Horrors: How do I get all my original photo files back out of iPhoto 9.1.2?

Question

In my heart I KNEW I should never have upgraded iPhoto when the update came in for 9.1.2. But I had no idea what it was going to do. Now, to my horror, I have found out.
It has EATEN all the original photo files in my Home/Pictures folder and hidden them inside a single iPhoto database! Yikes.
I discovered this nightmare when I tried to find the original hi-res of a certain photo, and searched my Mac for it by filename – the one assigned to it by my camera.
All the original and modified versions of the file should have appeared in the search box – but no original appeared, sending me into a total panic. I also searched my laptop and back-up drive to no avail. Then I looked in the Home/Pictures folder and there were no photo files there, when there used to be hundreds. Just one single iPhoto Library file.
I felt sick, I thought I had lost all my original photos.
So now I have two problems, and questions:
1) iPhoto only displays photos from the last 18 months, so how do you access all the photos from years back now?
2) How can I export ALL my photos back out of the iPhoto database so I can have them where I can see them on my Mac again – as individual files in my Pictures folder like they were before?
Oh, and one other question:
What can I use instead of iPhoto? Can I revert to an earlier version? Or is there an application that I can import photos to that will leave the original files where they are? Then I can make a back-up of the originals before importing them into iPhoto.
Thanks,
Sarah   
PS: How do I change my Apple Discussions username?

Answer 1

There's no reason to use the Finder to access your photos. That's what iPhoto is for.  THe following is from a post by Terence Devlin on accessing photos for use outside of iPhoto.  It's the definitive treatise on the subject.
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
There's a similar option in Outlook and many, many other apps.
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running: 
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation   which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and 10.5
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. File -> Export: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3.Show File:
a. On iPhoto 09 and earlier:  Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected. 
b. On iPhoto 11 and later: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Reveal in Finder -> Original. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected. 
OT