IPhoto can't remember location of original photos

I am using a reference library in iPhoto. After transferring my library and my photos from my old G4 to my new I Mac running 10.7.5, the reference Library keeps asking me for the location of the photos that I transferred from the old computer. I point to the location of the photos on the new computer, but iPhoto doesn't remember the location and repeats its request. What should I do? I tried re-importing my older photos into the library on the new computer, but I ended up with duplicates and it was a pain. Help? I have also tried pointing to a backup of the photos on an external harddrive. I still have the same problem.

The reason I had switched to a referenced library was so I could have a copy of my photos in their original state.
iPhoto keeps a copy of the original photos anyway. This is why you have the Photos -> Revert to Original command. But more importantly, if you want to also back up a copy of the Originals then simply use the File -> Export command, and in the resulting dialogue chose the Kind: as Original.
So, no need for Aperture, no need for Image Capture. Run a Managed library and avoid these issues going forward.
To convert from a Referenced to a Managed Library... this may work or may not. Try it and see.
Set the Preferences to copy the files to the Library on import.
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.

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OT

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Hi Everyone,
I hope you're all well. I had a question regarding iPhoto - I have an SLR which takes really good quality pictures, and I wanted to back them up in more than one location. I already have them in my iPhoto library - however, when I tried to export them with the "Original" option on File Export, and compared the exported version to the ones in iPhoto, its poorer quality than the one in iPhoto! Even though I selected "Original" quality!! However, when I exported it using PNG, it was exactly like the photos imported in to iPhoto. I understand that PNG is a lossless file format, but I am very confused as to why exporting photos in its original format gives a worse quality picture!
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How are you determining that the export is "much worse" than the imported photo
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For what it is worth I do two daily backups (Time Machine running hourly and a daily bootable clone of my entier system) and I dod an occasional off site backup and I use three 32 GB level 10 SD cards so even shooting 16 MP RAW I only rotate back to the oldest card about once a year giving me a year's originals in addito=ion to my other backups
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I have been downloading my photos to my laptop, storing in iPhoto, and correcting in Photoshop Elements 4. I then store my images on an external hard drive. I've noticed that I've gotten some of those images out of my external hard drive to work on them on my iMAC. I can't get those images to revert back to the original image. What do I have clicked on my laptop that isn't allowing the original image to be saved?

Deborah,
Are you running your iPhoto library from the external drive? This should work. Or running iPhoto from your laptop, then saving to the external drive? You would have to have an iPhoto Library on the external drive as well. The only way to sync the 2 libraries to preserve the links between the original and modified files is to use iPhoto Library Manager to transfer the photos from the laptop library to the one on the external drive.
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Doing a Save As and changing the location of the file or its filename will not save the edited version correctly. It will not be seen by iPhoto and will have no link to the original. Are you "saving as" your edits directly to the external hard drive? If so, they are not being saved to iPhoto at all.
Also, if your editing creates a layered .psd file, there are 2 ways to deal with this. Doing a Save with the new file extension will break the link between it and the original. You can flatten the image and have PE Save the jpeg. This will preserve the link between the 2 versions. Or keep the layers, and Save As to a location outside of the iPhoto Library folder. Then import into iPhoto as a new original. It will not be linked to the unedited version.

Why does iPhoto 11 show both modified and original photo files for items I've never modified?

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#1 is patently untrue; I go in there all the time via File > Reveal in Finder so that I can grab images to pull into other applications, mail clients etc.
Actually it is patently true - what you are doing is not supported, is not necessary and is dangerous - you should only access the photos using the supported methods
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Iphoto can't find my photos -- how can I force it to recognize them?

I initially used iPhoto in referenced mode, but after a few years, I switched to managed mode, and then I inquired about how to make my iPhoto library entirely managed. About 2 years ago, Larry HN suggested Alias herder. I finally got around to using it, and there are no more aliases in iPhoto Library/Masters. The problem is that once I removed the referenced photos from ~/Pictures, iPhoto is acting as if the original photos are lost -- even though they're right inside the iPhoto library.
Now I did some searching on these threads, and the advice to those who have iPhoto libraries that are entirely referenced is to start afresh. But I can't do this, because a good part of my library consists of imported photos that don't reside anywhere else. And there's no way to drag photos from one iPhoto library to another, is there? My library has over 12,000 photos.
Isn't there a way to get iPhoto to recognize the originals inside the iPhoto Library. I've tried rebuilding the iPhoto library, to no avail

This is split across two threads... might be best to consolidate onto one, no?
Library Manager doesn't recover one shot plus all the associated metadata, then next shot, plus all associated metadata..., it recovers the related data in difference stages, so the Faces Data may not be lost, but it may not be able to get to then stage of recovering that data before the crashes...
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If so, repeat and so on...

IPhoto import: Faces being tagged only on ORIGINAL photo in Aperture

Hi there,
New to Aperture. Hoping to migrate from iPhoto.
One thing I noticed on my original import from iPhoto...
The Face tags that carry over from iPhoto are only attached to the ORIGINAL photo in iPhoto. So in cases where I've enhanced, rotated, or cropped an image before tagging faces in it in iPhoto, the tags show up on the WRONG photo in Aperture. Strangely, they show up in the part of the photo where they're tagged on the edited version.
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Dear Terence,
thank you very much for your answer, although it reflects what I was hoping to be not true.
It is very annoying that the import / export functions between iPhoto and Aperture are not mature enough to include relevant EXIF information. I do not know if you are an Apple employee - if not, you are not the right addressee, of course - but it would be fine if Apple considered closing that gap. I do not see any good reason why existing information is ignored and must be hard-written to the files or kept redundant. It neither makes any sense from the software architecture point of view nor keeping the user's requirements in mind.
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Steffen
Message was edited by: SteffenKaiser

Is original photo name hiding somewhere

When renaming photos, either by batch change or individually, then when viewing Info the new name is shown. However, when choosing to edit in Photoshop then the original photo name is used, i.e. IMG_7645. I presume because the new name belongs only in iPhoto whereas the IMG name remains within the photo for ever. My question is, if this is the case, then where/how, having given it a new name, can I also view the original photo name in iPhoto?
As an extra question, I haven't found out how to return the edited photo (by Import/Export) from Photoshop directly to iPhoto without it being via the Desktop. Is this possible?
Arnold

As an extra question, I haven't found out how to return the edited photo (by Import/Export) from Photoshop directly to iPhoto without it being via the Desktop.
The following may help with your workflow:
Using Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
Click to view full size
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done. 3 - however, if you get the navigation window
Click to view full size
that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements 9 the Saving File preferences should be configured as shown:
Click to view full size
I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always. In PSE’s General preference pane set the Color Picker to Apple as shown:
Click to view full size
NOTE: If you want to use both iPhoto's editing mode and PS without having to go back and forth to the Preference pane, once you've selected PS as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Open in main window". That will let you either edit in iPhoto (double click on the thumbnail) or in PS (Control-click on the thumbnail and seledt "Edit in external editor" in the Contextual menu). This way you get the best of both worlds.
OT

Help! iPhoto alerts pop up that say, "The photo "DSC06691.JPG" cannot be opened because the original cannot be located." I can locate original, but I have multiple images with same name!

Recently my library prompted me to rebuild due to inconsistencies that were found in library. Now alerts pop up that say it can't locate the original of an image, so I have an option to cancel or locate it. I can locate the file, however, there are usually 2 or 3 photos with the same file name! Not sure which one it is trying to locate etc. I have a feeling this is the problem. Not sure how it happened. Has anyone had this happen to them?? iPhoto library hasn't rebuilt because there are so many pop up alerts...I have a feeling it's a big problem. I am going to attempt to select one image for each one and see what happens, but I am concerned what the outcome will be.
My camera cards are already deleted (I knew I should have kept them!!). We do have time capsule, so I am assuming I can go back, but I am worried that iphoto will do the same thing. It just started doing it about two weeks ago and it didn't correspond with any photo uploads. I hope someone can help!

Are you running a managed or referenced library?
If it's a managed library 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.
OT

IPhoto can't find original photos, but I can!

When I launch iPhoto, I get error messages telling me photos are missing, and asking if I want to "find original" or cancel. If I try to find the original, I can't navigate into the library file itself, even though a search in spotlight reveals the missing photo is inside the iPhoto library bundle itself.
So I hit 'cancel' but I have to do this dozens of times each time I launch iPhoto, which is a huge hassle.
The 'missing' photos show up as blank thumbnails with a dotted white line around them in the photo viewer. If I scroll around iPhoto's viewing pane, the same message appears constantly.
I have rebuilt the library, repaired disk permissions, and even tried reverting to an older library from backup. No dice.
I'm out of ideas, other than exporting all the photos and then creating a new library and reorganizing everything. Seems like a huge hassle for 9000 photos, though.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for the insights, Terence. I'm glad I didn't export then re-import.
I did try iPhoto Library Manager before posting here, but it told me it couldn't rebuild the database because it was corrupt! Yikes.
Okay, so I did what someone suggested on another thread, and tried to identify all the 80 or so photos that were supposedly 'missing'. I wrote down the name of every photo on a text edit doc.
Then I did something strange that seems to have worked: I went to Spotlight, and searched for one of the image names. I found it inside the iPhoto library. (I'm not sure why you can't navigate to photos from inside iPhoto, but you can from Spotlight - note, you can't find them in any other finder window, just Spotlight).
I dragged the culprit file to my desktop. Then, when the alert came up again, I used File > Reveal in Finder to navigate to the photo...interestingly, iPhoto then pointed to the original location of the missing file...I then dragged the photo from my desktop back into iPhoto's library via the Finder. Voila, the photo was re-linked.
But here's where it gets interesting. Somehow other photos got re-linked, too!
I quit the program, and the same problem reoccurred. So I took the steps again above, but this time I did something slightly different afterward.
I went to the TextEdit doc, and I found each and every photo, and dragged it into an album I'd created (I called it something like "Photos to Fix" or something). I then went to the Trash, and found some broken aliases in there, too. I emptied the Trash, after clicking 'cancel' on each error message. Then, I quit and restarted iPhoto several times. The problem is gone! I then moved the photos out of the "Photos to Fix" album, and the problem has not returned.
In short:
- Find a broken photo in iPhoto, note the name
- Navigate to the photo in Spotlight (not finder)
- Drag it out of the iPhoto Library and onto the desktop
- Go back to iPhoto
- Select "Reveal in Finder" on the broken thumbnail
- iPhoto will go to the location the photo USED to be
- Go back to Finder
- Drag the photo back into its old location
- Go back to iPhoto
- Move that photo, and any other problem photos, to a new album
- Empty Trash if there are any problem files there, too
- Restart iPhoto
- Problem solved
That's what worked for me, though I admit it is wonky and illogical. Maybe someone can shed light on why this worked.

IPhoto can't remember location of original photos

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