Iphoto external library

hey all,
my questions is:
can you store your entire primary iphoto library on an external drive. i know that you can do this with your itunes library and your aperture library. so i would imagine that the same can be done with an iphoto library.
obviously the issue is i have an older dual processor G4 power mac on my network with a maxed out hard drive. i would like to move the entire primary iphoto library to an external drive not for backup but for everyday use. i don't want to transfer that library to another machine yet but want to clear up some storage space on that machine.
anyone have a link to an apple support page that explains how to do this properly?
thank you,
thomas

This is often discussed in these forums - a simple forum search will find multiple instances of it
It is very simple
1 - Quit iPhoto
2 - Copy the iPhoto library from the pictures folder of your internal HD to your external HD
3 - depress the option (alt) key and restart iPhoto
4 - Select the locate iPhoto Library option and navigate to the location of your iPhoto library on the external HD
5 - check things out and be sure everything is correct
6 - quit iPhoto and drag the (now old one) iPhoto library from the pictures folder on your internal HD to the desktop
7 - Restart iPhoto and verify again that everything is like you want
You can now safely delete the iPhoto library from the desktop of your internal HD
LN
Message was edited by: LarryHN

Similar Messages

Photos did not update from my iphoto external library

Hi,
I just updated my mac to OSX Yosemite 10.10.3 which updated my iPhoto to 'Photos'. When i opened it up none of my iPhoto library was copied in. My iPhoto library was on an external drive as a customised library path (so not in the default iphoto library place) is there any way to migrate the 'iphoto' library into the new 'Photos' library?
Thanks

My iPhoto library was on an external drive as a customised library path (so not in the default iphoto library place) is there any way to migrate the 'iphoto' library into the new 'Photos' library?
How is this external drive formatted? To be able to migrate the iPhoto Library, the drive should be formatted MAcOS Extended (Journaled). And locally mounted, not a NAS or other network volume.
If the library is on a suitable drive, simply drag it onto the Photos icon in the Dock to migrate it to Photos.

Iphoto 11 does not recognise iphoto 9 library stored on external hard drive

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.
The problem. I recently upgraded my mac and with it the software - going from iphoto 09 to iphoto 11. I had been using a smaller library (15Gb) stored on my Mac which migrated fine. The issue was when I tried to connect into my external library that things went haywire. The photographs on the external harddrive show as black squares on iphoto 11, sometimes it briefly flashes the underneath image, but none of them are able to open. The migrated images are fine.
I've tried to then create copies of my external hard drive library but even when I play around with these copies the problem persists. I am terrified that I've corrupted the parent. The external library still opens fine on my old machine on iphoto 09. When I look at "show package contents" under preview on the iphoto 11 mac, the images come up fine so I know they are (at least the majority, there seems to be some phots missing!).
I am at the very limit of my technical ability and sanity. I don't have a time machine backup, my parent library isn't fully backed up so if I revert back to a stored master I will lose a couple of months of photos which included last summers Olympics.
The other threads don't seem to cover this exact problem - has anyone else suffered? Any remedies would be gratefully appreciated and would move me down the stress ladder by at least a couple of rungs.
Kind regards,
John
iphoto 11 iphoto11 iLife11 iLife_11 iphoto09 iphoto_09 iphoto9 external hard drive corrupted blank photographs disappeared

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.

I just saved my iphoto original library to my external hard drive, now how do i create new space on my hard drive and create a new iphoto library

i just saved my iphoto original library to my external hard drive, now how do i create new space on my hard drive and create a new iphoto library

Trash the copy of the library you just moved. Then Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
But do you want to have two iPhoto Libraries? Why not just use the one on the External?

I backed up 6000 photos from Snow Leopard iMac v.10.6 to new Western Digital External Engine "My Book." In attempting to COPY the pictures to My Book in order to free space on HD, I made a mistake. When I first dragged the iPhoto 11 Library folder to My

I backed up 6000+ photos from Snow Leopard iMac v.10.6.7 to new Western Digital "My book" successfully, I think! But when I attempted to COPY my photos to it in order to free up space on my HD, I made a mistake. When I dragged the iPhoto (11) Library to My Book and re-named it to "iPhoto Library.old" nothing happened. So I dragged it again, re-named it again (same name--that was the mistake, I guess!) and then it took about an hour+ to do its thing. When finished and I launched iPhoto by holding down the Option key, the dialog window listed two libraries: "iPhoto Library.old" and iPhoto Library.old (default)". So now what? It seems that I still have the originals when I open iPhoto, and do I have two copies, also? Should I delete one of them and if so, which one and how? Or should I eliminate both of them and start over again? And if so, how do I do that? Right now, neither my HD nor the My Book have changed the number of GB available or free since before I began this process. Will the numbers only change after I actually delete my original Library AND empty the Trash? I appreciate any light you can throw on this subject for me. I could lug it all to the local Genius Bar, but now I'm afraid to unplug anything for fear I'll lose everything! Thank you, you wonderful, bright people. (An 83-year-old Grandma, trying to keep up a little, at least)

Oh my! Obviously, I don't know what I'm doing. But I do know that my goal was to do both---backup AND free some space. My iMAc is old (2006) and I upgraded it a year or so ago to Snow Leopard. I didn't think I had the capability of backing up without an external drive, but maybe I do since I upgraded. Do I?
But I bought this My Book mostly for freeing space because I like to make cards in Photoshop and I'm forever running out of space when I get too many layers (don't really know what I'm doing there, either).
Is there some way that I can rectify my mistakes and start all over?
Thank you so much for beng so prompt with your reply and patient with mine. I tried for so long to see the dialog box with the library listings. When I launched iPhoto, even with holding down the Option key, it kept immediately launching into the full screen. Finally, after an hour of doing it over and over again, it worked when I held the key down for 5 minutes. Then when I was typing my reply, I kept getting a message to "Request Time Out." Didn't know how to do that, so kept hitting the OK button and kept typing for another half minute. Finally, when ready to send, Safari couldn't do it. "Try again" exasperated me until I realized I would have to begin again and use Firefox. When I got there and ready to type, I got the message that my message had been retrienved and did I want to use it?!!
So your kindness is very much appreciated.

I am trying to move my wife's iPhoto '08 library to my new iMac for iPhoto '11.

I am trying to move my wife's iPhoto (2007) library on a Macbook to my new iMac for iPhoto '11. First, when I opened iPhoto on the iMac it asked me to create a library, which I did. Then I imported her photos via a wireless network to my "new" library. However, when it finally finished importing, it had imported 3 copies of each photo from her library. I deleted the "new" library and started over.
Second, I opened iPhoto on the iMac and chose to use "other library." I chose my wife's shared iPhoto library and it began transferring the photos to the new iMac (or so I thought). This worked beautifully as it only brought over single photos and not 3 copies like discussed above. After editing the new library and adding some photos from an old PC, I shut down iPhoto. A few hours later I tried to open iPhoto on the iMac and it gave me the opening screen again with choices to create a new library or use a different library. As it turns out, my wife's Macbook and been disconneted from our wireless network. I was able to figure out that that unless my wife's Macbook is connected to the network then I cannot access the iPhoto library on my iMac. I was under the impression that I had copied her library to my computer and that the photo files were now on the hard drive of the iMac. So when her computer is offline I can no longer access the imported library. I want her library to stay on the iMac as we plan to sell her Macbook. As you now know, we cannot access her iPhoto library on the Macbook since she is running an older version of iPhoto.
So, what I would like to do is to completely transfer the photos from her Macbook to my new iMac and be able to access them on the iMac regardless of whether she is on the network or not because we plan to sell her Macbook to a friend. Thank you for any help you can provide.

To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:
Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...
But however you do choose to link the two machines...
Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.
Then hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
and select the Library that you moved. That's it.
This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.
Your first option didn't work because you imported 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.
Your second option didn't work because you simply referenced her library on the old machine.
Regards
TD

IPhoto '08 Library won't open in OSX 10.6.7

I have moved an iPhoto '08 library to a new iMac running OSX 10.6.7 and I can't get the library to open - any suggestions?
Thanks in advance....
Sunny in Eugene, Oregon

I backed up the user to an external hard drive then dragged the iPhoto Library into her Pictures file. When I open iPhoto, I get 2 error messages: "To use iPhoto '11 you need to upgrade your photo library" - I click on "continue to upgrade. Simultaneously I get another message saying: "You can't open your current photo library using this version of iPhoto...Please quit & use the latest version".... I AM using the latest version??? Huh?
Thank for any help.....

How can i share my iphoto 11 library with another user on the same mac?

hi
i recently added a new user account for my wife on my macbook pro. now we want to share the existing iphoto 11 library, which is on my account, with the new user account. i'm using os x lion.
many thanks!
davide from sitzerland

For iPhoto 09 (version 8.0.2) and later:
What you mean by 'share'.
If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Any user can drag a pic from the Shared Library to their own in the iPhoto Window.
Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc.
Quit iPhoto in both accounts. Move the Library to the Users / Shared Folder
(You can also use an external HD set to ignore permissions, a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.)
In each account in turn: Double click on the Library to open it. (You may be asked to repair the Library Permissions.) From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.

Manually migrate iPhoto 8 Library to iPhoto 9.5

Hi, I have a new MBP. Instead of using the Migration Wizard, and I want to manually move documents from my old MBP to the new one. I want a clean system, as there is a lot of cruft on the old machine from many prior migrations from machine to machine.
My first attempt at moving the iPhoto Library did not go well. I got the Unreadable Files error (1300 files) and iPhoto just hung thereafter. So, I want to try again. But, perhaps I'm not clear on the process of how to manually migrate the iPhoto Library. I did the following - is this correct, or should I have done something else?
Carbon Copy Cloner backup to external HD
Copied iPhoto Library from backup HD to /User/Pictures/ folder on new MBP
Opened iPhoto. It started importing and I went to sleep.
Awoke to review iPhoto import: Result was Unreadable Files error and a hung iPhoto
I had the following folders in /Users/Pictures: iPhoto Library_2 (this is what I copied from backup), iPhoto Library.photolibrary
System details:
Old MBP:
OSX 10.6.8
iPhoto 8.1.2
New MBP:
OSX 10.9.4
iPhoto 9.5.1
Should I have followed a different process?
Thanks in advance.

You screenshot does not display for me so I'm answering with the benefit of seeing it.
Opened iPhoto. It started importing and I went to sleep.
Did you try importing the iPhoto 8 library into a new library or just try to open the V8 library directly with iPhoto?
Get a fresh copy of the library from the EHD into the Pictures folder on your new Mac and do the following:
1 - copy the iPhoto 8.1.2 application from the EHD to the desktop, rename it iPhoto 8.1.2.app and place in your Applications folder.
2 - launch iPhoto 8.1.2 with the Option key held down, select the library and try to open. If it opens OK close iPhoto 8.1.2.
3 - launch iPhoto 9.5.1 with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
3 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.

Why don't my albums and book in iPhoto 5 appear in the iPhoto 6 library?

I deliberately upgraded to OX10.4.9 so that I could get iLife 6 with iPhoto 6. Everything seemed fine until I realized that the albums and book I made in iPhoto 5 (but the book was not yet published) were no longer there. I can't find it anywhere in the libraries for my current iPhoto 6, and Spotlight can't find it on the computer. I do have the original photos in the Originals list, but in order to make the book I had to sort and weed out the pictures. Then I made custom captions for the book's pages. I was hoping to publish the book using the upgraded iPhoto6. Now it looks as if I will have to go through the whole process again.
Maybe there is hope because I did a back-up of my whole system on an external hard drive before I loaded in Tiger and the new iLife. But I don't know how to get the photo book out of there and export it to the iPhoto6 library.
What is the best way to get the book back----or is it possible at all?
PowerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9) 733MHz, 640MB of RAM

valtuff:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Did you let iPhoto 6 do the conversion of the iPhoto 5 library? Do you still have a copy of the iPhoto 5 library. If so try the following;
1 - move the current V6 library folder to the desktop.
2 - copy the V5 library into your Pictures folder.
3 - download and run BatChmod on the iPhoto Library folder with the settings shown here, putting your administrator login name, long or short, in the owner and group sections. You can either type in the path to the folder or just drag the folder into that field.
4 - make sure you've updated iPhoto to 6.0.6. To do that you'll need to apply the updaters in the following order:
a. run the 6.0.4 updater
b. download and run the 6.0.5 updater (will only run on 6.0.4)
c. download and run the 6.0.6 updater (will only run on 6.0.5)
d. run Disk Utility and repair disk permissions.
That should give you a converted library with the book and albums intact.
The book and albums would be virtual entities and you wouldn't find them in Spotlight. But if they didn't get converted you'll have to recreate them from scratch.
Hint: I use iPhoto Library Manager and create a separate iPhoto library for books. I put the photos I want in the book in an album and then copy that album to the book library with iPLM. If I need more photos I copy them in a new album as the book progresses. Once the book is done and ordered I copy the book library folder intact to a CD. Then at a time in the future if I want to order another book just like it, I can. I just copy that library folder to the desktop, open it with iPhoto and order. It preserves the original book as ordered.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto 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 written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), 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. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

IPhoto 08 - Library Corrupt? Pictures start vanishing...

I have my iPhoto 08 library on a backup external drive that is connectd via FW800 to my G5 Tiger...my other machines are using Leopard now.
Recently something happened with my Macmini (Leopard OS) where iPhoto just froze stating it needed to rebuild thumbnail cache...After leaving it running for over 8 hours and seeing the progress bar was not moving I rebooted the Macmini and tried again...This didn't help and it did it again. I forced quit iPhoto and checked on my G5. iPhoto loaded fine so I rebooted all my machines and shut down my eternal drive.
When I rebooted and tested iPhoto on all machines it appeared to be working but with a new bonus feature...Photos are now vanishing when I scroll around or select different events. The photos are displayed for a quick second and then they are replaced by a grey/blank outline that has an "!" if you select them.
Have I lost all these photos now? I am afriad to launch iPhoto again for fear of more photos of my son vanishing.
I checked the iPhoto properties and the file size is still what it should be (around 32gb) I also see the originals and modified folders within the package contents do in fact have a lot of photos in them.
Any suggestions?

What happened when you rebooted the mini from the freeze was the database file for the library got damaged. Look inside the iPhoto LIbrary package and confirm that the Originals folder contains your image files. Unless you have a recent backup copy of the library or the library's database file, Library6.iPhoto, you'll have to start over with a new library and import the Originals folder from the old 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 iPhoto 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.
In the future I suggest you try the tip at the end of my signature. You'll have to modify the Automator application to look for the library on the external HD. It's designed to look in the Pictures folder.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto 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), 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 08 libraries 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 crash--library corrupt?

I am using an iMac 1.8 GHz Power PC G5 with Mac OS X 10.3.9
The Hard drive was replaced 2 years ago, and I recently upgraded my memory to 2 GB DDR SDRAM.
At the time of the crash I had the following applications open: Firefox, ShoeBox, MS Word, iPhoto, and Photoshop Elements v. 4. The computer froze up so I had to shut it down using the power bottom, the force quit was not working either. When I re-opened my iPhoto application after the crash approximately 6000 photos had disappeared from the application. Fortunately they are all backed up on an external hard drive, and 95% of them on CD or DVD. I tried to reload the photos and about 500 did reload into the application from the iPhoto library file in the finder window. However none of the reloaded files had their album tags. Then the next batch had corrupt files.
I do not know if I want to continue using iPhoto, but really loved the ease of the albums tags and ability to search via dates as well. In some of my research I have read to not touch the files in the library, but to access them through iPhoto. A friend sent me about 50 pages of material regarding iPhoto problems and solutions, but after wading through about 1/2 of it I tried the rebuild option and it keep only the photos that were still in the iPhoto application, but not the all the ones from the library.
Is there any way to rebuild iPhoto back to the about 8000 photos I had in it? It is wise to have that many photos in iPhoto? Will I be able to recover any of the album tags, or will I have to re-tag if I choose to go that route? Should I re-tag using Shoebox? Thanks in Advance!

Your database was damaged in the Crash.
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 allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords 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 6* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
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 on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Roll 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.
Regards
TD

Importing Iphoto 6 library into Iphoto 7

I bought an Imac some months ago. Since then, I've tried to import my IPhoto library (IPhoto 6) to my new Imac Intel (IPhoto7, MacOs 10.5.2), but I have some difficulties with it.
Using an external HD, I copied my IPhoto library to an external HD and then copy it to my new Imac, replacing the old empty IPhoto library. But every times, some events are blank , and every time I open IPhoto7, more and more events are blank.
I have tried to import the library to IPhoto 7, but, then, the date are all mixed up.
I dont know what to do anymore.
Please, I need some help.

You do not import - the correct way is what it sounds like you did
Assuming that you have a good, working iPhoto 6 library that works with iPhoto 6, quit iPhoto '08 on your new Mac and drag the iPhoto library from the pictures folder to the trash (I'd suggest waiting to empty the trash although it sounds like your current library is not good)
Launch iPhoto and it will convert the library to the new iPhoto '08 format - if some events are blank then try rebuilding the library using iPhoto Library Manager
If this does not work trash the latest attempt and copy the iPhoto 6 library over again and rebuild it with iPhoto Library manager before you convert to iPhoto '08
Good Luck
LN

Using Aperture 2 to Edit Iphoto 08 Library

I imported my Iphoto 08 library into Aperture 2 as reference images so I can still view my iphoto library on my HD Samsung through my PS3 using Medialink, after I edit the images with Aperture. My question is will there be any problems if I edit / delete / change images in my iphoto using Aperture ? Are there any tricks or things to be careful about ? I don't want to corrupt my library. I am a recent convert to mac (SR Macbook) and iphoto 08 did a great job with importing and initial organizing the mess of photo from all my windows machines. Aperture 2 seems to have better editing and file management of my resultant 25000 + library. I'd like to use both iphoto and Aperture together.

I import into Iphoto first for a couple of reasons. If I have some videos on my camera, which i usually do, Iphoto will capture them for viewing or editing later. Aperture won't. Second, Time Machine works with Iphoto, not with Aperture. So backups are automatic with Iphoto. With Aperture, you can backup with vaults. I import all my images into Aperture (as referenced images) mostly so I can manage them, IE, organize using metadata, and place into folders by year / month, etc. Also, when you do edit in Aperture, no extra copies are made, like in Iphoto, because, Aperture takes the master from the iphoto library and applies your edits on the fly. You can continually edit and change the image in Aperture and it only will render and make a new image / master when you want to export.
As far as keeping track of various version of images, after organizing and editing in Aperture, you can place a rating on images, or place them in an album of good stuff (which is just a link to the real image), to then export into a new iphoto event of good stuff, etc
Alternately, you could import the images into Aperture as masters, and Aperture will make another copy, which means you'll have two of each image taking up twice as much space. Depending how many images and how much hard drive space you have will determine if this works. You could keep either or both Aperture and / or Iphoto libraries on external hard drives. You could import directly into Aperture and only export good stuff into iphoto, if you don't have any videos to manage and you're willing to backup with Aperture vault.
I setup the external editor in Aperture to use CS3 PS. When you select edit in external editor, Aperture renders a new master which you edit in PS and end up with a new master in Aperture.
Good luck. I went through several workflows with Aperture trial and almost gave up. In the end though, after I saw what Aperture can do, Iphoto along wasn't good enough and I came up with something that works for me.

Need help restoring iPhoto 08 Library into iPhoto 11

Ok, I have spent hours trying to figure this out on my own. I'm not being lazy but I need help! I have a black macbook (2009) that had Leopard (not Snow) and iPhoto 08. It crashed. I had a time machine backup on external drive. I got a new hard drive installed and they upgraded me to Lion and iPhoto 11. I messed up and started the system without hooking up to time machine. I tried to use migration assistant. It imported only imported 400 pics of my many thousand pics.
I did several things: I tried to rebuild the library, look for orphans, etc. I deleted the ProjectDBVersion.plist, Projects.db, Projects.db-journal files as someone suggested. I deleted the new iphoto 11 library. i dragged the my old iphoto library from time machine. I held down option and tried to build it again from the old library. I still get the same 400 pics. I even tried the free version of Photo Library Manager. It created the same library with 400 pics. (not sure if I know how to use this app right).
If I open the new iphoto 11 library, I can see my pics in the "Masters" file. I was able to drag these to my desktop and then put in iphoto but does this method save my edits? Should I drag the "Modified" pics into iphoto instead? I don't care much about keywords, I just want my edits. I also don't want old deleted photos put back into iphoto.
another question, time machine (TM) is not turned on yet with new hard drive and OS. it doesn't recognize my external drive as TM. It asks if I want to designate it as TM. If I do this, will it delete my old backup (with all my important data) and start a new backup of my new hard drive which doesn't have all the pics yet.
I don't have a copy of Lion so if I do a complete restore, I will have to buy it and add all info again. Is this my best option? Would it really make a difference?
Terrance, you out there?
Thanks for any help!

It might start backing up your new drive but will not erase what's on it as long as there is sufficient space. Also you can turn on TM and exclude your entire HD via the TM Options pane.
Then go to your Pictures folder and enter Time Machine. Go back to the appropriate date, select the library and use the Restore button.
OT
NOTE: if you have trouble entering TM's backups go to the Lion forum and ask your question there. Also do a search there for Time Machine so see if there are any similar topics there already.

Iphoto external library

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