming I can plug this back up drive into my wife's machine, then import the old library into her machine. How do I do this properly?
3. If I bring the old library into the new MacBook Pro hard drive, will it erase the existing iPhoto library on her new hard MacBook Pro hard drive, or will it combine them somehow? She has added of course some pics to the new iPhoto library already, but if we have to delete them it won't kill us. The old stuff that got recovered from the damaged drive is more important.
Thanks ahead.....now to the experts?

Thanks Terence.....
regarding this point:
3. use the paid version ($20) of iPhoto Library Manager to merge the Libraries. that way you won't lose anything.
I have another access to her new photos, whereby I could reload them onto her MacBook if we lose the new library.....so I'll save the $20 and just reload them.....two more questions:
1. So, if I drag the iPhoto library folder from the new back up hard drive to the Pictures Folder in Finder, will that overwrite the existing library folder on her MacBook?
2. After I drag this folder into finder, will iPhoto recognize everything? I assume yes....just checking.
thanks ahead!

TD or Old Toad pls help: Renamed iPhoto Library File....no pics in iPhoto6

I am working on my parents computer... they have iPhoto 6 and I renamed the iPhoto Library folder in Finder. Obviously this is not a good idea since now there is no content (pics) in iPhoto.
This action made a new folder (with the new name) in Finder's 'pictures' file. So, I tried to copy and paste (or maybe I highlighted & moved it, can't recall) the contents of the newly named folder back under the 'iphoto library' folder however, that did not make the photos reappear in iPhoto.
After moving (I think I highlighted & dragged) the file contents of the newly named folder back in the 'iPhoto Library' folder, I deleted the newly named/created file.
The individual pics seem to be in the modified & originalsfolder but I do not know how to get them back into iPhoto..
I attempted to rebuild the iPhoto library but it seemed like an empty request since the computer didnt do anything when this option was selected.
I know there is a solution but I dont know the smartest nextstep. I have read related discussions that almost provide a solution.
Currently, I need to figure out a way to:
1) get what seems to still exist in the modified & original folders back into iPhoto even if it means loosing album names, keywords. I am hoping this route doesn’t wipe out dates from when the images were taken. If there is a way to get them back into iPhoto this route, I need instructions.
or,
2) I have a back up of the entire HD on an external HD. Would itbe best to somehow use that to replace what I have on the computer HD? I do not know how to do this so for sure need guidance.
or,
3) Find another solution, quickly…
Thank you so very much as I need to fix this ASAP.

See my reply in your other thread.
Regards
TD

Help! iPhoto library not available to other Apple applications

My iPhoto library is not available for browsing in other Apple applications like iMovie, Mail or even Desktop and Screen Saver. I've rebuilt the iPhoto database, fixed permissions, tried to do over starting with a clean plate and importing the database and nothing seems to work. The iPhoto library is unavailable to other Apple applications that can make use of it.
Any ideas as to how I can fix this problem? FWIW, iTunes is available in other Apple applications and iPhoto seems to work just fine as a stand alone application it just doesn't want to play with the other children anymore.
Thanks.

Eric
Sharing between applicationns is enabled by a file in the iPhoto Library Folder called the Albumdata.xml file.
First step: Remove this file and restart iPhoto. This will force iPhoto to rebuild the files. Then relaunch the other apps, see if they see can see iPhoto.
If not, do you have any non-ascii characters in your titles or keywords - bascaly anything that's not 0-9 or a - z.
If that's not the issue, have a look at this thread
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3870956
especially Dave E's discovery about malformed strings in the albumData file.
Regards
TD

Best workflow for cleaning up iPhoto library?

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a workflow to clean up a large iPhoto library. Up until now, I have kept every photo I took. Now I want to go through and trim it down to the best photos. I know iPhoto can "hide" photos, but I want to delete them to reduce space, and make it easier to go through my "faces" and "places" updates. I was thinking of adding a "deleteme" tag to the ones I want to trash, then creating a smart album to collect them. Any other ideas?
Thanks!

Personally I prefer going through and dragging the unwanted photos to the trash doing it in one step rather than making it a two step process
You could do it with key words -- or flagging photos and then creating an event from flagged photos and deleting that event.
Remember to empty the iPhoto trash every 100 or so photos - if you get too many n the trash it will not empty
LN

What is the best option for storing my iphoto library on the cloud?

I was curious as to what people are doing (other than backing up to external HD) for backing up the iphoto library? Anyone using any cloud solution out there for storage? What are some of the best options? I have around 30,000 photos in my iphoto library.

There is no good solution for storing the Library in the Cloud. The amount of data involved means that uploading or downloading is very, very slow. We do see posts on here from people trying to restore from a back up to the Cloud wondering if it's possible to speed up the download currently estimated in days. Running a Library from the cloud is just painfully slow - people have tried it and that is the consensus.
However, as part of a comprehensive back up plan there is a lot to be said for backing up your Photos to the cloud. Not as good as backing up the whole Library, but as a "last line" you at least have your photos. There are many options: Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug etc. However, check the terms of your account carefully. While most sites have free uploading, you will often find that these uploads are limited in terms of the file size or the bandwidth you can use per month. For access that allows you to upload full size pics with no restrictions you may need to pay.

Help Restore iPhoto Library from external drive

Shortly after upgrading to Maverick my hard drive died, a complaint for another board. Anyway, I was foolish and did not back up my hard drive. However, after apple replaced the hard drive I had them give me the old drive. I bought a case for it and was able to manually pull over all the data I needed except for the iPhoto library. I noticed when pulling the information over if I pulled an entire folder over that more than15gb or so it would fail. But if I went an pulled over some groups of them (about 1GB) at a time it would work. The problem is the iPhoto Library only shows as on file/folder, and I cant figure out how to access it as indidivuals files. Is there a way to break up the iPhoto library into all the files so I can pull them over. The file is currently about 150gb and fails everytime I try to drag it over.

The library is a package and can be entered as shown in this screenshot:
So if you can't move the entire library over at one time you can do the:
Launch iPhoto Library Manager and use it to rebuild the library on the EHD. However, have the rebuild library be created on the new internal HD.
OT

Desperate for help: My iPhoto library is "unreadable"

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