IPhoto / Library won't open after MAC Refresh

I recently did a fresh install of my MAC, where I formatted the hard drive and reinstalled MAC OS X Lion. I had all my important files / folders backed up to my Time Machine and I proceeded to copy these back to my machine following the install.
I reinstalled iLife 09, ran the required updates and pointed iPhoto to open my copy of the Library file. I could see all the Events and Pics and then it proceeded to ask me about GPS and downloading pics from my digital camera. When I tried to click on Yes or No it just gave me the circling rainbow.
I looked at a few posts and tried various things they were suggesting in deleting and reinstalling iPhoto and it's files (com.apple.iphoto.pklist) and the pkg files. But that didn't seem to do anything. I tried copying the Preferences file and deleting it's contents, but that didn't do anything.
If someone could help that would be appreciated. It was working fine before I did the refresh.

When I first installed OSX Lion I tried restore the files during setup, but it couldn't seem to find the backup from the old installation on this Mac. I have 2 backups going on capsule 1. iMAC 2. Mac Mini. It could only see the mini.
So when I finished the installation I used finder and naviagted to the capsule and saw the backup there and just copied the folder over from the "latest" folder.
I decided that I wanted to try and get this right, so I started over again and have a fresh installation of OSX Lion with no data. I still couldn't see the back up, but can again using finder. However when I first click on the backup a window appears and says
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk "Time Machine Backups". you can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to the files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
Again I can still see the files and backups, but can't use Migration Assistant, or upon fresh installation.
Any suggestions?

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IPhoto Library won't open after upgrade to mountain lion

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See if anything in here will fix it:
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The Photo Library First Aid window opens:

Aperture library won't open after using new iphoto

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Library won't open after ML upgrade

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I had a similar problem, after upgrading to Mountain Lion on my (2008) MBP with iPhote form iLife'09 on it, it said it couldn't open the database because changes had been made to it with a newer version of iPhoto (?). After trying lots of things, like restoring the library from Time Machine again (first time I used the migration assistant), I finally found my solution: upgrade iPhoto to 8.1 first, using
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL885
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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 Library won't open. Help needed!

Hello all. I'm hoping someone who has had a similar problem or someone who's great with stuff like this found a solution by now. I upgraded to iPhoto 9.6.1. Then as I proceeded to open up iPhoto, it told me that if needed to conduct repairs. After it finished the repairs, I tried to open it, but it gave me what I'll call the "just getting started screen" as if I had nothing in my iPhoto Library- which conflicts with the file size of 280+ GB.
The Library is on an external drive which I tried opening on a different Mac, but I get the same just getting started screen. Both my Macs are able to open other photo libraries. So from that I'm guessing the problem is the 280+GB library itself and not the application.
I've tried repairing again, but it doesn't find anything to repair. I've tried iPhoto Library manager, but it also thinks there are no photos in that large file.
I'd appreciate any help.
Cheers!

Terence,
I am connected to it via USB, and it's formatted for my Mac. There were no error messages from iPhoto Library Manager. I do have a backup of the Media file.
I also noticed you responded to other people who had similar problems and I tried what you suggested (which is how I had the idea to try iPhoto Library Manager). It didn't work. Do you know if there's a way to open up that Media file outside of iPhoto to view the folders individually?

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?
Thanks
Heiko

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 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.

My iPhoto library won't open

I have iPhoto 7.1 that shows up in my applications folder. Apparently, I upgraded to iPhoto 9.3 according to the App Store but it does not show up on my computer, When I try to install 9.3, it says I need 9.1.
My real problem is that the Library has been upgraded to 9.3 so the 7.1 version won't open it.
So I either have to find a way to install 9.3 or a way to move my library back to work with 7.1
I have installed OS 10.9 (Maverick)
I have the iMac 27 inch with 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 and 12 GB memory
HELP
Thanks
Kevin

Terence
It says in bold:
You can’t open your current photo library using this version of iPhoto.
Under that it says:
You have made changes to your photo library using a newer version of iPhoto. Please quit and use the latest version of iPhoto.
My problem is that I cannot find my latest version of iPhoto on the computer though the App Store says that it is installed
Kevin

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
Thank you so much for your time and expertise,
Zack

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

IPhoto 9 won't open after update

Hi,
I have bought iLife 11 and have been using it for a couple of weeks on my MacBook Pro. Today i did quite a big update to OSX, it was about 850mb download in total. After I completed the update iPhoto won't open. It just shows a dialogue box saying:
"In order to open iPhoto, you need to update to the latest version. Please run Software Update to install it now."
I check the software update and there is nothing to update. Looking in the console there is this line:
<Notice>: Application failed to launch (id = com.apple.iPhoto, version = 9.0 reason = kLSIncompatibleApplicationVersionErr)
I have downloaded version 9.1 and tried to update manually, but it says there is no installation of iphoto to update. If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it.
TIA,
Jon

Hi Terence,
Thanks for the reply. I've also had some help from the in-law (an Apple guru!) we've worked it out and it was to do with the application location.
I reset the Disk Permissions for the HD. Then checked Software Update again and still no update for iphoto. I manually downloaded 9.1 from Apples site, but it said it couldn't find iPhoto
I then moved the application file from a folder called PHOTO in the Application folder (trying to keep all the apps organised!) and re-ran manual 9.1 update. This then found the current installation and updated fine.
iPhoto 9.1 now opens just dandy and I am very relieved. I'm now off to run TimeMachine again, now it works!
Kudos to you though Terence, you were spot on!

3.4.2 Aperture library won't open after 3.4.3 update

I have two libraries...the old (archive) library updated with the 3.4.3 update, but my new primary in another location did not. Now when I try to open the new library (3.4.2) I get a message stating that I need:
"To import this iPhoto library in Aperture, it first needs to be upgraded. Verify that you have iPhoto 9.4 or later. Then open the library in iPhoto to upgrade it."
I dont have 9.4 and cannot figure this out...
Please help!

Léonie,
After it started working again, the library will not open despite being upgraded to version 3.4.3.
Its giving me the same error message:
Suggestions?
Jamil

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

HT1338 iPhoto library won't open.

My iPhoto library was working fine until recently when I tried to import photos from my camera to my library. Now when I try to open iPhoto, I get a spinning wheel and none of the pictures in my library show up. I have the latest software update, and have tried restarting my computer and compressing the contents of the library (which I cannot see) into a zip. Please help! Thank you!

You can right click and "Show package contents" on the iPhoto Library and open your Originals folder and remove problematic files, or copy and remove the good ones.
Perhaps both or some of each in your case.
You don't want to zip up the iPhoto Library, perhaps it made a copy when it zipped, it needs to stay unzipped.
Zipping is compression for transfer use mostly.

Iphoto library won't open since external drive unplugged by mistake

Hi,
my photos are on an external drive, I had iphoto open on my laptop and my husband unplugged the hard drive - he didn't realise.
now when I open the library it is registering no photos, even though the file is 10gb.
is there any way that I can access the photos?
my backups have been waylaid in a house move so currently if I lose this then I've lost all my photos......
thanks for your help
victoria

Victoria
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and point it again at the Library on the external. If iPhoto sees a valid library there it will open it.
If it doesn't see one then you have a damaged database.
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 (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) 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 library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
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 (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event 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

IPhoto / Library won't open after MAC Refresh

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