IPhoto Error Message - access to library?

Question

My hard drive recently crashed and I did not have any back up (yes, yes, I know). I was lucky enough to find someone who could recover everything for me, replace my hard drive and get me running again. The only thing they didn't reinstall was iLife. So, I've reinstalled the iLife software and now iPhoto gives me an Error message that reads:
*"Some recent changes may be lost. Make sure your hard disk has enough space and that iPhoto is able to access the iPhoto Library."*
This means, anything I upload to iPhoto is completely lost and unsaved when I quit iPhoto. My hard drive absolutely has enough space. How do I check/change to make sure that iPhoto has access to my library?

Answer 1

Welcome to Apple Discussions,
- Make sure your software is entirely up to date
- Make sure your iPhoto Library is in the standard location: Home > Pictures > iPhoto Library
- Make sure you have enough available space on your internal HD to accommodate whatever you are importing (I'm assuming that you get this message when you import). To Check available space, click on the Finder icon (blue on blue smiley face) in the dock and look at the bottom of the window that appears.
- You may have a broken iPhoto Library (not surprising if the hard drive failed and you had data recovered). Try creating a new iPhoto Library and adding in the pictures to see if the same error occurs:
1.) Hold down option
2.) Launch iPhoto
3.) Create new library and save
4.) Import pictures
- If the new library works then the issue is with your old library.
Switch back to your old library by holding down option and re-opening iPhoto and choosing the original library. Then follow this article to rebuild your library: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2638. I would use the options for Repair permissions and Rebuild database.
If that does not resolve the issue, make a brand new folder on your desktop, and drag the iPhoto Library into that folder.
Click on the folder and go to File > Get Info.
Go down to the bottom of the Get Info window and make sure that your user name is listed with Read/Write access.
Click on the pad lock to unlock it.
Click on the cog and choose "Apply to enclosed"
Once that process completes try opening the Library again.
If that does not resolve the issue you can follow the bottom of this article to perform a manual rebuild http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2638. Keep in mind this will not preserve keepsakes like Albums, slideshows, books, etc.
Hope that helps.