Lost all of my photos... ever... and want to throw computer out window

Question

The hard drive on my Macbook (third Macbook actually, the first two were ALSO defective... might as well have bought a Dell) was faulty. Before taking it in to get repaired, I backed up the Documents and My Pictures folders to an external hard drive. When I copied the folders from the external hard drive, all of the pictures APPEAR to be there, but in iPhoto they're only thumbnails. If I try to click on any photo, I get a fuzzy white exclamation point on a black background. The photo information in the lower left hand corner still says 1.1 MB, or whatever, but I can't open any of the photos.
Could this be because the new hard drive install is iPhoto '08 and the old one had, I guess '06, but definitely a different version? Could it just be that I am not mac-compatible and should not ever try to use a computer again? Could it just need to be thrown out the window? I've tried hitting it, that does not help...

Answer 1

The ! or ? turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents.
Try rebuilding the database. Hold down the apple and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild.
If that fails:
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 *iPhoto 08* 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