Lost the iphoto library and all the photos

I have recently installed some updates and upgraded to Yosemite 10.10.1.  When I opened up Iphoto today there was no library and therefore no photos. I've searched the whole computer and can't find any jpegs so the library hasn't been moved.
I have been using the Time Machine with an external hard drive but today when I plugged in the drive to try to restore iphoto from my back up, the drive won't show, it's not recognised.
Has anybody got any ideas on what I can do to find my photos?

Restart your system and try again
This is not an iphoto issue - it is either  a TM issue or an issue with you computer - maybe something here will help - https://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/ - or here - http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
LN

Similar Messages

  • I have just installed iPhoto 11 and all of photos on my iphone have now all disappeared and ended up in my photo stream and the library in iphoto does not display all my pictures?? Can anyone help?

    I have just installed iPhoto 11 and all of photos on my iphone have now all disappeared and ended up in my photo stream and the library in iphoto does not display all my pictures?? Can anyone help?

    And I cant work out why all of my pictures are not diplaying in iphoto?
    Is this iPhoto on your Mac?  Are you referring to the photos that were in your iPhoto LIbrary prior to the upgrade to iPhoto 11?  If so then apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
    Fix #1
    1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
    2 - run Option #4 to rebuild the database.
    Fix #2
    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 ➙ 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.
    If that's not what you're referring to then you should describe what is happening in more detail. Remember we can't see your Mac or your iPhone so need detailed and accurate descriptions of what you're experiencing.
    Also we need infomartion like do you have an iCloud account and are you logged into it on all of your devices, iPhoto and Mac? do you have Photo Stream enabled on both.
    OT

  • How to move my entire iphoto library and all albums and mobileme galleries to my new tower?

    What is the best way to move my entire iphoto library and all albums and mobileme galleries to my new tower?
    I want to move it smoothly without hours of reconfiguring albums and Mobileme galleries.  Already have a timemachine backup of the older iMac with the iphoto library.

    Connect the two Macs together (network, firewire target mode, etc) and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity from the old Mac to the pictures folder of the new Mac - launch iPhoto on the new mac and it will open the library and convert it as needed and you will be ready move forward.
    LN

  • How can I save the iPhoto library ( ie all current photos) to another media / HD and maintaing the access to it

    I am struggling with the export features of iPhoto:
    - That is for the mac, (but also for iOs7 on the iPad would be interesting)
    1/ how to generate a backup ( from the iPhoto library) -
    - just rename it and then copy it to another device / HD ?
    2/ what is the recommended procedure, to have several Photo - Collections, ( iPhoto libraries)
    and then to switch between them.
    Thx in advance

    iPhoto for Mac
    Back up:
    Most Simple Back Up:
    Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
    Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
    Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store
    Switching between Libraries:
    Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
    or
    File Menu -> Switch to Library
    or
    Double click on your preferred Library.
    There is no recommendation to have multiple libraries. They're inconvenient.
    iPhoto for iOS:
    The iPhoto for iOS forum is here
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/app_store/iphoto_for_ios
    Regards
    TD

  • Deleted iPhoto library and folders containing photos but hard drive still show 32GB of photos?

    I have a new MacBook Pro Retina.  Was having all sorts of problems setting up with Time Machine/Time Capsule back-ups.  To cut a long story short I moved to trash a whole lot of photos I had imported, including the iphoto library. Have emptied trash - normal and within both iphoto and aperture - but About this Mac is still showing 32GB of photos.  Where are they? And if I wanted to reconnect them to iphoto, how do I do that?

    Open a Finder Window and go to your Username then to the Pictures folder. In there you will find a file, actually a folder but I won't get into that, called "iPhoto Library.photolibrary". It is that files (Folder listed as a Package) you need to Copy to your external drive.

  • OMG I think I lost my iPhoto library and no backup!

    I am running yosimite and have been for a while now..
    The other day I went to open my photo library and got a message saying the iPhoto library had to update. I let it run and it still would not open.   It was frozen for along time so i and to force quite and restart.
    I did that when I went to load my iPhone it was like there was no library there.   I then went to my time machine and realized it was not backing up my external drive. 
    I then decided to go into the actual iPhoto file. Went to show package contents.  then went to originals and there is only one folder there from 2014 thats it.
    I do know that the photos are someplace on my hard drive because I used a program called disk drill to recover the photos they are there but the problem is mixed in with all of the photos are the thunmbail photos..... is there a way to fix the original file?
    There is a file called old masters that seems to have most of the images in it.  can I do something with that?

    Just want to add to this that there are folders called Before Restore  Before Restore_2 Before Restore_3 Before Restore_4    Here are all the files in my iPhoto
    library folder---
    One last comment-  seems like the folder old masters seems to have all of my photos in tac  now how do I fix and restore them all?

  • Migrating older iPhoto library and losing latest photos

    So i bought a new iMac (lion) and upon set up transferred my previous backup of my files (via the external hard drive i used for Time Machine) from our Macbook (OS X 10.5) and everything went fine - all the previous iPhoto pics were there.  Then i wanted to add additional pics from previous time machine backups(since the laptop didn't have a huge HD, we had to backup photos on Time Machine and then delete them from the current hard drive in order to not run out of disk space on the Macbook) in order to have ALL of my photos on the new hard drive.  Well when i did this, the original pics i had from the most recent backup disappeared.  And now all i have is a small subset of photos.  When i try to import the photos via iPhoto, the iPhoto and library icons on the external drive are shaded so i can't click on them.  Help!! I figured starting fresh and restoring the factory settings would be the easiest though when i hit the command R keys at boot nothing happens.  How do I restore my iMac to the most previous backup of the Macbook (or restore to factory settings and start over with migrating my data), plus add the previous iPhoto libraries from various time machine backups from the Macbook to my new iMac when I can't click on the iPhoto library?

    what do you mean it will be deleted from Time Machine?
    I'm not sure how else to parse those words.
    Time machine is a back up tool. It keeps a rolling back up of whatever data set you tell it to back up. However, once it reaches the limit of the disk it is on, it will delete data from the back up if it has been deleted from the data set. In other words, over time, you lose the ability to roll back to a specific date. How far back you can go will depend entirely on the size of the disk you use for storing your Time Machine back up.
    An archival app does not roll. It keeps the data regardless of whether it's deleted from the Data set or not.
    Of course i also saved all the photos to DVDs incase (but they won't have the correct time stamp on them - thus when i try to categorize them in iPhotos it will be a mess).
    It won't be unless you also stripped the Exif data from them. iPhoto gets the date and time from the Exif.
    To choose which Library to open:
    Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'

  • Im having a problem with my iphoto library.  all of photos are outlines in gray with black background.

    My iphoto library appears as white dotted outlines and black background.  I can only see the photos if i am scrolling?

    Apply the two fixes below in order as needed: 
    Fix #1
    Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
    Since only one option can be run at a time start with Option #3, followed by #4 and then #1 as needed.
    Fix #2
    Using iPhoto Library Manager  to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
    1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
    2 - click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
    3 - 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.
    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.
    OT

  • HT1495 I have followed method 3 and lost my original library and all that was in it how do I undo this, I am distressed and fed up!

    Method Three
    Create a separate iTunes library for each device. Note: It is important that you make a new iTunes Library file. Do not just make a copy of your existing iTunes Library file. If iTunes is open, quit it.
    Mac users: Hold down the Option key while you open iTunes.
    Windows users: Hold down the Shift key while you open iTunes.
    In the dialog that appears, click Create Library.
    Name and save the alternate library file. iTunes opens with your brand new library file.
    Open iTunes Preferences. Choose iTunes > Preferences (Mac) or Edit > Preferences (Windows).
    Click the Advanced tab.
    Deselect the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" checkbox if it is already selected and click OK. This will prevent iTunes from creating duplicates of your existing media files in the new library folder.
    Add the specific media files you want on your device to iTunes either by dragging them into iTunes or choosing File > Add to Library (Mac) or File > Add File to Library or Add Folder to Library(Windows).
    Once you have the iTunes Library just how you want it, connect and sync your device.
    Once the sync is complete, quit iTunes.
    Mac users: Hold down the Option key while you open iTunes.
    Windows users: Hold down the Shift key while you open iTunes.
    Click Choose library.
    Choose your original iTunes Library and click Choose (Mac Users) or Open (Windows Users). You can now switch back and forth between the different libraries for different devices.

    jchalaye wrote:
    Did you sort it out? If not start at the beginning of method three,
    Windows users: Hold down the Shift key while you open iTunes
    It will allow you to access previous iTunes called Previous iTunes libraries, you select from there and it will open your old one. When you close this one downit will remain as the choice, I haven't discovered how to rename it but you keep all your music.
    Of course having used shift to open an alternate library you have the original iTunes Library.itl file in the usual location of ...\<User's Music>\iTunes. If not, you can copy your chosen library file from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder into the main iTunes folder, rename as iTunes Library.itl and then connect to it by shift-starting iTunes.
    tt2

  • Upgraded to iPhoto '11 and all photos gone!

    Upgraded to iPhoto '11 this evening from iPhoto '09 and all my photos were showing up as blanks. All my events were there and the photo outlines with the correct meta data were all there. But the photos themselves were all blank with a triangle with exclamation point in them.
    The Photo Library still showed 44GB in size so I knew it was all there somewhere but nothing was rendering. Tried holding down option/command and rebuilding but that didn't help.
    I finally opened up Terminal and went into the photo library and found something that was definitely not right. First the Originals directory now seemed to be a symlink to a new Masters directory and that directory was empty! I also saw a bunch of new "Old ..." directories in there for example "Old Masters". And guess what, inside the Old Masters directory were all my photos!
    So I moved all those directories inside Old Masters into Masters and started iPhoto again. All my photos are still blank but if I actually double click on a picture to look at it, it shows up this time instead of the triangle with ! point in it.
    I've now restarted iPhoto with option/command and am waiting for the thumbnails to rebuild. It's now taking much longer to rebuild (compared to the first time I tried the trick) and it still has not finished the rebuild process. I'm hoping once this is complete that I'll be back in business.
    Looks like Apple was doing some cleaning as part of the upgrade and for some reason, it did not finish it properly. We'll see if I'm back after this rebuild.

    Note, here's the sequence of events in my case:
    1. Bought new iMac from Apple store
    2. Copied iphoto library onto external HFS+ sata disk (~44GB in size) from my old mac's internal disk
    3. Copied iphoto library from external HFS+ sata disk onto iMac internal disk
    4. Ran iPhoto on iMac and it did some upgrading, etc and then came up just fine
    5. Read up on the features for iPhoto '11 on Apple's website and discovered I didn't have some of the new features
    6. Discovered in About iPhoto menu that I was actually running iPhoto '09 which was the default installed on my brand new iMac
    7. Found that iPhoto '11 was on a DVD that came with my iMac but not pre-installed
    8. Used the DVD to upgrade to iLife '11 (iPhoto '11)
    9. Launched iPhoto but it did not launch saying I must run an upgrade first using Software Update
    10. Launched Software Update and it found iPhoto v9.1.
    11. Upgraded to it.
    12. Re-launched iPhoto.
    13. Started upgrading my photo library
    14. Took a long time but finally finished
    15. Library came up but with blank thumbnails and blank pictures with a ! triangle in them if you open the photo; but all meta data is correct
    16. Ran Get Info on iPhoto Library and saw that it was still the right size (~44GB)
    17. Used Terminal to go into the iPhoto Library and saw there was an Old Masters directory which contained all my photos still (hopefully)
    At this point tried reading all sorts of forum posts and blogs and found nothing that worked. All pointed to upgrading to 9.0.1 and unfortunately I'm already on 9.1 as part of the software update above. Tried rebuilding, repairing, everything. Nothing works. Eventually copied out the Old Masters into my home directory and created a brand new iPhoto Library and imported everything back in. Just hoping I did not lose any of my photos but I definitely lost all the events and books (obviously).
    I have some backups but they are a few months old unfortunately. And I did not even think to back up before upgrading to iPhoto '11 since I have never had an issue with an Apple iPhoto upgrade in the past. Sigh

  • Recently I went to my iphoto library and noticed that some of my albums of photos were missing. Any help appreciated, Recently I went to my iphoto library and noticed that some of my albums of photos were missing. Any help appreciated

    Recently I visited my iphoto library and noticed that photos were missing and several Albums. Any advice would be appreciated.
    I'm running OS 10.6.7 on a Mac Book Pro

    What version of iPhoto are you running?  Any other items missing from the library? 
    You can try the following (assuming iPhoto 11): 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. 
    delete iPhoto's cache files that are located in your Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder.
    reboot, 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 options #1, #2 and #6. 
    Fix #3
    Rebuild the library using iPhoto Library Manager as follows:
    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

  • I have deleted the iphoto library and lost my photo's......

    i have deleted the iphoto library and cleared my trash and now all my photo's are gone. I have bought software to retrieve deleted data but not sure what file I am looking for. Can anybody help?

    best solution is to restore yoru backup form before you made this error - that is the reason you must always have a good backup
    If you don't you should start backing up immediately
    to use the photos you recovered you look for photos (typically they have a .jpg or .jpeg extention to the name - and select the largest version  of each photo and import it into iPhoto
    Note that for not much more that the cost of the data recovery software you could have had an extrnal hard drive and been running TimeMachine so none of this would be required
    LN

  • I have 2 Macs - an iMac that holds my entire iPhoto library and a Mac Book Pro that I use to hold a subset of the main library - how can I transfer photos and their metadata from the main library of the iMac to my Mac Book?

    I have 2 Macs - an iMac which holds my main iPhoto library and a Mac Book Pro which holds a subset of the library. How can I transfer photos and their metadata from the main library to the smaller 1 on the Mac Book Pro?

    Link the two Macs together and use iPhoto Library Manager
    Regards
    TD

  • I just bought a new Mac and I want to transfer some data (not all) from my old Mac.  Basically, I want to move my itunes library, iphoto library, and a few documents.  I have not even turned on my new Mac yet.  Is the best way by an external hard drive?

    I just bought a new Mac and I want to transfer some data (not all) from my old Mac.  Basically, I want to move my itunes library, iphoto library, and a few documents.  I have not even turned on my new Mac yet.  Is the best way by an external hard drive?

    If both have Firewire ports then you can accomplish your goal by using Target Disk Mode. If this is not possible then you can do using an external drive or if you have a local network connect both to your network and use filesharing between the two computers.
    File Sharing on Macs
    Mac 101- File Sharing

  • I have a macbook pro with only 128gb of hard drive. I have lightroom installed and all my photos on an external hard drive. Can I store my lightroom library on the external hard drive too?

    I have a macbook pro with only 128gb of hard drive. I have lightroom installed and all my photos on an external hard drive. Can I store my lightroom library on the external hard drive too?

    Yes. Find the LR catalog file by looking in Edit/Catalog Settings/General. Close LR and navigate to that spot. The catalog file is the one that ends in .lrcat - move it to wherever you want. Next to the .lrcat file is a subfolder called Previews.lrdata. You can move that over as well, but if you don't LR will generate new previews. Double-click on the .lrcat file in its new home and LR will open with that catalog. Set Preferences to When Starting Up Use Most Recent Catalog.

Maybe you are looking for