Lost a hard drive with all photos, how to start over?

Hi. Please help if you can.
A while back, I plugged my external hard drive into my ibook and uploaded all my photos. A few months ago, that hard drive died. It no longer exists. But now, whenever I ope n Iphoto, I get a message that says, "could not mount drive [x]." I click OK, but it still won't do anything.
I have tried to import all my photos again, and it will import a few but then gives me the same message: "could not mount drive [X]." I have to click OK after every couple of photos. Since I have a couple of thousand photos, this is impossible. And even when I try to mount just a few, it gives me that same message, and just freezes up. I have to force quit to make anything happen.
Any ideas on what I should do next? I am open to uninstalling and starting from scratch, but I am not sure how to do that.

mattcamera:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Was your first library a referenced library, i.e. you didn't have the photos copied to the library when importing, or was it a managed library where the photos were copied into the library? It sounds like it might have been a referenced library.
If it was a referenced library and you're starting over and importing your photos all over again, you should trash the old library and start with a new one so you're not trying to us a damaged database file.
You don't have to uninstall iPhoto, just delete the old library package, create a new one and start importing again.
Happy New Year
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 created 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 and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

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