Lost photos after iPhoto library rebuild - what happened?

After noticing that there were albums entitled Recovered photos in my iPhoto library, I deleted those albums. As expected, i got a message that i was not really deleting the originals, just getting rid of such albums. There were about 5 of those "recovered albums": one contained about 30 photos; three had zero and another had over 1000 photos. Subsequent to that, thinking of making this library totally clean, I decided to do a "libraty rebuild" using the option-command rebuild procedure of iphoto. I checked all the options presented for that procedure. To my surprise, when the process was finished I had less events, and less photos. A careful visual check of the display pane of events and photos confirmed that i had lost actual photos. I tried to reclaim those lost photos with another rebuild -- this time using iphoto library manager, but without success. What happened? Is there any way to reclaim those lost photos?
I do have a backup, but would prefer to correct the problem in the original library to avoid having to assemble and clean up duplicates that i had before.
I'm using the newest version of iPhoto: 8.1 and OS X 10.5.8 on a MacBook 2.4 Ghz - 2Gb Ram - 250 GB HD, 42 GB available. My iPhoto library has over 12000 photos

Why these things happen is always difficult to answer. My experience with iPhoto is using it since v1 on with a single library that's upgraded each new versions and migrated from G4 iMac to G5 iMac to Intel iMac and then a second Intel iMac. I load photos in, my wife does and my 12 year old does too.
And never had a problem.
The database gets corrupted when the app is interrupted when writing to it. The usual causes of this include a crash, a force quit or a lost connection to the Library on an external disk. More rarely minor disk or directory damage might be a cause.
I wondered when I read your report
Subsequent to that, thinking of making this library totally clean, I decided to do a "libraty rebuild" using the option-command rebuild procedure of iphoto. I checked all the options presented for that procedure.
The options presented for that procedure include various items that require the app to read the database file plus this one
Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
+I Wonder+ - I stress, I wonder, no more - if reading to rebuild various thumbnails from a file that is being vacuumed +while at the same time+ is being replaced by a backup is what caused the issue.
If it is, then the Rebuild from Back Up option should be sandboxed and not possible while the other events are going on.
But that's just a guess.
Regards
TD

Similar Messages

Lost photos from iphoto library after moving it

Comments:
I have a G5 OS X Version 10.5.5.. I had a lot of photos in my iPhoto library and I was told I could move iPhoto application to my external HD by holding down the command key and then drag iPhoto over to the external HD. Which I did. I opened the external HD and all the photos where there in the iPhoto Library. I had to shut down my computer as I was away for a few days and when I turned it back on and went into the external HD the iPhoto application was not there nor the photos. My Time Machine has no record of them as iPhoto only seems to have a record of a new iPhoto Library on my desk. Can I retrieve these photos? Can you run iPhoto from your external HD? Thanks for your help. Regards Amanda

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
I was told I could move iPhoto application to my external HD by holding down the command key and then drag iPhoto over to the external HD.
The problem with moving while dragging is that you defeat the default behaviour of the OS. If you simply drag then your Mac makes a copy of the library on the new volume and you have the opportunity to test it thoroughly before trashing the library on your start up disk.
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Next, moving your Library - which normally lives in your Pictures Folder - and moving the iPhoto application are not the same thing. You should not move the application.
Start by doing an All Images Search:
In the Finder
-f
Kind Images
Size: Greater than 300k
see if that finds anything.
Regards
TD

Software update lost photos in iPhoto library

I have read many threads but still have yet to find the golden answer.
No, my time machine was NOT working so no back-up.
I have spent 2 days recovering some from Stellar Phoenix.
Is there anything left to do? Are my photos from the last 3 years gone, gone, gone?
Don't understand why after the disasterous update, the iPhoto Library reverted back to several years ago to albums, photos that I had deleted many years ago but precious recent family photos have disappeared!
If anyone has found THE ANSWER to this horrible Apple disaster, I would love your input and direction.
Thank you!
susan

library is located on desktop/applications
No, that should be the iPhoto application, not the iPhoto Library. By default the library should be located in your Pictures folder.
Once you locate the library apply the fixe below:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
2 - click on the Add Library button and select the library you want to add in the selection window..
3 - Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library â Rebuild Library menu option.
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - 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. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

Lost photos in iphoto library...help

I have no idea what happened but when I open my iphoto application, all of my photos/albums/projects have disappeared. When I look at ALL Documents, my photos are there.
Any ideas about how to get them back into my iphoto library?
There is some iPhotoLock.data that says it's an Unreadable File.
HELP

Trouble brother big bro
Welcome to the Apple user discussion forums
If the iPhoto rebuild did not fix it download iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - and use its rebuild function
LN

Recovering all the lost photos after iPhoto 11 destroyed my iLife!!!!!

So here I am trying to import 10,000 photos back onto my overcrowded harddrive on a macbook because iPhoto doesn't like external drives. I am so ****** at Apple for dumping this piece of crap on us all. I tried to save space by moving iPhoto library onto an external drive (yes, TD, it was Mac Extended Journal, but no it was not a hard drive stuck into my macbook, it was a perfectly legitimate GoFlex Max drive on etherneted to my home network. For crissake it works for Time Machine, why not iPhoto.
The clearest thing I can figure out is the the team that dumped this crap on the market were the interns while everyone else was working on iCloud. Well, guess what, folks, if you can't figure how to share static photographs over a home network, why would you ever think I would trust my photos on the iCloud.
Thanks. I'm just hoping that between Time Machine and a little luck and can recover nearly a decade of photographs.

Terence, my question is how do I recover a decade's worth of photographs accumulated through several generations of iPhoto that have now been corrupted by iPhoto 11. I have had numerous problems with iPhoto 11 since upgrading with the latest iLife package. My Macbook runs on 10.6.8, and has a 250GB HD. My first problems were encountered after upgrading were phantom events with grey boxes where about two dozen photos from about 2000 once were. After struggling to find out why the thumbnails disappeared, and several attempts to rebuild the library, I gave up. Since 10,000 photos was taking up a chunk of my harddrive, I next decided that moving it to an external drive might solve space problems, so I followed instructions on moving an iPhoto Library to an external drive. In this case, I used a GoFlexHome NAS (Mac formatted) which is ethernet connected to a Verizon FiOS router and used a wireless connection to move it from the Macbook to the GoFlex. It took an overnight move, but it worked for several weeks. I could work with photos. After the last iPhoto update, I encountered several more mysterious problems. I imported 22 jpeg photos from a small Nikon Coolpix and they would show up in Photos and Last Import, but not in my Events. This evening I realized that the last update of iPhoto rearranged Events to "Manual" rather than "by date," so in fact, the Events were there. After reading cautions in the past few days that the external drive could not be a network drive and had to be hardwired to the macbook, I am now attempting to get the photos back on my crowded black Macbook, where I hope to regain uncorrupted access to my photos. My problem is that there are so many photos, it now says I don't have enough room on my macbook: 86GB of data in the iPhoto Library on the GoFlex, and only 79 GB on my macbook.
I am a disappointed that this last version of iPhoto has had so many problems, hence more of a rant than a question. Any advise you or others could offer would be welcome.

RAW thumbnails missing after iPhoto library rebuild

iPhoto would not open for me shortly after upgrading to Lion. I rebuilt the library using command + option with all checkboxes checked. All JPEG thumbnails were present, but all RAW thumbnails just showed a black box with a dashed line. When I double click the missing thumbnail, the image does appear in iPhoto.
I then rebuilt the library a second time, but the problem is the same. The iPhoto library is in the normal place on the startup drive.
RAW photos were generated with a Canon Digital Rebel and Canon 40D cameras. I do have Aperture on the system as well.

As I say, I've seen it take 4 times to work.
Other than that:
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.

Lost photos from iphoto library

I backed up my iphoto library from my old macbook to an external hard drive and now imported it to my new imac. When I open iphoto all thumbnails show up, but when I click on a photo a black picture with an exclamation mark shows up. Some photos open fine, most won't.
I tried rebuilding iphoto with iphoto's own rebuild and with iphoto library manager, both with same results: only 2000 of my 9000 photos showed up!
I did have a problem when first time trying to move files from the external hard drive - Lacie 1tb usb- once it was unplugged without first being ejected, and also it made my computer crash few times and I had to reboot the imac. I suspect this had something to do with the lost photos.
Is there a way to get these photos back?

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
The photos should still be in the library package file.
You may need to start over with a new Library:
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.
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
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.
Regards
TD
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.

Lost albums after iPhoto Library move

I recently moved my iPhoto library to an external harddrive and lost all of my albums that I had organized my photos into. iPhoto had trouble finding the library after I moved it, and the albums seemed to dissapear after that.
It's all backed up with TimeMachine, is there any way to retrieve the organized albums??
Thanks!

First off tell us exactly waht you did
the correct way to move the library to an EHD
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Lost photos after iPhoto '06 upgrade

Hello.
I recently installed iLife '06 and thought I'd try out the new calendar feature. After using it for about 20 minutes, iPhoto bombed.
I restarted and found the calendar I was working on was gone. No big deal. But then I noticed that my last 12 months folder was completely empty and my library was missing an enormous amount of photos. I have been able to recover some from "My Pictures" but not all.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Lisa

Lee,
Keep the duplicate library o the desktop.
Drag the messed up library to the trash.
follow the next instructions;
Hold down the Option key and launch iPhoto
This is the window you will get
Create a new library or choose a library to open
Choose to create a new library
Once this new empty library is open it is time to import the images from your old library
-double click the iPhoto Library folder on the desktop to open it
-the two main folders you will need to import are the Original folder and the Modified folder (only if you want to import the edited images).
-the Originals folder has all your originals photos unedited. the Modified folder has all images that you have edited, rotated, cropped, etc.
-Drag these two folders to the desktop
-If you want to save the edited image, find it in the roll in the Modified folder and drag it into the roll of the same name in the Originals folder. It will replace the originals and now will be the original.
-If you don't care to save any edited images, then don't import the Modified folder into iPhoto or don't bother replacing the edited image with the original image like I just described.
-If you import the Originals folder into iPhoto you will have all your originals in their named rolls.
-If you import the Originals and Modified folders into iPhoto, you will have all of the edited and originals imported. The roll with the same name as the other will have a _1 appended to it's name (in the finder)
-the roll from the originals will be next to the same roll from the Modified folder within iPhoto. You can then delete any of the images from there if you want.
I know this might sound confusing but it really isn't.
Get back if any of this sounds like something you might want to do.

Lost photos in iPhoto library

My Mac OS X 10.4.11 is owned by my sister. After the home icon, it always said her name. Today, I changed the the of the folder to Home. After I did that, all the photos I had put into the Iphoto library are GONE! How do I get them back and where are they?? If I try to change the name of home back to my sister's name, it says that name is already in use. HELP!

First, try changing the name back again. Then:
How to change user account name or home directory name:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3872

443 projects after iphoto library import - what the hey?

I recently imported 9500+ images to A3 via file->import->iphoto library and while all the images are in the A3 library, they are randomly split into a total of 443 projects (yes, I counted them thank you very much).
Is it possible to import the iphoto library to one project? Or at least to a number of projects in somewhat logical order? How does one do this?
Thanks
M

The projects created after an iPhoto library input directly relate to the iPhoto events, each Aperture project was an iPhoto event.

Upgraded to iPhoto 6 and lost link to images/photos in iPhoto Library

I just installed a 160 GB hard drive (70GB free) and iLife06 upgrade on iMc G5 with 768 MB. When I ran iPhoto it shows all original folders and rolls but thumbnails are blank and exclamation mark in edit mode and no images found. My iPhoto Library folder is in finder>picture and contains 6000 photos with original, data, modified, recovered and Library6.iPhoto folders among others. I have tried Apples recommended iPhoto Library rebuilding recommendations without success. I am trying to restore to original configuration to keep all past iDVD slides shows and videos active and working. I installed the larger hard drive and iLife because iLife04 iPhoto kept crashing when opening. I thought I needed more hard drive capacity and iLife06 advertised ability to handle greater number of photos. Please help, I have tried everything I found on discussions.

CK:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. To see if the database file is readable use iPhoto Library Manager. If it can see the slideshows, rolls, etc. than there's a chance rebuilding the library with iPLM can save them. If iPLM cannot access the library then I'm afraid the dB file is damaged beyond recovery. If you have to start afresh here's a possible way you might be able to recover the keywords. Check in the library and see if clicking on a keyword will bring up, even though they are blank, a specific set of photos. If so then you can try to follow Tutorial #1 to write the keywords back to the actual original files. Then do the following:
1 - move the old iPhoto Library folder to the desktop.
2 - launch iPhoto and create a new library.
3 - drag the "Originals" folder from the old library folder into iPhoto's open window.
This will generate a new library with the same rolls as were in the old library. Some of the roll dates may be changed however. The keywords will be retained if Tutorial #1 worked.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against future iPhoto database corruption that you and 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 have IPhoto version 9.5.1. I cannot export pictures, the following message appears: "iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library." What am I suppose to do? I have a Mac mini.

I have IPhoto version 9.5.1. I cannot export pictures since the following message appears: "iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library." What am I suppose to do? I have a Mac mini which properly used can perform any reasonable task, the problem is I do not know what to do.
Any help will be appreciated.

Hmm... that was labelled:
As a Test:
In bold and all
Try repair the main Library:
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

Please help!! Ive suddenly lost my entire iPhoto library..says it doesn't exist although I can see the photos all in grey-but also the menu is in grey, can't do anything

Please can anyone help! Ive suddenly lost my entire iPhoto library while I wss cleaning up…sometimes I can find them, they're there but all in grey and so is the menu for iPhoto…so I can't open or do anything…

There are 9 different versions of iPhoto and they run on 9 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. Include things like:
- What version of iPhoto.
- What version of the Operating System.
- Details. As full a description of the problem as you can. For example, if you have a problem with exporting, then explain 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.

When connecting I-phone 4 to I-photo, my most recent photos do not automatically show-up in I-photo to be downloaded. What happened?

When I connect I-phone 4 to MacBook Pro and bring up I-Photo, my newest photos taken with the I-Phone do not automatically appear. This is something new that just started happening in the last 2 days. Usually, everything is transferred and then I download pictures into I-Photo. Any advice on what happened and what I need to do to get pictures off of I-Phone into I-Photo?

Try this: launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Connect your iPhone and check to see if the same problem persists.
OT

Lost photos after iPhoto library rebuild - what happened?

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