Lost 5000 photo's please help...

Question

hi all,
i'm getting a *"The iPhoto Library is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have permission to make changes to it."* message whenever i try and load up iphoto '08. i'm running this on a 1G mac mini - with my home dir on a 2TB readynas network storage which is mounted at boot time with NFS. this has been working fine - so it's an ok combination. however, after a reboot, i'm now getting this locked out message. btw, i upgraded to ilife 08 successfully. i believe (guess) that this is the result of some temporary network outage - and then that maybe screwed the iphoto database.
i have chmod -R 777 my Pictures dir - and have read/write permissions for my home dir. i've also searched (find * -name \lock) for a lock file - but cant seem to find one.
i'm quite desperate - as i've spent hours colour correcting 100's of photos and organising them. please does anyone have any suggestions?
regards,
paul

Answer 1

Paul:
Here's another way you can try to unlock the library:download and run BatChmod on the iPhoto Library folder with the settings shown here, putting your administrator login name, long or short, in the owner and group sections. You can either type in the path to the folder or just drag the folder into that field. See if that will get the job done.
Another possible solution is to copy the library to your boot drive, set the access and then copy back. As I recall that helped another user.
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. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.