Hitting a problem when transferring iPhoto library to External Hard Drive.

Hi
I am running a 3 year old MacBook with iPhoto 08, my hard drive is nearly full mainly with photos so I have just purchased a G-Drive Hitachi 500GB external hard drive, with a view to storing my iPhoto library thus enabling me to create some space on the computer hard drive.
I did some online research and transferred my iPhoto library as follows:-
I quit iPhoto and went into my pictures folder, located by iPhoto library file and dragged it to my external hard drive, after it had copied I went back into my pictures folder and re-named the original library 'iPhoto Library.Old', I then opened iPhoto by holding down the 'alt' key and was given the prompt to choose a library to open, I selected 'iPhoto Library.Old' from the pane and my pictures loaded up.
This is when I came across a problem, I was under the impression that once the library had been transferred the the EHD in this way that the pictures/events on the EHD would remain in place. I deleted a few of my events on my computer HD, but when I checked the EHD they had vanished from there too.
No photos are lost as I have them all backed up to CD, on line albums etc, but I am puzzled as to what I am doing wrong and how I get the photos on the EHD to stay put.
My Time Machine automatic updates are off, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I seem to have hit a brick wall with this one.
Thanks
Ruth

Hi Terence
I have just opened the internal iphoto library to delete some photos, without the EHD being attached, when I plug in the EHD and open the iphoto library from there the pictures that I have just deleted on the internal library have gone from the EHD. I am obviously doing something wrong but I cannot fathom out what. My internal library has a different name ie 'iPhoto Library.Old' but both internal and external libraries seem to be still acting as one.
I hope I'm making sense ?
Regards
Ruth

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Transfering iphoto library on external hard drive to new MBPr - new MBPr won't display thumbnails

Hello -
I have a 2008 MBP, now running Lion. Because of space, I recently transferred the iphoto library of (18,000 plus photos) to a Seagate Backup Plus drive. It works fine. It is running iPhoto '09 (8.1.2) - although perhaps it was running an earlier version before the Lion upgrade?
I recently bought a new MBP retina. I thought transferring the iphoto library would be a simple matter of plugging the Seagate into the new computer, then selecting that library as the library to use when opening iphoto. The MBPr is running iPhoto '11 (9.4.2)
However, when I do that, I get a bunch of blank thumbnails. I can tell it's my library, because I see all the Event names (although they seem to be out of order). But the thumbnails are black. When I click on one, I get the triangle containing exclamation point icon. Also, it only contains 7,457 photos.
Ejecting the Seagate and plugging it back into the old computer works fine. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
I downloaded Library Manager and tried to rebuild and got this message: Rebuild complete. No photos were imported. 7457 errors occurred during the transfer.
Perhaps I'm missing something obvious. Thought of taking the iphoto library file from the Seagate and simply copying it into the MBPr's Pictures file, but wanted to confirm that this was the right course.
Any help would be most appreciated!
Thanks
Matt

I assume it's OSX extended, since it's a "Backup Plus for Mac" and billed as being "Mac OS and Time-Machine® ready out of the box," but I could be wrong. It does seem to work fine with my older MBP.

Iphoto library on external hard drive now does not show all the photos when i access it from macbook

i backed up iphoto library to an external hard drive. Deleted photo library on the macbook. After transferring some new photos to macbook from a camera, when i access the iphoto library on external hard drive only the new photos show up. Originals are still in files, but don't appear when opening iphoto library on external hard drive.

Make a temporary, backup copy of your library if you don't already have one (Control-click on the library and select Duplicate from the contextual menu) and apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
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
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

That code is
-36
ioErr
I/O error (bummers)
Make sure the EHD is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and run Disk Utilty on the EHD and repair the disk. If that fails to help I'd try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button,
navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the external HD as the location of the newly rebild library.
Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

Can't transfer iPhoto Library FROM external hard drive to iMac

I just bought a new iMac. Before I said goodbye to my old computer (a MacBook), I dutifully backed up my iPhoto library onto an external hard drive. Upon setting up my iMac, I easily accessed the iPhoto library on my HD, but I didn't import it. I was able to see all photos, albums, etc.
But when I went to import the entire iPhoto library into my iMac's hard drive (into the Pictures folder), it wouldn't import. A mesage comes up that says "Preparing to copy" and the blue-and-white bar just spins and spins, without actually copying anything. So, it's weird -- there's clearly communication between iMac and external HD, but I can't take the iPhoto library off the hard drive to make it my new computer's iPhoto library.
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Have you tried restarting your machine?

Need to transfer iphoto library to external hard drive

need to transfer iphoto library to external passport drive. It will not let me drag and drop

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
The external drive is formatted in NTFS, a format that OS X can't write in. You have to erase the external disk.
First, open Finder, choose the external drive in the sidebar, under "Devices", and copy all the content of your external drive to another folder like Desktop.
Then, follow these steps to format the external drive in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as Format > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html Finally, drag the iPhoto library to the external drive

Problems with copying iPhoto library onto new hard drive from external HELP

I had to get a new hard drive installed onto my MacBook Pro, but was able to copy my iPhoto library onto my external hard drive via another computer before the old hard drive failed. Now, I am trying to copy that library back onto my MacBook.
After I copied the library onto the MacBook, when iPhoto was opened, it showed no photos but I could see album titles. Then when I opened iPhoto while holding down the option key, it was all clumped into one event and not nearly all of the photos were there. Also, I have right-clicked on the library to see package contents and everything seems to be there, but I don't know how to make it all show up in the library.
I've downloaded iPhoto Library Manager because I thought that might help (but haven't used it yet -- don't know how) and I just need some help to recover my iPhoto library... and is there a way to restore all the separate events imported and time/date stamps, in order to get all the photos in chronological order?

Should I just go through the iPhoto Library package contents and drag every folder into iPhoto?
No. That will get you massive duplication.
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. 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 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

IPhoto library on external hard drive will no longer open

I'm hoping that someone will be able to point me to a simple solution to my problem...
I'm running iPhoto 9.6 on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13 inch, mid-2014). The OS is Yosemite 10.10.1. Because the flash storage is only 250GB I have my main iPhoto library (146GB) on a partition of an external 1TB Lacie Rugged drive. The external hard drive also has partitions for Time Machine Backup and SuperDuper Bootable Clone. I have a separate, much smaller iPhoto library on the MBP which contains recent photos.
Yesterday I failed to reconnect my MacBook Pro to the power source when I put it back on my desk. The result was that the battery went below 5% and the MBP turned itself off and also ejected the external hard drive (some time after I reconnected the power cable there were dialog boxes on my screen informing me that each of the three partitions had been ejected incorrectly). I waited until the MBP was fully charged before I tried to open my 'main' iPhoto library on the external hard drive. I received a message that the library would have to be upgraded to work with the computer (very odd, because it had already been upgraded last October when I upgraded from Mavericks to Yosemite and has been working without any real problem ever since then).
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As a test I quit iPhoto and re-started using the Option key and chose to open the iPhoto library which is on the internal drive and it opened without any problem.
I recall that it used to be possible to fix this sort of thing (perhaps not) by trashing the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file, however, I don't seem to be able to find it :-(
I'm really at a loss as to how I should approach this problem and I would be very grateful for any suggestions that can be offered.
Cheers
Tricia

Further update ....
I downloaded and installed iPhoto Library Manager and then chose Library - Rebuild Library. Unfortunately, when it had finished the result was 0 images in any file or folder. I checked the log (which is incredibly long) but here's the beginning of it which seems to indicate that the problem is that an essential file is missing -
2015-01-21 10:49:18.671 iPhoto Library Manager 4.1.11; iPhoto 9.6; OS X 10.10.1; unregistered
2015-01-21 10:49:19.033 Rebuilding library /Volumes/Pictures/iPhoto Library
2015-01-21 10:49:19.033 Rebuilt library located at /Users/Tricia 1/Pictures/iPhoto Library (rebuilt).photolibrary
2015-01-21 10:49:19.035 Building preview…
2015-01-21 10:49:19.042 Photo transfer settings: source libraries = /Volumes/Pictures/iPhoto Library, copy faces = true, copy places = true, combine album contents = false, photo attributes copied = (comment, date, flagged, hidden, latitude, longitude, name, rating)
2015-01-21 10:49:19.042 Loading data for library /Volumes/Pictures/iPhoto Library…
2015-01-21 10:49:19.056 Version number: 9.6
2015-01-21 10:49:19.057 An error occurred: Trying to load database for library “/Volumes/Pictures/iPhoto Library” failed. Some information such as faces, places, and edit history may not be transferred succesfully. (error = Error Domain=PLDatabaseErrorDomain Code=1 "The SQLite database file could not be found." UserInfo=0x10e9c1c10 {PLDatabaseErrorVendorErrorKey=14, PLDatabaseErrorVendorStringKey=unable to open database file, NSLocalizedDescription=The SQLite database file could not be found.}
After this each entry has a dialog that basically says the image file is missing from /Volumes/Pictures/iPhoto Library.
As mentioned in an earlier post I do have another iPhoto Library on my 2008 MacBook.
Can someone advise the best way to proceed? I'm thinking that I should erase the partition of my external hard drive that is called Pictures and then connect the external hard drive to my 2008 MacBook and simply drag and drop the iPhoto Library to the Pictures partition. IIRC, that's the way I moved the iPhoto Library last October when I bought my new MacBook Pro which didn't have enough storage for me to be able to store my iPhoto Library on the MBP. I could then reconnect the external hard drive to my MBP and the iPhoto Library should reappear, shouldn't it?
Looking forward to more input ...
Tricia

Can't open iphoto library from external hard drive

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To reinforce what Larry pointed out both Macs must be running the same version of iPhoto. And the external HD must be formatted as shown in this screenshot:
and don't forget the ignore ownership.
OT

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Can't Open iPhoto Library on External Hard Drive

Hi, please help!
I currently have 2 iPhoto libraries. 1 is on my external hard drive- and isn't recognized by iPhoto anymore. And the other is a newer one, on my internal hard drive.
Here's what I did:
I copied my entire iPhoto library to my external hard drive (it is a Seagate, Mac OS extended drive) a few months ago, and I went ahead and deleted my iPhoto library on my internal hard drive. Then I started importing new photos from my camera, and a new iphoto library was created automatically on my internal hard drive.
I tried to access photos from my old library yesterday by plugging my external hard drive in, and by hitting the "option" key when opening iphoto. Unfortunately, when I search for the library on my external HD, the only items that appear are music. None of my loose photos or my iphoto library are recognized by iPhoto.
Anyone have a fix for this? iPhoto doesn't recognize that any jpgs/photos are on my hard drive, but when I go through finder- I can see my library, as well as many other jpgs stored on my hard drive.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Sounds like iPhoto is not seeing a valid database there.
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. 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 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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Ick, that message usually shows up while trying to sync an iPod. Well, iTunes thinks one of the files is corrupt and doesn't tell you which one, lovely, isn't it?
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iTunes menu > View Options > Date Added must be checked off.
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Hope that makes sense. It took me hours to consolidate my 200G+ library.
Some people just give up and create a new library with no playcounts or ratings, but I persevered; perhaps you will, too.

Hitting a problem when transferring iPhoto library to External Hard Drive.

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