Iphoto library deleted

Oh my what a mess.
I have deleted my i photo library.
I just loaded some photos from my iPad on to a newly created library.
I use time machine and have lots of backups.
Can I load the old photos from time machine onto iphoto or am I out of luck?
If it is possible are there instructions somewhere or can anyone give me the steps?
Thank you
Arthur

Quit iPhoto and Drag the iPHoto library to the desktop - launch TM and go back to a bood library time in TM and select the iPhoto library in TM - click restore - after the restore is complete launch iPhoto - if you want the photos form the iPHoto library on the desktop use iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - to merge thtem in or switch to it by depressing the option key and launching iPhoto - then export the photos - option launch back to the main library (the one you restored) and import those photos
You tehn should be good to go
LN

Similar Messages

What are the iphoto files I need to restore iphoto library deleted from drive

A few days ago my hard drive started making noises and I was getting all sorts of errors. I even got errors trying to do a time machine backup with the final error being "backup failed".
Earlier last week I imported a couple hundred photos of my kids from Christmas to present which also included our vacation last month. I deleted the photos from my camera after the import. Then foolishly, I didn't think to do any time machine backups between then and the time my hard drive started making noise.
I bought a new SSD drive. I could still access the bad drive so I moved my pictures directory from the bad drive to the new drive. It took nearly two hours. It appeared to have moved everything, but it did not move the iphoto library. The pictures directory is gone from the old hard drive.
I purchased FileSalvage and recoved thousands of deleted jpg files from my old drive, but none appear to be the pictures I lost.
It appears that FileSalvage will recover specific file types. There doesn't seem to be a way to just tell it to recover the deleted "pictures" directory or recover "iphoto library".
If I was able to specify specific file names to restore, what files would I even need to specify? I have iphoto 11.
I came across an article about iphoto library files from iphoto 6 and previous versions which explained the following iphoto files: library.iphoto6, albumdata.xml, Thumb32Segment.data, Thumb64Segment.data, ThumbJPGSegment.data, etcxxxxx.
mmm
Does iphoto 11 use similar file names? I'm not concerned with keeping my iphoto database in tact. I just want my pictures.
Maybe I'm asking the wrong question. Any advice on how to get my pictures back would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
MH

Simply, you can't recover the iPhoto Library. What you need to do is try recover the Photos that were in it. These will be saved as jpeg files* and that's what you need to search for. Recovering all the other files will do no good. You won't be alble to reconstruct the Library. Your aim is to get the Photos and then start over.
The search may find many files of the same name, try to recover the largest files - they are most likely to be your originals.
Regards
TD
*Assuming you're not shooting Raw. If you are shooting Raw then you'll know the suffix for your camera. If none of that makes sense then you're not shooting Raw

Why are my photos from iPhoto library deleted from my external hard drive when I am only deleting them from my internal drive?

I did a backup of photos (iPhoto library) from my internal to an external hard drive. I have started to delete photos from my internal hard drive. It seems that when I delete from the internal drive, photos also delete from the external. I did a test and deleted one photo from iPhoto internal drive. When I plugged in the new backup (external drive) and clicked on iPhoto library, it opened iPhoto in the exact place I was working and that one photo was gone. What do I do? I do not want to delete the photos off of my external hard drive.

When I plugged in the new backup (external drive) and clicked on iPhoto library, it opened iPhoto in the exact place I was working and that one photo was gone.
When you clicked on the library iPhoto on the EHD iPhoto is op;ending the last library that was previously opened. To change libraries launch iPhoto with the Option key held down to get this window:
Then select the library that is on the EHD if it's in the window. If it isn't, click on the Other Library button, navigate to the EHD and select the library there.

IPhoto library deleted - How do I get my pictures back?

Hello,
I have just spent hours categorizing my pictures from my Mac HD into Iphoto folders. Once everything looked good, I deleted the Iphoto library on the HD just to save space. Pretty stupid!
The problem is that I see the grey frame of the pictures (called thumbnails?), but no pictures. How do retrieve the folder?
Has anybody a good piece of advice?
Thanks,
MacAms

Welcome to the Apple Discussions
Did you put the Library into the trash and empty it?
The obvious solution here is to restore from your back up.
Otherwise: you can forget the library that you worked on. There is no way to recover that. It’s gone. The best you can do is recover the Photos and then start over with a New Library.
You will need a File Recovery utility to recover the files. File Salvage is one such. This will scan the HD for the deleted photos. It may find multiple versions of them. In every case choose to recover the largest filesize. This is most likely to be the Original photo.
Then create a new iPhoto Library: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library' import the pics and start over.
Regards
TD

IPhoto library delete and use Lightroom

Dear all,
I've been searching for an answer to my specific issue but no luck yet.
I understand iPhoto and the duplicates it collects in the iPhoto 'file'. I read a few of T Devlin's posts!
However after some deliberation, I've decided to move to Lightroom instead of using iPhoto.
I don't mind manually sorting/collecting my photos in my own folders and not using iPhoto to help me manage them
Therefore, I've been wanting to delete that iPhoto duplicates 'file' but wondering if it is safe to do so without messing up my originals in their folders.
I intend to uncheck 'copy items in photo library...' option but wondering if that auto deletes the massive iPhoto file, or do I have to them go in and delete it manually?
Also, I want to reinstall my OSX onto an SSD and then use my 1TB as an extra drive. I'm guessing if I, at that point, re-check that option, it auto backs up the photos all over again?
Thanks for your advice

1 - You do not understand how iPhoto works - it never duplicates photos (it does have different versions - no duplicates)
2 - you should not ever import any photo into iPhoto with the Copy imported items to iPhoto unchecked - it is a recipe for many future problems
3 - to move to any other program including LR simply select your photos and export them - see Exporting From iPhoto - for details
4 - after your photos are safely out of iPhoto trash the iPhoto library
5 - if you do not use iPhoto you will never create another library - and if yo do use it you do not want a referenced library - see iPhoto and File Management
6 - you should not use both iPhoto and LR - they do the same thing in different ways and can not work together in any way
LN

Aperture and iPhoto library deleted

I upgraded my Aperture w/no problem. About one month later, all images in Aperture and iPhoto dissapeared. "Genius Bar" checked, said no problem and didn't have a clue. Bought a Time-Machine backup at store, had a consultant there show me how to set up, but he had a problem as the Airport Utility was gone. He said that was rare and downloaded it. He suggested there could be a connection to all this. I'm afraid to use the iMac. Help? Doing search for images or libraries no good, will show libraries, but with zero files. Tnx. Leif

How did you import your old iPhoto photos? And with what Aperture version?
Before the unified Aperture - iPhoto library has been introduced, it was possible to import an iPhoto library as referenced. This left all originals in the iPhoto library, so iPhoto continued to work, but Aperture could use the master files. Is that the way you imported your iPhoto library, with the master files in there original location?
When trying to e.g. export a file Aperture says 'The selected original image is either offline or not found. Please reconnect it and try again.'.
That is the typical error message, when Aperture cannot access the original files. And Aperture wil not be able to do anything with your images, unless you restore the missing originals.
Just moved my Aperture-library to my new iMac.
Where did you move your Aperture library from ? From an older mac? From a backup?
Did Aperture work on that old Mac and could access the originals?
Do you still have that old mac, and is there any chance that recovery software could retrieve the missing original files on that mac?
Sometimes Aperture reports originals as missing, even if they are managed inside the Aperture library.
You can find out, where Aperture is looking for the original files, if you select some image files in the browser and use Aperture's command "File > Locate Referenced Files".
In the panel that opens, you can see the path to missing files in the upper right corner below the thumbnail.
What do you see, when you use that command?

IPhoto Pictures deleted

My entire iPhoto library deleted when I synched my iPad 2 to install the new software... I now no longer have the pictures on my iPad or my MacBook...Is there any way to fix this

Simple solution: Restore from your back up.
Otherwise we'll need some more details.
Regards
TD

I upgraded MacbookPro 2009 from 10.6.8 to Yosemite. Beforehand I made a backup copy of my Iphoto library onto an external hard drive. Lets call it BU. I also deleted half of my photos from the default library on my laptop, lets call it DE. I then in

I upgraded MacbookPro 2009 from 10.6.8 to Yosemite 2 weeks ago. My iphoto is now a nightmare. i went to our local apple retailer but they could not help either. Perhaps someone can help. Beforehand the OS upgrade I made a backup copy of my Iphoto library onto an external hard drive. Lets call it BU with 50GB. I also deleted half of my photos from the default library on my laptop, lets call it DE, now with about 20GB, to gain space. I then upgraded to Yosemite.
I have also installed since a long time Iphoto Library Manager 3.8.6. (this may be the cause of the problem as it was not upgraded and perhaps thus not compatible with iphoto 9.6 which I have now after the upgrade to Yosemite) It all worked fine before the upgrade, switching in iphoto between the two libraries DE and BU.
It also worked fine after the upgrade for a few days. At one stage Iphoto asked me to upgrade the iphoto version as it otherwise could not read the photos when I tried to load the BU library into iphoto. I did click yes to upgrade iphoto. As a result I became a brand new but totally empty library, no photos.
BU was still on the external disc, however the "Master" file was empty. We fortunately discovered all photos were in another file called Old Master, also under BU. We made another copy of the Old Master file onto the external disc. Lucky we did, because shortly afterwards we could not open anymore the BU file thus had no access to anything in there. Now I have 17000 photos in a file called Old Master on my external disc and another smaller library DE on my laptop. When I tried to import the photos from Old Master into a new iphoto library it was very messy. All events dates were mixed up, many photos were imported twice. I have no idea whether all my 17000 photos have been imported.
Can anyone suggest what is the most time efficient way? How do I best import my 17000 into a new library ensuring I don't loose any in the process. I do not wish sorting through 17000 photos for a week or so. Shall i also get a new iphoto library version now? Thank you for anything that may work.

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

Delete photo from iPhoto library and HDD

Hopefully I'm not repeating a previous thread...
Not being an expert, am I correct in saying that iPhoto only changes its version of the photo when editing it?
Also, if you delete the photo by moving it to the trash can, it doesn't physically delete it from the HDD? (When you empty the trash can)
This causes a problem for a few reasons.
I have just loaded Medialink PS3 which allows the iMac to serve the PS3. (BTW - Good product)
If you point Medialink to the original HDD folder then this still includes photos I thought I had deleted.
Also If I want to burn a cd with the photo folder external to iPhoto , the "deleted" photos are also burnt.
I copied all of the photos from a windows PC, and Picasa allowed you to physically delet from its own folder as well as the HDD.
Doesn't iPhoto 09 allow this?
What would iPhoto do if I went through and cleaned up the external folder and deleted jpgs or edited using Canon editing software? If using the external editor, would iPhoto reflect the changes?
Sorry if this is verbose.
regards,

You might want to have a llook at the iPhoto tutorials. They cover a lot of these basics.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#iphoto-hero
And the version of iPhoto you are using?
I'm not at all sure that a Referenced Library is what you want. In fact I strongly recommend against it. But however:
*How to do it:*
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
*What Happens:*
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
*Some things to consider:*
1. Importing and deleting pics are more complex procedures. You have to to put the files where they will be stored before importing them. When you delete them you'll need to remove the files from the HD yourself.
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
4. Because iPhoto has no tools for managing Referenced Files, if, for some reason, the path to the photos changes then you could find yourself resolving aliases for +each photo in the Library+ one by one.
My own opinion:
I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers
If disk space is an issue, you can run an entire iPhoto Library from an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
If you're concerned about accessing the files, There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
+Some Other Comments+
iPhoto will not touch any file outside its library. Period.
It will copy files on import and leave existing files untouched,
It will delete files within the Library but not outside the Library.
When you choose to go with a Referenced Library you are deciding that You want to manage the Files. You want to import them from the camera, you want to sort them however you want and you want to delete them yourself. That's the point of a referenced Library.
I just did a test by editing a photo using Canon Professional and the changes were not reflected in iPhoto. And vise versa.
The point of iPhoto is that you interface with your Photos via the Application. Like Addressbook for your contacts, iTunes for your Music, it's the go-to app for your Photos.
So, you want to edit Photos, you go to iPhoto and use the External Editor:
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Note that iPhoto sends a copy+ of the file to Photoshop, so when you save be sure to use the Save command, not Save As... If you use Save As then you're creating a new file and iPhoto has no way of knowing about this new file. iPhoto is preserving your original anyway.
Regards
TD

Which files can I safely delete in my Pictures Folder/ iPhoto Library

Hello
Thanks in advance for any advice on the following. I am trying to free up some space on my Macbook Pro hard drive. In the Pictures/ iPhoto Library folder, I seem to have a lot of duplicates. At this folder level, I have series of sub folders with years 2002-2006 listed, and there is also a folder titled data, which also has subfolders 2002-2006. Can I safely delete one set of folders without losing my pictures?
Thank you
Jonathan

Johnathan:
In a word, NONE. Those are all necessary item for the operation of the library. Those files in the Originals folder are obviously the originals. Those in the Data folder are the thumbnails iPhoto uses to display in the main library window. The Modified files are those that you've editied, rotated, etc. To do any moving, renaming or editing of files directly from the folder is tantamount to committing the cardinal sin of iPhoto: Don't tamper with files in the iPhoto Library folder from the Finder.
What with the low cost of external FW HDs, they are a very cost effective way to protect and preserve important files. As you may know it's recommended to have a minimum of 10G free space for optimum performance of the system and applications. More if possible. You can use Monolingual to remove any language module you don't need (be sure not to select English or American English and DO NOT run any of the Architecture items). I saved nearly 900MB the first time I ran it.
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.

Whenever I try to open iPhoto, a message comes up saying that 148 photos have been found in the iPhoto Library that have not been imported. It asks me if I want to import them and I say NO but then it places them in a recovered photo folder. I keep deleti

Whenever I try to open iPhoto, a message comes up saying that 148 photos have been found in the iPhoto Library that have not been imported. It asks me if I want to import them and I say NO but then it places them in a recovered photo folder. I keep deleting the empty recovered photo files but it just keeps asking me every time I go to open iPhoto! I'd love to just get rid of the "found" photos (I can't open them anyway!)
How do I get rid of them so that I can just open iPhoto straight up without this?
Linda

Open your iPhoto Library package with the Finder.
Click to view full size
look for a folder titled Import or Importing and move it to the Desktop. Launch iPhoto to see if the message goes away. If there is no message check the contents of the Import folder to see if you want to keep any of those image files (usually they have not been imported into iPhoto). If you want to keep them then drag the folder into the open iPhoto window to import.
OT

Can I safely delete my iPhoto library?

As the subject says, is it safe to delete my 1.69gb iPhoto library file? I have all my pictures in various folders elsewhere. So my question is, if I delete this, it won't delete any of my pictures in those other folders.
I assume that an iPhoto library file is basically imported pictures copied into a self-contained file.

Deleting the iPhoto Library will delete just that, and not affect files in other locations.
Regards
TD

I have an external hard drive connected to my iMac 2006; the OS on this iMac has been upgraded. I wanted to have back up copies of all our photos on iPhoto; I moved the iPhoto Library folder to the EHD. Now I want to delete a lot of the photos on the iM

I want to delete the photos on the iMac's hard drive but I want all the copies on the EHD; to free up space on the iMac. I experimented by deleting one photo in the iPhoto library on iMac but when I checked the EHD, it was deleted there, too. How can I delete photos from iMac w/out deleting from EHD?

Photo Library icon that sits on my desktop
Do a Get Info in the Finder on that, is it an Alias pointing to the external drive?
Open the iPhoto Library folder on your actual internal drive in the Finder, is that deleed pic stil there?

How do I delete photos in Iphoto library that have not been imported?

How do I delete photos in Iphoto library that have not been imported?

How did they get there and how do you know that they are there?
If they were not imported and iPhoto is not aware of them then you can be sure your current backup is up to date and tested, quit iPhoto and drag them to the finder trash - But be very careful because if you trash any items that iPhoto knows about you will corrupt your library
Before you empty the trash, launch iPhoto again and be sure everything is working correctly
It is recommended that you never modify the iPhoto library using anything except iPhoto or iPhoto aware programs like iPhoto Library Manager including adding, modifying or deleting items, files or folders within the iPhoto library
Your current case may be one of the very unusual exceptions to this - if they were put there without iPhoto's knowledge
LN
Message was edited by: LarryHN

HT1229 My iPhoto Library (version 8.1.2) is 280GB (greater than 50% of my 500GB total storage memory on my iMac. It was too large for me to drag it to a new hard drive so the Apple geniuses did it for me. However they did not delete the Library from my

My iPhoto Library (version 8.1.2) is 280GB (greater than 50% of my 500GB total storage memory on my iMac. It was too large for me to drag it to a new hard drive so the Apple geniuses did it for me. However they did not delete the Library from my iMac (that's my responsibility). I dragged it to Trash and when it started to move I clicked over to the new hard drive to confirm it had indeed been copied. I became nervous when I didn't see among the few files on this otherwise empty new hard drive anything that resembled a 280GB Library so I cancelled the migration to trash.
How can I be sure that my iphoto has been copied and that all my "metadata" survived in tact?

the new backup drive
I thought the new drive would be your data drive to host the iPhoto library. Do you also use it for TimeMachine backups?
I am unable to search either in email as well as Finder. I AM able to search within iPhoto though, thankfully
Spotlight may still be busy rebuildig its index.
You could try to rebuild the Spotlight Index, if you do see no progress:
Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes
I hope, other frequent posters will drop in. I have not used iPhoto 8.x in long time.

Iphoto library deleted

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