IPhoto library won't load thumbnails or pics

A couple of months back, I noticed that some thumbnails in my iPhoto library were not being loaded (maybe 10% of folders), and a number of photo's inside the folder were blank, and would also not load. The folder thumbnails would flicker on and off when scrolling down the folders, and the folders themselves show the 'reflection' of the folder pic in front of it, but not on the actual, folder.
I then noticed that some folders had totally disappeared, so I restored from my Time Machine from a couple of months previous. Missing folders re-appeared, but I still had blank thumbnails, and pics unable to open. I tried the 4 iPhoto repair options, but it made no difference.
I then restored from an even older Time Machine backup, but now, most of my thumbnail pics are missing (about 90%), and I can't open most of my photos. I don't understand how this is happening, as when the backup was made, the iPhoto library was fine.
I'm now beginning to think that my hard drive on my Mac may be corrupt, and I'm restoring to a faulty drive. Can anyone help?
I'm on OSX 10.6 (I think), and it may be worth noting that I tried updating the OS 2 months ago, but it crashed my Mac, and I had to restore.
Thanks
Lee

Apologies for the delayed response.
I'm running iPhoto V9.5.1 (902.17) on OSX 10.9.3.
Thanks

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***iPhoto Library won't load? HELP!

I had a problem with my external lacie drive.
disk warrior rebuilt the directory and the drive is fine.
Now however iPhoto will not load. At first it said I needed to upgrade the thumbnails and I did so but never knew if it was working?
I think the directory data file for iPhoto is messed up?
I really need to get my albums back up becuase that is how I sort my best
photos etc..
I have had lots of iphoto crashes and I'm in the process of getting a more stable program. I have about 20,000 pictures in there. And everytime this happens it's always a disaster.
As of now I have imported some new photos into iphoto to continue my work flow. So, now iPhoto thinks this is the Library. I don't know what it's doing now, is it putting these new pictures in the same iPhoto library that won't load now?
I tried to load the "modified" iphoto library folder since I am hoping this will bring up all my best photo's I would have edited and go from there. But it won't load from iphoto. So I'm copying the modified folder to another drive and will try that.
Any advice on how to fix this mess?
Much appreciated!
G4 1.42 Dual Mac OS X (10.4.3) 1 Gig RAM
G4 1.42 Dual Mac OS X (10.4.3) 1 Gig RAM

I'm new to mac . I moved my home folder and managed to do somthing that made my iMac behave as if I was a new user. My 900 pictures were gone from iPhoto. I found them and re imported them using spotlight to find the albums. All my keywords were gone however.It's not much I know but it may help you ?

IPhoto Library Won't Load After 10.4.10 Combo Update (PPC)

After updating to 10.4.10 on a G4 desktop the iPhoto library will no longer load. Tried several times to rebuilt it and program quits unexpectedly just as it finishes rebuild. Ran repair disk permissions from HD and Repair Disk from DVD and re-installed 10.4.9, but problem remains. Had some trouble importing the last few photos (downloaded from an e-mail) before this problem occured (possible it is not related to 10.4.10 upgrade?). Been everywhere looking for a way to solve this, but to no avail. Any suggestions?

Hi, redwood. You had trouble with the emailed photos because they had been compressed by the sender using Stuffit (that's what the .sit suffix indicates), and you didn't unStuff them before importing them. I'm surprised that iPhoto was even willing to try to import them. It certainly couldn't have displayed them in that form.
If you then trashed them and emptied the trash *within iPhoto*, I'm not sure why they should have continued to cause you trouble — but since I don't understand how they could have been imported in the first place, I wouldn't really expect to understand all the consequences.
If, instead, you trashed them from within the iPhoto Library folder using the Finder, doing so corrupted your iPhoto Library database and necessitated a rebuild — which ordinarily produces better results than it apparently did in your case. Perhaps there were files left in the iPhoto Library folder that still referenced the files you deleted, and iPhoto didn't know how to handle references to files that weren't in an image format.
Setting aside what we don't understand and may never understand, I suggest that you leave your present defective iPhoto Library just as it is for the moment, and try to determine whether the backup copy is usable. (Good for you for having one, by the way!):
Connect or insert the drive or disc that contains the backup iPhoto Library folder. Start iPhoto while holding down the Option key, and continue to hold it down until you're asked whether you want to Create or Find a library. Choose Find, then navigate to the backup Library folder and click Open. If it opens normally and everything seems to be in order in it, simply replace the bad library folder inside your account's Pictures folder with a copy of the backup library folder, and you're back in business. It if doesn't open correctly, post back with details of what happened.
Note that the only way to make a successful backup copy of your iPhoto Library is to copy the entire iPhoto Library folder *as a unit* to another storage volume (a volume is a hard drive, a partition on a hard drive that contains more than one partition, a CD, DVD, flash drive, or other storage medium). If your backup wasn't made this way, it won't be usable.
EDIT: Well, I was busily churning out my long reply while you were solving the problem. I'm glad it turned out well.

IPhoto Library won't load

Dear wise friends,
I was careless and started dragging photos from my iPhoto Albums folder, which is inside the iPhoto Library folder, which is inside the Pictures folder under my user name on the Hard drive.
I didn't notice until after I dragged a couple of photos that is was moving the photos out of the original album folder and into the folder I created on the desktop. It was my hope to just copy and paste the photos-not completely remove them from their original Album folder.
However, this has now completely debilitated my iPhoto Application. When I try to start iPhoto, the library never loads. I can see the outline of the iPhoto (4.0.3) application on the screen, but it continuously says "Loading Photos" without ever loading.
iPhoto help and online support both say: +*"Important: If you move, delete, rename, or change files or folders in the iPhoto Library folder, you may be unable to see your pictures in iPhoto."*+
BUT no where do they tell you what to do if you do not obey this rule. How do I fix this mistake so iPhoto will open and show my library? Do I need to uninstall and reinstall? Do I need to bite the bullet and upgrade to the newest version of iPhoto/iLife?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Lane

Hi, lane, and welcome to Apple Discussions. You need to rebuild your library. Hold down the Shift and Option keys while starting iPhoto. Keep holding them down until you're asked whether you want to rebuild the library. Click Yes, then click Save.
This will create a brand new iPhoto Library_1 folder alongside your original iPhoto Library folder. The pictures you moved out of the original library may (depending on exactly where you pulled them from) be missing from it; in that case you'll need to reimport them from wherever you moved them to, and then reassign them to the albums you want them in. Once you're satisfied that all is well with the new library, trash the old library folder to regain the disk space it occupies. If the new library doesn't open properly or contain what you expect it to, trash it instead of the original library and post back for further advice.
Because the rebuilding process creates an entirely new library folder the same size as the original, you must have adequate hard drive space for that before you begin. And unless your hard drive is really tiny (10GB or smaller), you should always keep at least 5GB of available space on it in addition to everything that's stored on it, even while both library folders are present. The operating system needs those 5GB of space for temporary files and "elbow room" at all times.

Iphoto library won't load in other applications

My iphoto works, but when I open iweb or any other application to upload photos, all I get is the rainbow spinning thing. Nothing happens. I also had some of my photos set as my screen saver, and all it does is search for photos. Can someone please help? Thanks

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 Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 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. .
Regards
TD

IPhoto Library won't load after reinstalling Mac OSX

I have reinstalled mac i was having some problems and i am a newbie in mac so i tought a clean install would be good at that point
After reinstalling i had my user folder backed up i moved the files back to their original place, and organized everything because it was messy, and then started a timemachine backup on an external drive
so in short:
i reinstalled mac
restored my iPhoto Library to the Pictures folder
Updated everything to the latest version ( since the photo library was created with the latest version )
when i tried to open iphoto it stayed reloading for an hour then i gave up and searched online
my pictures are all there i can copy them and start a new library but that is not what i want
i want my events as i sorted them i want my faces as i sorted them i spent a lot of time making these pictures as they were
please help
Things i already tried:
vacuuming the *.db sqlite files
removing the faces.db so that if the faces are the problem i would know
tried removing all *.db files
tried to import my photos to a new library but that is not what i want
right now i have 2 libraries, a new one wih ****** event names
and the old one that is corrupt

Using your original library try the following: make a temporary, duplicate copy of the library and try the three fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your Home/Library/Preferences folder, launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding the the Option key. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
Fix #2
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #3
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
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
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
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 but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

My iphoto will not load, all it does when i open it is just show a blank iphoto and won't load any of my photos that were already in there.

My iphoto will not load, all it does when i open it is just show a blank iphoto and won't load any of my photos that were already in there. Any way to fix it ?

Remember: we cannot see your machine. There are 9 different versions of iPhoto and they run on 8 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. Basic things like :
- What version of iPhoto.
- What version of the Operating System.
- Details. As full a description of the problem as you can. For instance: 'iPhoto won't export' is best explained 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.

IPhoto library won't display, "Loading Photos" endlessly

Iphoto won't display the library, it shows the loading photos graphic endlessly. Tried deleting all relevant metadata (files in iphoto library folder and library>preferences) and repairing disk permissions, to no effect. Did not move or rename iphoto.app.
Please suggest fikes for this issue and/or alternatives to iphoto.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Tried deleting all relevant metadata (files in iphoto library folder and library>preferences)
What files did you delete in the iPhoto Library Folder, exactly?
Did not move or rename iphoto.app.
Good to know, but the warning about moving/renaming does not refer to iPhoto.app but to the library:
Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. 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.
Regards
TD

Help! iPhoto 5 won't load my library correctly

I recentlly reinstalled OS X on my G5. I always keep my pictures folder for iPhoto 5.0.4 on my external FW Drive. Usually if I do a reinstal I have no problems with this. I start up iPhoto, it asks where the library is or do I want to create one, I navigate to the FW drive and it loads them right up.
This time... before loading it said this library needs to be upgraded, once upgraded these photos will not be viewable by previous versions of iPhoto..." I choose upgrade.
Now my photos all look squeezed like through an anamorphic lens in library view.
Then when I double click on them to view them nothing shows up in the viewer. Nothing.
Any help ?
I'd like to retain the work/effects I did on my library of pictures. There is about 3,500 pictures in it.
thanks,
tnixer

Hi txchain,
Why did your library need to be upgraded. Did you install iPhoto 6?
If you installed iPhoto 6, did you install the latest update?
You can try a rebuild and see if it helps.
Try this:
Before doing a rebuild make sure iPhoto's trash bin is emptied. You can do this by control clicking on the trash bin, or from the menu bar under iPhoto.
Close iPhoto
Duplicate the iPhoto Library folder
Drag the duplicate to the desktop (hopefully you have enough room on your hard drive for the duplicate.)
Launch iPhoto holding down the Command and Option keys until you see the rebuild options screen.
Choose the first three options. If you were missing photos in your library, also choose the last option. Be advised that you will get a roll of orphaned photos and it might be quite huge. Most of them will already be in your iPhoto library, but use caution when deleting anything from this roll until you are sure the photos are still in your library in another place. It might be a good idea to share/export this roll of photos just in case you need to import them again.
Back to the rebuild, depending on the size of your library it might take some time. When it is done, hopefully your photos will be there.
You might see some unexpected results as I did when I did a rebuild. Photos had been moved to wrong dates, video clips had lost their duration info and some were even orphaned from the jpg pointer file. It took me some time to straighten it out again.
This is the reason to make a duplicate before you rebuild, in case you do not like the result. If you don't like the result, close iPhoto, then delete the rebuilt library and drag the duplicate back into the Pictures folder making sure the name is iPhoto Library. Launch iPhoto and it should open the library in the Pictures folder.
iPhoto 4 or later: Rebuilding the iPhoto Library

IPhotos Movies won't load after iPhoto Library moved to external harddrive

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- iMovie cannot find the moved library, or...
- iMovie is trying to reload hundreds of movie clips and freezing in the process
Is there a way to fix this, please?

I recently moved my iPhoto library to an external harddrive (as it was getting too large). Since then, whenever I try select iPhoto Movies in iMovie my iMac freezes up. Not sure whether this is because:
- iMovie cannot find the moved library, or...
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Is there a way to fix this, please?

My iPhoto library won't open because "it first needs to be prepared," but running the iPhoto Library Upgrader does not change anything. What gives?

I'll try to be as detailed as I can:
I have a mid-2010 iMac. I backed-up and then wiped my Mountain Lion hard drive so that I could have a clean install of Mavericks. I am now in the process of importing my backed-up files, like iTunes and documents, from my external back-up to my new Mavericks machine. Everything in this process has worked so far. I moved the iPhoto library over from the external back-up to the proper location (Users->Pictures->iPhoto Library). Two hours later when the transfer was complete, rather than having a normol iPhoto Library icon (stack of pictures with a photo of a flower), the library appeared as a folder with a half done progress bar and an "x" close button in the corner.
This library would not open so I deleted it and started the whole thing over. Two hours later, same thing. I then restarted my machine and got a regularl looking iPhoto Library icon, but now when I try to open it I get a prompt that says "To open your library with this version of iPhoto, it first nees to be prepared: to prepare the library, use the iPhoto Library Upgrader avaliable from Apple." I downloaded the iPhoto Library Upgrader from Apple, ran it, and it says that the library has been updated and can now be used. But when I try to open iPhoto, I hit the same problem, iPhoto doesn't open and I instead get a prompt saying that the library needs to be prepared.
One more thing, when I run the iPhoto Library Upgrader, there is a un-progressing progress bar (a sideways barber shop poll) that says the program is building thumbnails, but then Upgrader gives me a prompt that the library has been upgraded (even though the progress bar is still cranking along). PLEASE HELP.

What version of iPhoto were you running prior to Mavericks? First boot into Revovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down) and repair the disk and disk permissions. Then reboot back into Mavericks.
Two hours later when the transfer was complete, rather than having a normol iPhoto Library icon (stack of pictures with a photo of a flower), the library appeared as a folder with a half done progress bar and an "x" close button in the corner.
There was a problem with copying the older iPhoto library from the backup. Delete the library and drag it once again from the backup drive to the Pictures folder. Run the upgrader again. Is this what you see when your first launch the upgrader?
OT

TD or Old Toad pls help: Renamed iPhoto Library File....no pics in iPhoto6

I am working on my parents computer... they have iPhoto 6 and I renamed the iPhoto Library folder in Finder. Obviously this is not a good idea since now there is no content (pics) in iPhoto.
This action made a new folder (with the new name) in Finder's 'pictures' file. So, I tried to copy and paste (or maybe I highlighted & moved it, can't recall) the contents of the newly named folder back under the 'iphoto library' folder however, that did not make the photos reappear in iPhoto.
After moving (I think I highlighted & dragged) the file contents of the newly named folder back in the 'iPhoto Library' folder, I deleted the newly named/created file.
The individual pics seem to be in the modified & originalsfolder but I do not know how to get them back into iPhoto..
I attempted to rebuild the iPhoto library but it seemed like an empty request since the computer didnt do anything when this option was selected.
I know there is a solution but I dont know the smartest nextstep. I have read related discussions that almost provide a solution.
Currently, I need to figure out a way to:
1) get what seems to still exist in the modified & original folders back into iPhoto even if it means loosing album names, keywords. I am hoping this route doesn’t wipe out dates from when the images were taken. If there is a way to get them back into iPhoto this route, I need instructions.
or,
2) I have a back up of the entire HD on an external HD. Would itbe best to somehow use that to replace what I have on the computer HD? I do not know how to do this so for sure need guidance.
or,
3) Find another solution, quickly…
Thank you so very much as I need to fix this ASAP.

See my reply in your other thread.
Regards
TD

Old iPhoto Library won't update

I have an old iPhoto library from iPhoto 9 that won't update to iPhoto 11 and won't open. How do I fix this or can I retrieve the photos from the old library without opening it in iPhoto?

Honestly I'm not sure what it is then. There is a forum for iPhoto, I would repost there and let them know what you have already tried, hopefully someone there knows what to do. You can find that forum at:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto

Suddenly iPhoto-Library won't open

Hi
I'm running OSX Yosemity for about 2 months and was also using iPhoto 9.6 with a large Library (about 75GB). The Library is stored on an internal Harddrive (not on my System-Drive, which is a faster SSD). Today i got the message to update my Library with the "IPhoto-Library-Updater". This didn't make sense to me, because the Library worked with this Version of iPhoto the day before, but i tried the Updater, which tells me, that i can not open this Library, because it's newer than iPhoto 7 and also tells me to open the Library with the new iPhoto 9.6 (which won't work).
I already repaired the Filepermission with Disk Utility. I also tried to open the iPhoto-Repair-Database-Dialog by holding down Option+Command-Key while starting iPhoto. But the Dialog won't show up. I only get the message from the first step to "Update my Library with the Updater".
An suggestion how to solve this problem?
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Heiko,
Apple is right now developing the successor application "Photos" to iPhoto to be released early next year. It will be free with Yosemite, bring a better integration with "Photos" on the mobile devices and iCloud, and will allow to migrate iPhoto libraries to the new application. Whatever you decide to do, you may want to keep all options open and keep a backup of your working iPhoto library. (Apple to replace Aperture and iPhoto with Photos for OS X early next year | 9to5Mac)
I'm also not that satisfied with iPhoto-Performance on my large Library and i'm thinking for some time to drop iPhoto and look for alternatives.
It is not normal that you are having performance problems. Less than 100GB for a library is not large that large. iPhoto can cope easily with hundreds of GB. Sometimes a slow Mac is caused by the drive filling up (if you have less than 20BG of free storage on the system drive or the drive you are writing to), if you installed incompatible software that corrupted system libraries, or broken preferences files.
Sometimes you can see an indication of the problem, if you keep a Console window open. If your Mac is showing the beachball or is getting slow, look, if there are new warning messages appearing in your Console.
Léonie

IPhoto library won't open

My iPhoto library on my new Macbook Pro suddenly won't open. When I open up iPhoto, it now takes me to a screen that says "which photo library do you want iPhoto to use". There are no options. I then click on "other library", and I can see my iPhoto library. It is 53GB large.... But when I select it and click open, nothing happens....it won't open. It was working fine last time I used my computer! Any thoughts?
iphoto version 9.5.1
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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.)
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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

IPhoto library won't load thumbnails or pics

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