HT5037 import old iPhoto library in iPhoto '11

I would like to import an old iPhoto library (iPhoto '08 version 7.1.5 (378) ) from my old iMac G5 into my macbook which is running iPhoto '11 version 9.4.3 (720.91.
When I am chosing the import function, I can see a blurred file "iPhoto lirbary" but it is impossible to open it.
Can someone help me and/or indicate me the right procedure.
Thank you !

Yes you are wrong - if you drag any file into a folder where that file already exists you will delete and replace the old file and have only the new file left - this is true for the iPhoto libary package
Your best solution is to either upgrade to Aperture or use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - to merge libraries
You can export the photos form your old library and import those photos into the new library but this does not keep your originals, only your edited versions which become originals in the new library
LN

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Trouble importing old photo library to iPhoto 06

I just updated to iLife/iPhoto 06. When importing old photo library which is 7-8,000 photos, I got 24,000 + images incl. images of computer icons, demo photos, images that look like pieces from web pages (headers, part of photos etc), 4-5 copies of my own photos, some look like they are "pixilated", which the original wasn't. Any idea of what happened and how to fix this, short of manually deleting each image that doesn't belong?
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Terence,
Tks, I kind of suspected that. I'm new to Macs and more used to PCs, and by no means good at either system, so it sometimes gets confusing.
Anyway - Here's the list from the iPhoto Library folder - I did copy & paste, but it didn't paste in the same order it is listed in the iPhoto Library window. I guess it should all be there though.
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iPhoto.ipspot
iPod Photo Cache
Library6.iPhoto
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iPhotoLock.data
Library.data
Library.iPhoto
MauiJan.2006055 Folder.2
Modified
Originals
Richardito politicing
scan-2.jpg
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ThumbJPGSegment.data
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04
08
By the way, here's another question, a bit off the current subject: Sometimes we have trouble playing video clips downloaded from our camera. Sometimes iPhoto will play the audio but no picture, sometimes the other way around, and there don't seem to be any common thread one way or the other. Recently a bunch of clips that used to play audio only "repaired themselves" and are not playing fine. But others are only playing video with no sound. Any idea of whats going on?
Thanks
Marianne

Problem importing old iphoto library into new computer

SO I ORIGIONALLY WROTE THIS TOPIC:
"Ok so I just bought a new macbook pro with iphoto 08 and i want to transfer my pictures from my old Imac with im guessing iphoto 06 and all the albums to my new computer. How do i do this. I tried it once but i did it wrong because i only got the pictures over there but no albums so i deleted them on the new computer and am ready to try again"
THEN I GOT THIS RESPONSE:
Quit iPhoto, copy the entire iPhoto library as a single entity from the old computer into the pictures folder on the new computer and launch iPhoto on the new computer - it will convert (a one way conversion) the library as needed and you will be set.
SO I DID THAT AND THE PHOTOS ARE THERE ON THE HARD DRIVE BUT WHEN I OPEN IPHOTO THERE IS NOTHING THERE
PLEASE HELP

Nick:
Have you checked the size of the copied library to make sure it's a valid one. To be sure you're opening the correct library launch iPhoto with the Option key depressed and, when asked, select the option to choose a library. Navigate to your pictures folder and select the library to copied over from your old iMac.
If your sure that's the library from the old iMac and it doesn't indicate any photos try the following in order as needed:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library. Select all options.
2 - rebuild the library using iPhoto Library Manager as follows:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 -Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
2 -Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your User/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
3 - 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
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - Click on the Create button.
Note: It may take some time to create the new library if you have a lot of photos.
3 - start over with a new library and import the Originals folder from your original library as follows:
Creating a new library while preserving the Events from the original library.
Move the existing library folder to the desktop.
Open the library package like this.
Launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
Drag the Originals folder from the iPhoto Library on the desktop into the open Photo window
This will create a new library with the same Events as the original library if you have the Finder checkbox unchecked in the Events preference pane.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

IPhoto 9.6 wont import old photo library

I had to upgrade I photo last night and my iMac crashed when doing the upgrade/import of old photos. I have found the folder containing all of my masters but I can't seem to import them now. Drag and drop, or import library won't work. help please

Try this:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
4 - 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
5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. 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.

Cant import old iPhoto library

I've just swapped Mac's, and i have copied over my iPhoto library. When i open iPhoto, i can open the library and view it, but when i close the application and restart it, it says it can't find a library.
Any help would be appreciated...

troynelson
try delete the com.apple.iphoto.plist file from the home / library / preferences folder and reset the library choice once more. See if that helps.
Regards
TD

How do I import old iphoto libraries?

I found a couple of old libraries on a firewire disk I had tucked away that I need to pull into my current library. How do I do that?
Thanks!

Charles
Depending on what information you want to bring with the photods...
1. Just the photos: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to navigate to the old library. Choose it. (It may need to be rebuilt). Then simply select all the photos and go File -> Export and export them to the desktop.. Then quite iPhoto. Hold down the option key again, and choose your main library and this time go File -> Import and bring the photos into the main library.
2. If you want to preserve metadata like keywords etc. then you'll need the merge feature of iPhoto Library Manager, which will bring all this across. You can download iPLM from
http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster/iphotolibrarymanager.html
Regards
TD

Importing old Itunes Library from a external hard drive to a new computer

About 3 months ago I backed up the entire contents of my hard drive on an old laptop to an external hard drive. My goal was to eventually be able to recover all my purchased music from Itunes.
How do I do that. I am assuming there should be a folder in Itunes on the external hard drive I can drag and drop into the new itunes.
As a second question, is it possible or advisable to run itunes out of the external hard drive in the future?
IBM t60 Windows XP Extreme Rookie
IBM t60 Windows XP Rookie needs help

You could plug the WD drive straight into the TC but it will be much faster to do it with the WD drive plugged into the computer.. and just mount the TC hard disk in Finder.
To move itunes library you must follow the Apple instructions.. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
You may need to reconnect itunes to the library before you try to move it.. !!

Importing old iTunes library after Leopard upgrade

Hey,
I just upgraded my Intel MacBook to Leopard, using an "Archive and Install" install, without retaining previous "User and Network settings". This was done because when I first did a standard upgrade, I was taken to a log in screen and could not log in. This is just so you can get background on the situation at hand.
Now, I've successfully installed Leopard, but I can't import my entire previous iTunes Library. I can find the folders, with all the music in them, but I can't import the entire thing in one go. I could go through manually and click every sing song, but that would mean going through over 1,000 songs one by one. Not something I'm looking forward to.
Can anyone help me out? Thanks.

I was having the same problem after Leopard, went to pref/advanced/and selected the iTune library on my fire wire external drive, but would not load
Did what you recommended with the option key, was prompted to select a new library, selected it, then got this
Library locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have permission
any thoughts?

Problems "locating" referenced files after importing from iPhoto.

I recently began importing old iPhoto libraries to Aperture, mostly successfully, but have run into a couple problems locating referenced files. While the locate referenced files function worked for most of the photos, there are a handful of photos that, when I located the original file, the time stamp was different (by 2 hours in most cases) and it was about 15% smaller than the file Aperture was looking for. As a result, even though it was clear from the thumbnails that they were the same images, Aperture doesn't even give me the option to Reconnect them.
Aperture 3.4.5
OS X 10.7.5

. I use the Reconnect All button, but it only finds the one file, even when there are hundreds more in the same folder that are unlinked.
Reconnect all works best, if you select all files that need reconnecting at once, and then select the first file in the list to reconnect. If the other files are in the same folder and are correctly named and match, then "reconnect all" should do it. But if the filenames differ, you will have to do it one by one.
Also, the files are all still correctly linked in iPhoto, but every single link is broken once I import it to Aperture.
You are importing with "File > Import > Library", correct?
That is supposed to work. Have you tried to repair your iPhoto Library before importing to Aperture?
Use iPhotos First Aid Tools to repair:
Try to repair the permissions, followed by repairing the library.
To launch the First Aid Tools, hold down the Command and Option keys ⌥⌘ while double-clicking the iPhoto library or the iPhoto icon in the Dock.
The iPhoto Library First Aid dialog appears. Select the Repair option you want to use - first "permissions", then "database".
Léonie

Can some please provide instructions on how to import an iPhoto library from an old Mac to a new Mac without getting a bunch of duplicates? I tried transferring my pictures using an external hard drive and then copying it to the Pictures folder on my Mac

Can someone please provide instructions on how to import an iPhoto library from an old Mac to a new Mac without getting a bunch of duplicates? I tried transferring my pictures using an external hard drive and then copying it to the Pictures folder on my new Mac. I ended up getting a bunch of duplicates. My old Mac has an older version of iPhoto while the new Mac has iPhoto '11. Is that the cause of the problem? Please advise. Thanks.

Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.
Then launch iPhoto. That's it.
This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.
Regards
TD

How do I import an iPhoto Library (V.7.1.5) created on my old MacBook (10. 6.8) into my new Macbook pro (10.9.1) running iPhoto 9.5.1? I tried copying onto memory stick and moving to new mac, but new iPhoto doesn't recognise the library.

How do I import an iPhoto Library (V.7.1.5) created on my old MacBook (10. 6.8) into my new Macbook pro (10.9.1) running iPhoto 9.5.1? I tried copying onto memory stick and moving to new mac, but new iPhoto doesn't recognise the library.

So what exactly did you copy over? If it's a 12 gig iPhoto Library then it sounds like the files are there. Perhaps the copy went wrong along the way.
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
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.)
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.
Regards
TD

How to import photos from an old iPhoto library

I have started using a new Mac (MacBook Pro Retina with OS10.10.1).
I saved my earlier iPhoto Library on my previous Mac to an external Drive. Now, if I try to open the old iPhoto Library file from my new Mac then iPhoto offers me to 'Switch Libraries' and to access pictures from the old library.
But this is not what I need. I would like to merge the old into the new (on my current Mac) and use a single iPhoto library for all pictures. In another word I would like to import content from the old library to the new and then use it as a single iPhoto library. When I try the 'iPhoto Library' files are inactive in the Finder....
Please advise steps to do do it.
Thanks

iPhoto can not merge libraries
And you must NEVER Import an iPhoto library - it does not work and creates a massive mess
To merge libraries you must either use Aperture (being phased out this year) or the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ -
Or continue to have two libraries and switch between them
LN

How can I import my old iPhoto library into my new version of iPhoto?

Just purchased new iMac and am trying to import my old iPhoto library, but keep getting Unreadable Files message. I have the library file and see that it shows up as an iPhoto Library under the Kind column.

Now that you're tried to open the correct library once see if you can perfor the following: apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Since only one option can be run at a time start with Option #3, followed by #4 and then #1 as needed.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
2 - click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
3 - 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.
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - 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. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

How do I import an old iphoto library from an external hard disk while keeping my editing and organization in tact?

I am running iPhoto '08 on a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz Intel C2D (MacBook Pro 3,1). I backed up my hard drive contents onto an external hard drive, then formatted my computer and installed Mountain Lion. I then re-installed iPhoto '08 and ran all the updates. Now, I would like to import my old library from the external disk onto my computer without losing my editing and organization; however, when I select "import to library" from iPhoto, the old iPhoto library is not a selectable option.
I know how to "show package contents" and import directly from the Original and Modified folders, but I don't want to lose my organization. Can I simply drag the content of those folders into my new Original and Modified folders? Will iPhoto read that correctly?
I tried to open the old library from the external disk, thinking to export them all to a folder and import from there, but that just opened my new library and none of the old photos were imported or available.
I'm running out of ideas and would appreciate any help you guys can give. Thanks!!

You don't import it.
Just drag the iphoto Library from the external to the Pictures Folder.
Then open it:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
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.

Can I import photos from an old iPhoto library?

Can I import photos from an old iPhoto library on an external hard drive to my current iPhoto library? The icon on the hard drive appears greyed out when I try via Import.

Open the older library and export the Photos from it to the Finder (File -> Export) and switch to the new Library and import those.
Or, use iPhoto Library Manager to move the photos, plus all the versions and associated metadata to the new Library.
Regards
TD

HT5037 import old iPhoto library in iPhoto '11

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