IPhoto 09 Library Relocation to External HD - I'm Confused!!!

I'm hoping someone can help me out here, and i thank you in advance.
I have got a **** of a lot of photos so instead of having them on my iMac HD i changed the iPhoto library location to my external HD (By dragging the iPhoto Library from my Pictures folder to a destination on external HD, then pressing Option whilst opening iPhoto, then choosing that location).
The pictures were already stored on my external HD but i wanted them in iPhoto, so i highlighted them all and dropped them directly into iPhoto. I now want to delete the original pictures on my external HD to free up some space. The baffling thing is that the original location says there are 113 folders (events) which comes to 67.84 GB, but when i check in iPhoto to make sure everything has copied over, it says there are 154 events which is more than i copied, but the iPhoto library is only 37.59 GB. Does this mean files haven't copied over? Or does it compress them? And why would it be saying there are now more events? Obviously i cannot check to see what pictures are missing as there are around 12,000 pics in iPhoto.....not sure how many there are altogether originally.....is there any way of checking?

I had not previously imported anything into iPhoto before making this change.
That's a key piece of info.
There isn't a necessary correlation between the number of folders you have and the number of Events you have - depending on the settings in the Preferences you can easily end up with more Events.
The baffling thing is that the original location says there are 113 folders (events) which comes to 67.84 GB, but the iPhoto library is only 37.59 GB.
That's a concern. Where do you see the iPhoto Library size reported?
Regards
TD

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Hi anyone,
Been tormented for a full week now where I have "lost" nearly 100Gb of phots. It is driving me insane! I have tried all the possible remedies - the Comd Option functions on iphoto start up, the rebuild, the rebuild on iphot manager, changing the "show package contents" options - but nothing.
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Well here's the first problem:
The drive is in MS-DOS (FAT) format (a 500Gb Lacie).
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos. So, get the Library onto an appropriately formatted disk.
If you're thinking of reformatting that disk, remember that doing so will erase it, and so make sure you back it up first.
I would try open the Library from an appropriately formatted disk. If the issues persist them try the rebuild with Library Manager again.

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OT

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Rule Number One - NEVER go directly uinto the iPhoto library - there are no user servicable parts in it and making any change no matter how small can corrupt your library and cause data or photo loss
Exactly how were you trying to save a copy of your iPhoto library?
Albumdata.xml does not contain your photos - and again NEVER make any changes to the content of the iPhoto library - no dragging - no changes - never go into the library
We need to know exactly what you did
And probalby the easiest solution is to load your backup from before you messed things up
For reference after you get things working
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

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.
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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.

I am trying to transfer my photos from old mac to new mac. I copied the iPhoto library to an external hard drive, then imported it to the new iPhoto. It turned my 2000 photos into 12,000!! What happened?

And how do I turn off FACES?

I copied the iPhoto library to an external hard drive, then imported it to the new iPhoto. It turned my 2000 photos into 12,000!!
According to you youo did not do what I instructed - you said you imported the old library into th enew library which can easily take a 2000 photo library and turn it into 12,000 including two ro three versions of each photo pus all the face thumbnails
The correct procedure has NO importing involved
drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity from the old Mac to the pictures folder of the new Mac - launch iPhoto on the new mac
That is it
LN

IPhoto 09 Library Relocation to External HD - I'm Confused!!!

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