Easiest way to recreate a corrupt iPhoto library without loss of metadata?

I have stumped the community with my problematic undeletable keywords in a specific iPhoto library.  I've been trying to be diligent about identifying, keywording, describing and titling these images, and now I have about 3500 images, each of which has from 3-12 of more than a hundred keywords linked to it; most also have descriptions, and titles in addition to filenames.  I've run into a bizarre problem where sometimes an incorrect applied keyword cannot be removed from a particular image or series of images without deleting/readding the images to the library and starting over with them; or deleting/readding the keyword, and that means getting the new version of the keyword accurately back on the images to which it does belong.
(my thread on the keyword problem is here [https://discussions.apple.com/message/25995671#25995671])
The problem recurs over and over, but so far, only in this one library, despite multiple repair and rebuild database steps.  It's semifunctional now, but I have to assume that sooner or later the whole thing will explode,  so need a way to get all my images and their information safely out of  this library and into another one.  The images are quite well backed up to six other drives in 2 locations, but I have to assume at this point that my oldest TimeMachine backups for this library, in addition to being some hundreds to a thousand images behind, are perhaps also corrupt. 
I do not want to lose the hours and hours of work that went into this library--not the labelling of individual items, or the ability to find/reuse those keywords for newly added items.  Fortunately, because of the way I make use of this one, albums are unimportant, so I just need to retain images, their titles/descriptions/keywords, and ideally the keyword collection as a whole. 
How can I recreate this library, retain as much of the metadata as possible, and minimize the chance of carrying over the corrupting keyword problem to the next iteration?

Looking carefully at the FAQ, it looks like it will make all of my referenced libraries (the majority of them) into managed libraries.  I either have to give in to managed libraries and let ILM do everything (which I do not like, as I frequently access photos from other programs, plus I do not trust iPhoto or ILM to be around as long as I or someone else may wish to access my photos); or cave in to the not-so-siren call of a more professional library manager like Aperture. 
Thank you for the very helpful suggestion; I have to really think about this one for a bit--decide whether to do the short-term fix or a longer term change in how I've organized my now tens of thousands of images, and their associated metadata. 
I really want a photo manager that will be infinitely flexible, not touch my original image data unless I deliberately take things to photoshop, but attach metadata like title, keywords, and descriptions permanently to the images for archiving--not just keep them in a propietary database; not lose track of photos when I need to move them to long-term backup or get confused by multiple duplicate backup drives; and allow me to access images from other programs ideally without having to open the photo manager every time; and is broadly enough used and supported to ensure that new versions  will be available for the long term, or that migration assistants will be available for the next great thing.  And I want perpetual motion and world peace too. 

Similar Messages

  • Any way to repair a corrupt iphoto library?

    iPhoto seems to hang on startup because the library appears to be corrupt.  What's the procedure to rebuilt the library?
    Thanks,
    Dwight

    Option 1
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    If that fails:
    Option 2
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    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 

  • Corrupt iPhoto library - what next?

    I've spent the last few days trying to fix my corrupt iPhoto library.  Pictures I've imported in the last month are no longer visible within iPhoto (I get the exclamation point and the triangle).  The imported pictures are stored in the iPhoto library, where they should be, i.e. using the year/month/day file system, so I haven't lost them, but iPhoto can't see them.  I've done the following;
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    1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
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    Move the damaged iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the desktop
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    While you do this, your penance is to remember that with a back up none of this would have been necessary.
    Regards
    TD

  • How to recover a corrupt iPhoto library when iPhoto cannot rebuild it?

    Soon after upgrading to Yosemite, I've downloaded and installed iPhoto 9.6. Upon opening, iPhoto requested to upgrade the photo library, which I allowed. It got stuck at around 25% along the way, and I left it working on that overnight. The next day, it was stuck at the same point. I force-quitted the application and reopened it, tried to upgrade the library again, but this time the application crashed. When I reopened it, I found that 'permissions needed to be repaired'. So I did, and iPhoto crashed – now whenever iPhoto opens and tries to examine the library, it crashes. I tried repairing permissions again, rebuilding the database and all, to no avail.
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    Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
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    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.

  • Is there another way to open a different iPhoto library?

    Is there another way to open a different iPhoto library besides using the option key and clicking on the iPhoto icon? It takes me upwards of a dozen times to get it to work, so I get that screen where I choose which library I want to open - the option key usually just doesn't respond. And since it takes several seconds for my main iPhoto library to shut down everytime it incorrectly opens up, it ends up taking me upwards of a few minutes, and a lot of frustration, by the time the option key suddenly decides to randomly work and I can choose the other library I want. This is iPhoto '09, version 10.6.8, by the way.
    Thanks!

    Of course I understand about double-clicking. but how can I double-click to choose the name of the iPhoto library I want when I cannot reliably get the menu option screen listing my two libraries to come up. As far as where the two libraries are actually stored on my computer, I haven't a clue - I just created the libraries on that iphoto library menu screen at some point in the past when I was setting it up. Is there some other place I could navigate to via Finder to select the library I want? I just don't think I need to spend $20 on software that I don't need - if I has lots of libraries, sure, but most of the time I use just the one library. But it's driving me crazy that when I do switch, I m having such difficulty.
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  • Help removing a corrupt Iphoto library

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    Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

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  • What is the best way to re-build an iphoto library with 10,000+ images?

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    Regards
    TD

  • Best way to set up my iPhoto library with 2 logins?

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  • Portable Home Syncing corrupts iPhoto Library

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  • Is there a way to copy photos to iphoto library AFTER they are imported?

    Hi!
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    You seem to have some problems with repeating keys - especially with the ‘?’ and ‘!’. You may need to get that looked at.
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    When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
    Regards
    TD

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