IPhoto library is completely frozen, and invisible

Hello, everyone. My iPhoto library is completely frozen, and invisible, despite several force quits and restarts. Any ideas? It is a big library, some 13.5GB, but this has never been a problem until now. I even attempted to restore the library from Time Machine.

There are 9 different versions of iPhoto and they run on 9 different versions of the Operating System. The tricks and tips for dealing with issues vary depending on the version of iPhoto and the version of the OS. So to get help you need to give as much information as you can. Include things like:
- What version of iPhoto.
- What version of the Operating System.
- Details. As full a description of the problem as you can. For example, if you have a problem with exporting, then explain by describing how you are trying to export, and so on.
- History: Is this going on long? Has anything been installed or deleted? - Are there error messages?
- What steps have you tried already to solve the issue.
- Anything unusual about your set up? Or how you use iPhoto?
Anything else you can think of that might help someone understand the problem you have.

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I'm running iPhoto '08 version 7.1.5. My collection of 25,000 photos on iPhoto library is completely empty. How can I get them back?

I'm running iPhoto '08 version 7.1.5. My collection of 25,000 photos on iPhoto library is completely empty. How can I get them back?
I dragged one photo to the My Pictures folder in Finder. I knew it was just one photo because it was the only one highlighted in yellow. When I saw it in Finder, it was labled iPhoto. I thought it was the wrong picture, so in Finder I deleted the file. When I got back to iPhoto, EVERYTHING was missing. Events, photos, recent, and even trash. At this point, I went into my Trash. I searched for iPhoto and iPhoto was there. I opened it and it was still empty. All I want to do is to get my collection of photos back!

Best solution is to load your backup from before you did this?
Where did you drag the photo from?
Have you tried dragging it from the trash to the desktop? What size is it?
What size is your iPhoto library in the pictures folder?
LN

NO iPhoto Library showing in Desktop and Screensaver Menu in SL

Hi experts,
I have experienced a problem after I updated to SL last night.
I made a fresh install of both SL and iLife 09 on my mbp unibody late 2008.
Afterwards, I replaced the my fresh iphoto library simply with my old iphoto 09 library from time machine (no migration tool, only copy pasts).
But now I recognized a problem that I see no iphoto library in my Desktop and Screensaver Menu in control panel. I cant set iphoto library photos as screensaver cause I cant see them
Does anyone have a solution for it? or does anybody face the same issue?
Thanks!!!

I have the same thing. I wiped everything clean and installed Snow Leopard/iLife '09/etc. I run my iPhoto lib from an Airdisk and I just set iPhoto to point to that same library on the wireless disk. Everything works fine, except I can't set iPhoto pics as my desktop. I see a label for iPhoto (just like when it used to work) except there's no arrow by it and it's empty. If I plug the computer straight into the disk and use the same library, it works fine. Any thoughts?

Unable to insert photos from iPhoto into a Word document. File "iPhoto Library" is greyed out and won't let me choose it.

Unable to insert photos from iPhoto into a Word document. File "iPhoto Library" is greyed out and won't let me choose it.

Choose it from where? See this user tip by Terence Devlin for how to access photos for use outside of iPhoto: How to Access Files in iPhoto
Have you tried dragging the photo from the iPHoto window into the open Word document window?
OT

Where is my IPhoto library? I updated and the last two years of photos disappeared. Help., Where is my IPhoto library? I updated and the last two years of photos disappeared. Help.

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Simple and fast solution: restore from your back up.
Other than that:
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
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.
Regards
TD

My iphone 3g is completely frozen and wont turn on, help!

My iphone is completely frozen and will not turn off. It was working just fine then completely shut off and is now not responding. I tried holding just the top button, then the top button and home button together... nothing! HELP!

Try a Hard Reset.
- hold down the home button and the sleep/wake button at the same time
- the phone will turn off and the apple logo will appear
- once you see the apple logo release both buttons
Hope this helps

My iphone 4s is completely frozen and stuck on the home screen. the sleep/wake button is broken i have no way to turn off or reset my phone.

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Plug ypur iPhone into iTunes then click on restore iPhone that should work. If you have backed your iPhone up to icloud you will be able to restore from your iCloud backup and all of your apps and content will be back on your iPhone.

How do I delete my iPhoto library on my iPhone and just have photostream?

I have an iMac (main computer), MacBook Air and an iPhone. When I set up iCloud, somewhere along the way it synced my entire Macbook Air library onto my iPhone and I can't get rid of it. I like having photostream on all my devices as that's just 1000 photos, but my iPhoto library is huge and takes up all my storage on the iPhone.
How can I get my iphone to just have photostream and not my entire iPhoto library?
Thanks

This doesn't work. I unclick everything and it asks if I want to remove them from my iphone, I click yes obviously and then sync. Within a second it says it can't complete this because there isn't enough space on my phone. BS. After I unclick the library the memory bar shows I would have 35GB of space if it would only sync. what is the problem????????

Recovering an iPhoto Library from damaged HD and moving it to new HD

Dear Experts,
I am seeking directions on a procedure that might be straight forward but I must be do this correctly. I lost my iMac internal HD when it stopped booting. The System was 10.4.8 and iPhoto6. Booting from Norten showed 68 damaged blocks. Set up a PowerBook and connected via fire wire to iMac and ran in target mode. I Finder copied the entire contents of the dead HD to an external FW drive. Lost about 3 GB's of data from dead HD but don't know what is missing. The iPhoto Library from the dead HD has, among many files, a "Library.iPhoto" file as well as a "Library6.iPhoto" file. It also contains Original, Modified, and Recovered Photos folders.
I replaced the damaged internal HD drive with a new drive. Installed a clean version of Tiger on the new internal HD and did all software updates to get me current to 10.4.8. When I opened iPhoto6 from the new internal HD there were, naturally, no photos. When I opened iPhoto with "option-iPhoto open", I was instructed to select a Library. I directed iPhoto to the "iPhoto Library" from the external FW drive. Every thing appears to be normal, with the original organizational structure intact.
I now want to move the original AND modified photos from the external FW drive to my new internal HD, preserving roll names, ratings, keywords, i.e. the complete database. Afterwards, I want to erase the external FW drive, so I must be sure that I have the complete folder on the internal HD. I don't want iPhoto to be linked to the Library Folder on the FW.
1) Should I trash the contents of the iPhoto Folder on the internal drive (which has no photos) and replace it with the contents of the iPhoto Folder on the external FW drive (the one from my original disk)?
2) Should I simply replace the "Library6.iPhoto" on the internal HD with the "Library6.iPhoto" file on the FW?
3) Must I use iPhoto Library Manager to move my old data?
4) Would I have to use iPhoto dB Backup from Toad's Celler?
5) When I commissioned the new internal HD, I used the option of transferring all my settings, preferences, etc. from the old computer (the contents of the damaged internal HD which I had copied to the external). Could this have corrupted anything in the iPhoto Library? Why do I have a "Library.iPhoto" file in the old iPhoto Library Folder and not in the new iPhoto Library Folder on the new internal HD?
6) When I opened the original iPhoto Library from iPhoto application, my picture count was 2037. In that same folder, the total pictures were as follows:
"Originals" Folder: 2149
"Modified" Folder: 487
"Recovered Photos" Folder: 37
Why the discrepancy?
Many thanks.
iMac G4, 800 MHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I recommend you do number 1 from your list. Then open iPhoto with the option key so you can reselect the correct library folder on your new internal HD.
You shouldn't need to do any of the other things you mentioned.
As far as the numbers question 6, have you deleted photos without emptying the iPhoto trash? Try emptying the iPhoto trash and see if the numbers now match.

IPhoto 5.0.4 frozen and can't see images

I installed iPhoto 5.0.4 last week (??? can't remember really - I always do updates as they become available and am able to download them via dialup). iPhoto 5 generally has been extremely slow and prone to crashes but I figured Apple would eventually sort it out.
However, yesterday I was dragging images to an album for use in website design and my whole powerbook froze. I ended up having to powerdown completely.
On relaunch of iPhoto it prompted that the latest update wanted to upgrade my thumbnail images, and this could take some time depending on the number of images in my library - I have 5000? 7000? - constantly growing. I clicked "yes" expecting it to take some time. However, after 6 hours it was obviously not doing anything... so I used force quite to exit the application.
I have now tried to restart iPhoto and NOT upgrade the thumbnail images, and after 2 hours it is still trying to load the library.
Yes, I have lodged a bug/enhancement request with Apple, but am hoping someone here has a more immediate suggestion, as I am supposed to finish work on the development of this website ASAP and need the images. Not to mention, I am now growing really worried that my library is corrupted (and of course, my last backup was some weeks ago - prior to the birth of 12 puppies whose photos are in the current library).
Hoping someone can help somehow.
Kind regards,
Suzanne

Hi suzanne,
Rename your current library to "iPhoto Library-corrupt"
Put your last backup into the Pictures folder.
Launch iPhoto and see if the backup opens fine.
You now have a working library.
Now you need to get the newest imports from the corrupt library out. No problem.
Check in the open iPhoto the last date of imported images on your backup.
Now navigate the corrupted iPhoto Library and drag the numbered day folders of the newest imports to the desktop. You can rename these folders to the correct date of capture if you wish.
You do not need the Originals folders or the thumbnail folders, just the images in the date folders.
Drag these folders inot the open library window to import them.
check out the screenshot to help you figure out where everything is.
This is a view of how the iPhoto Library looks in the Finder.
It is organized by Year folders. Inside the Year folders are Month folders. Inside the Month folders are the days of the Month. Inside the day folders are the photos you took on that day. If you imported video clips and RAW files on that day they will be in an Originals folder. If you have edited any photo imported on that day, the original will be in that folder also.

Terrance Devlin answered a question about iPhoto (4-2012) re:copying iPhoto Library to an ExHD, and losing all the albums. I can't locate the "Choose Library" when I open iPhoto with the opt button. Can anyone help?

I tried to move my images (over 25,000) to an External Hard drive to open up some memory, hoping to make my computer run faster. It took three hours to move the images and I see them all in the mac's menus. However when I try to open them with iPhoto now, none appeared. and when I tried to import them back to the main HD they come in to iPhoto just fine, but not with the albums nor any of the massive organization i'd created in the original. this represents years of images, and I can't imagine that I'd have to recopy them into folders/albums again.
Terrance Devlin answered a similar question back in April of last year. He said to make sure the ExHD is formatted to MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and to move the library to the ExHD and then open iPhoto with the option button and select "Choose Library" from the resulting menu.
Command "I" tells me that the new drive is formatted correctly. I can't locate the "Choose Library" when I open iPhoto with the opt button.
First, I wondered if the application needs to be on the same drive as the Library. I sure would like to know if I can find out how to restore all the folders I had them in. Terrance's advice helped the user that had asked the question.
Here's the url for that archived discussion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3849933?start=0&tstart=0
Can anyone help? I'm using iPhoto 5. My MAC is an OS X version 10.4.11.
thanks, brokenlom

Here are Apple's instructions:
If you are using iPhoto ’06 or earlier, you will need to follow these steps to tell iPhoto where the Library is now located:
Hold down the Option key on the keyboard and open iPhoto. Keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto Library.
Click Choose Library.
Locate and select the iPhoto Library in its new location.
(from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229 )
Below (in the link below) is what you should see when holding down the option key and opening iPhoto. Keep holding down the option key until this dialogue comes up. You want to select the Choose Library button.
http://appleclinic.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/change-default-dir-iphoto/

HT1339 HELP my ipod nano has completed frozen and won't do anything

my ipod has complete frozen won't turn on or off and won't work charging by the mains or via the computer, i wanted to do a master reset but i can't even do this, please can anyone help

Have you tried a hard reset yet?
How to reset iPod
B-rock

How do I clean-up iPhoto library in iMovie '08 and make my new ones appear?

I'm a graphic designer and I use Adobe Bridge to add metadata (keywords) to my pictures so they're searchable on the Internet - not just iPhoto (and iLife?) and after transferring all the image files from iPhoto onto my Time Capsule (external hard-drive) and deleting the Photo Albums from iPhoto, I created a new Album to import still frames/images to use in my new iMovie project. I cleaned out (emptied) my iPhoto trash to help free-up space on my hard-drive, too.
The problem I'm having is that my iPhoto library as viewed from iMovie - still shows all the old photo albums that I've already deleted and the new .PNG I imported doesn't appear; however, the old .JPG files I once had still appear with exclamation marks as the thumbnail images and I can't select or delete them. When I right-click on the iPhoto photo albums library within iMovie, I only get the option to open in iPhoto. I imagine there is some back door manipulation required to fix this. The iMovie and iPhoto software came pre-installed in my computer and I'm not so sure that re-formatting my computer with the start-up disc is the safe or correct answer.
I've been researching the iMovie forum to see if there is a file I should be able to access to fix a Cache file somewhere; however, I couldn't find any .xml files, cache files, or anything anywhere yet. Thanks in advance to anyone willing and able to share some knowledge. I look forward to resolving this troubling experience. My final goal is to use the .PNG file (which contains transparent data, unlike .JPG files which fill transparent data with white pixels) as a frame image if not as a floating graphic (i.e. picture-in-picture).

Sean in the iMovie technical support area (thanks to my lovely Apple Care plan purchase) answered my question about how to delete the iPhoto library, which I no longer use (because I use Adobe Bridge and Photoshop CS3 to browse my photos and update their Metadata to make the images searchable not only on my computer, but others who don't have iPhoto, or iLife as well; even PC users and Internet search engines - when the images are uploaded as-is - without compression and changes that occur when uploaded to image hosts such as Photobucket.com, etc.):
Go to: *Finder >* (click on) *Pictures >* (and on the right, see iPhoto Library, Aperture, etc.? Select those files and...) *Move to Trash*
Now when you look at the Photos Browser in iMovie (⌘2) the folder, files, blank thumbnails and junk are (thankfully) gone!
As for using images located elsewhere for use in iMovie - I just have to locate them via the Finder, then select the file, then drag-and-drop the image for immediate placement into the part of My Project where I want to use the image and repeat this method for each incidence I want the graphic to appear.
Unfortunately, I must upgrade to iMovie '09 if I want to be able to take advantage of the Picture-in-Picture feature, which would enable me to place a logo or image graphic in a video project while other parts of the production are playing, but I can still use the title feature to embed text information such as a business name and phone number or (website) URL pertaining to the project as a surrogate stamp, watermark, or creative signature, but no other graphic image files may be used here.

I would like to copy my iPhoto (9.4.1) library from my Mac Pro (10.7.5) to a Macbook Pro (10.7.5). Can I drag the iPhoto Library to Air Drop and send them to the MacBook? Will that then be a usable iPhoto library on the Macbook?

I would like to copy my iPhoto (9.4.1) library from my Mac Pro (10.7.5) to a Macbook Pro (10.7.5). Can I drag the iPhoto Library from the Pictures folder to Air Drop and send them to the MacBook? If I then move that to the Pictures folder on the MacBook will that then be a usable iPhoto library on the Macbook?

It would be better if you could connect the two Macs via a hard wired LAN to copy the library from the Mac Pro to the MacBook. Wireless connections can have momentary dropouts which could affect the reliable copying of files.
If you do go with Air Drop be sure to open and inspect the copied library closely to confirm it was a successulf copy.
OT

Sharing iPhoto library between a Mac and a PC

Anyone have any tips on this one?
My wife and I would like to share the iPhoto library between her PC laptop and my Mac Pro. What's the best way to go about this?
Would it be best to put the library up on the wireless drive attached to the Airport Extreme wireless and share that way. I would format the drive for PC so it would be readable from both computers.
Option 2 is to put the iPhoto library on an external PC formatted drive and and then physically attach it to whatever computer is using the library.
I know there are probably problems that come with these methods and possibly that it wouldn't work at all. Not sure exactly. Thought I'd check in before I opened a huge can-o-worms.
Thanks!

1. iPhoto has no cross-platform capabilities whatsoever.
2. Putting the iPhoto Library on a disk formatted for PC is a frequent cause of problems. Folks report issue with updating the Library, keywords, accessing the pics in other apps and so on.
3. Using iPhoto on a wireless connection is also not recommended. Connection dropouts are a fact of life on wireless (even very brief ones.) If one occurs while iPhoto is writing to the Library then the Library will be corrupted.
4. If you look inside the iPhoto Library Folder you can see how that Library is organised: there are various files, which are the Library itself and some ancillary files. Then you have three core folders
Originals are the photos as they were downloaded from your camera or scanner.
(ii) Modified contains edited pics, shots that you have cropped, rotated or changed in any way.
(iii) Data holds the thumbnails the the app needs to show you the photos in the iPhoto Window.
Remember: iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Browsing through the Library folder with another app - for instance, whatever you use to view the pics on the Windows machine - can alter the structure of the Library. Another recipe for disaster.
What you can do:
1. Use an app that has a cross platform capability such as Microsoft’s Expression
2. Run a *Referenced Library*:
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
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.
However, you need to be aware of a number of potential pitfalls using this system.
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
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.
I don’t recommend it but this will allow you to share the Original files (though not the edited versions.)
Regards
TD

IPhoto library is completely frozen, and invisible

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