Full Hard Drive and Missing iPhoto Library

I have having serious problems with my iMac. I am running Mac OS X Version 10.5.8 and iPhoto '08 Version 7.1.5.
I recently began receiving a message stating that my start up disk was nearly full, so I began "cleaning up" my iPhoto. By cleaning I mean I was deleting specific events and single pictures from events. Once I finished I restarted my computer. When I returned to my computer I reviewed the trash bin to see if there was anything that I did not want to delete from the computer and emptied the trash. (Not the trash in iPhoto, but the trash on the desktop). After these actions, my iPhoto library was completely empty.
I downloaded iPhoto Library Manager and followed the steps found on the internet to rebuild my library, but was unsuccessful. None of the pictures selected would populate back into iPhoto. I tried several ways, but now I just have several new libraries that are also empty.
I have been able to locate a folder with all of my pictures by going to my HD-->Users-->Pictures_-->iPhoto Library--->Originals.
The "Pictures_" folder was somehow created during one of the attempts to rebuild the library and is not the default "Pictures" folder from the computer. iPhoto Library is an icon along side the other libraries I created, but I am assuming that this is the original library, now empty, although once I right click it and choose "Show Package Contents," a folder named "Originals" contains all of my "missing" photos broken down by year since 2000 to 2012.
I tried to rebuild the library once more to access this "Originals" folder, but I am unable to select the iPhoto library that contains the folder.
Now, I am no longer receiving messages stating my start up disk is full, but that my "Disk is full." It will not even allow me to open many Office or PDF documents that are saved on my computer or that I try to open via email or online. Sometimes it shows a message that the "Disk is full" or that it is in use by "Another User" and will allow me to open a read-only copy. Who is another user? Do I have a virus too? Have I been hacked?
I have since deleted any documents and photos that I could, but I hasn't changed my problems. I have also purchased a Western Digital for Mac 2TB External Hard Drive, but I am clueless as to what I am doing. I can find my documents on the hard drive, so I assume I have successfully backed my computer up to the external hard drive.
Please help!
Thank you!!!

I recommend you take a look at this freeware that it is very easy to use and it will show you exactly what is taking up your space.
Then you can choose to delete things if you see they are doubled.
http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/index.php
PS: Before you mess up with your home folder, be sure you have another account with admin rights so you can always login to your computer in the event of deleting the wrong things.

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I replaced my hard drive and lost iPhoto. Is there a way to retrieve? I can not find the starter discs that came with my Macbook Pro.

Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers. You can purchase replacement discs from Apple.
Or, you can upgrade to Lion or Mountain Lion:
Upgrading from Snow Leopard to Lion or Mountain Lion
You can upgrade to Mountain Lion from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99.
If you sign into the App Store and try to purchase Mountain Lion but the App Store says your computer is not compatible then you may still be able to upgrade to Lion per the following information.
A. Upgrading to Mountain Lion
To upgrade to Mountain Lion you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Purchase and download Mountain Lion from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mountain Lion is $19.99 plus tax. The file is quite large, over 4 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
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       Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
         1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
         2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
         3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
         5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
     Are my applications compatible?
         See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps.
     For a complete How-To introduction from Apple see Upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion.
B. Upgrading to Lion
If your computer does not meet the requirements to install Mountain Lion, it may still meet the requirements to install Lion.
You can purchase Lion by contacting Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers. The cost is $19.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download. You will get an email containing a redemption code that you then use at the Mac App Store to download Lion. Save a copy of that installer to your Downloads folder because the installer deletes itself at the end of the installation.
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       1. Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7,
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       4. 7GB of available space
       5. Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.

Can i use a separate hard drive for my iPhoto library?, can i use a separate hard drive for my iPhoto library?

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Yes it is.
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.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

I had to get a new hard drive and now iPhoto is gone. Can I get it back?

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reinstall from the original source
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or
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or
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Sounds like you're describing two problems...
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If that doesn't work, come back and we'll go to plan "B".

New Hard Drive - Problems with iPhoto Library

I recently had to replace my hard drive. I've updated my software (I think) back to what I had before the crash. I've retrieved my photos from my external hard drive. However, when I try to open iPhoto, I get the message "You can't open your current photo library with 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." I think I'm running version 6.0.6 of iPhoto.
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Try these in order - from best option on down...
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 allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
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.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 6* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
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 on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Roll 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

Transferring photo files off of external hard drive to new iPhoto Library

Forgive me if this line of questioning is pretty elementary, but when it comes to advanced computing, I'm in the Stone Ages. I really have no clue how to remedy the following problems I've been running into and I'm hoping for some sort of help/detailed explanation.
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2 years ago I decided to sell my MacBook Pro to Best Buy in exchange for store credit, as I was getting by with my basic computing needs via my iPad. I figured I was in good hands security wise assuming Best Buy would wipe out all my personal data safely and responsibly and that all of my files were already backed up anyway via my G Drive Mini. I know this was a large assumption on my part now.
Truthfully, the only files I want off the G Drive are my old photos so I can put them on my girlfriend's MacBook Pro and then transfer those photos to my cloud based storage. So with that being said I attempted the following...
I plugged in the G Drive into my girlfriend's MacBook Pro thinking I could simply open up the G Drive, find the old photo files and drag and transfer all my old photos into her iPhoto for storage. I realize now it is not that simple.
I then attempted to access the photos by opening the iPhoto application I found under the Applications folder in the G Drive, but continuously received the following message, "You can’t open the application “iPhoto” because it is in a Time Machine backup.". The advanced computer experts probably already knew that was coming. Is there any way around this? Does anyone have any ideas how to transfer these photos?
I would really appreciate any help, but if someone had a direct solution that they wouldn't mind explaining to me, it would be greatly appreciated. I did some research on my own and it appears that I might need the original MacBook Pro that I owned even to access the photos, since the G Mini and Time Machine were really just archiving the files, rather than backing them up.
Thank you for any and all help.

So you're running Yosemite and iPhoto 9.6, right? In that case do the following:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
2 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.

Upgraded hard drive and missing files

Hi,
I recently upgraded my HD (1TB Seagate) to an SSD (Crucial MX 100 512GB) on my mid-2010 C2D 2.4 white unibody macbook. Total disk space used has been around 300GB. I used time machine to backup the drive before switching the drives, and after installing the new drive (Crucial MX100), I am missing many files. Mostly .pdf, and office files. All of my photos and music seem to have transferred fine. I had to re-enter the product keys for office. Is there a way I can connect to the former drive w/ an enclosure and scan for files that are on that drive and not on the new one? I've had the drive installed for about a month, so I don't want to revert back to the last backup if I would lose the files I've created since then.
Thanks.

You are welcome. See if you can find the files using this program. If you go Finder/View/Show Path Bar, it will show you where it is located.
EasyFind – Spotlight Replacement

HT1229 Tried moving my library to an external hard drive and now when I open iPhoto, there are no pictures there!!!!

I am using iPhoto '08 and moved my library to my external hard drive exactly as all the instructions online explained how to do. I renamed the original "iPhoto Library.old" and ,y external hard drive shows a iPhoto library using the same amount of memory as what it shows on my internal hard drive. Here is where is becomes a problem. When I hold the option key and open iPhoto, the only box that comes up does not give me a list of libraries to choose from. It give me the option to "Create new library" or "choose existing library". When I click "choose existing library" I can find the copied library on my external hard drive but when I open it, iPhoto shows No Photos. When I have tried opening the original iPhoto Library (the exact same way using the option key and choosing library) that I have not done anything to, except rename it, it does the exact same thing: No Photos. Both my internal and external hard drives show about 137 GB of space being taken up by photos but I can't access them. My other big problem is that ,y internal hard drive is completely full, which is why I am trying to transfer them to an external, to free up space so I am very limited on what I can do because I have no free space. Also, when I open iPhoto and try to go to the Preferences to change to path under advanced settings, it freezes and I have to force close it.
Ay advice would be greatly appreciated as I am getting stressed out that I can't open my thousands of photos!

My guess is that the library has been corrupted from being run on an overfull HD.
So, try rebuild the Library on the External
Try these in order - from best option on down...
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.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places 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.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
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.

How can I move the photos I have in iPhoto to an external hard drive and use that as my library?

I bought a new Mac Pro. My old computers main drive is so bloated that I need to reduce it's size. I want to move my photos, music and movies to an external hard drive and have iPhoto, iTunes, and iMove access them there.
How do I do that so it work?
Thanks,
Keith

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.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
There are similar options for iMovie and iTunes, but best to check their forums for details.
Regards
TD

Backing up photos to external hard drive,and exporting back to CF card on camera

iPhoto 5 on Mac Power PC G4, OS 10.4.11
backing up photos to external hard drive (LaCie) My iPhoto Library contains a number of files (such as 'Library.iPhoto' 'iPhoto.db' 'ThumbJPG.data' etc) and a number of folders with dates such as 2005 etc, containing folders within folders, none of which with any contents.
Is there a way I can organise just the photos on their own so that I can select just those to be backed up on my LaCie hard drive, without all those distracting and (apparently) unnecessary extra files and folders ?
exporting edited photos back to CF card on camera I have tried everything I can think of to export photos from iPhoto back to the CF card on the camera, without success. It must be possible to do ?

Edit: Note: It's been a while but the Export command may be in the Share menu on older versions...
1. To back up an iPhoto Library
Most Simple Back Up
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex:
Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically. Examples of such apps: Chronosync or DejaVu . But are many others. Search on MacUpdate
2. To Back up Just the Photos
Use the File -> Export command to export the images to where you want them.
BTW: there are no user-serviceable parts in the iPhoto Library Folder. Rooting around in there can cause damage.
3. Edited Photos to CF Card is a two part process:
Exporting is just File -> Export. Choosing any setting except 'Original' and you'll get the Edited version.
The CF Card? Just drag and drop there.
But a couple of possible problems: Canon Cameras don't show up in the Finder. So you'll need to stick the card into a USB Card Reader for get them on there
Camera Cards are all formatted FAT. That means there's a limit to the number of items on the top level of the card: Workaround: Export the shots to a folder and drag that over
And, of course, if you want to see the shots in the camera, you'll need to put them in whatever specific folder it uses for the photos.
Regards
TD

HT4927 I have just downloaded iPhoto from the app store. The photo library from my old laptop was backed up on an external hard drive and I retrieved the photos from there. Now when I open the photos on my new Mac Book Pro, they are small - am I missing

I have just downloaded iPhoto from the app store. The photo library from my old laptop was backed up on an external hard drive and I retrieved the photos from there. Now when I open the photos on my new Mac Book Pro, they are small - am I missing something?
I am using 10.8.2 Mountain Lion btw

I dragged the Photo library icon from the backup drive on to iPhoto on the laptop
That means you imported one Library to another.
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.
So the reason you're seeing small photos is because you're seeing the iPhoto thumbnails from the back up library.
So, what to do?
Do you still have the back up? If so, trash this bunged up library and restore from the back up again. HOw to restore will depend entirely on how you made the back up, but no version of restoring includes importing the library.
Regards
TD

How do I backup my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive and keep my photos grouped by their events?

How can I backup my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive and keep my photos grouped by their events?

I have attempted to make sure my iPhoto library has been backed up on the external hard drive and that it is safe to delete some events from my internal hard drive
You need to think this through.
Time Machine is a back up application. It keeps a rolling back up of the data. It's called rolling because it means you can revert to the data you had on a specific date and time. But that's not eternal, and as time goes by, and your drive fills up, older backups are deleted. So if you delete Events on your Mac they will - eventually - also be deleted from the Time Machine back up.
If you wan tot archive data hendon't use Time Machine for that job. Here's how you might archive an iPhoto Library:
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

Full Hard Drive and Missing iPhoto Library

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