Major drive crash, can't find photos

The cable that connects my external drive to my MacBook Pro came loose while I was working in iPhoto (library was on external drive). When I reconnected and tried to use iPhoto again, some of my thumbnails were missing, so had iPhoto rebuild the thumbnails. I had to run it over night b/c it was taking ages.
Next morning, there was a hardware message on my laptop saying that I needed to reboot my computer by holding down the power button. This was not a system message, and the screen was otherwise frozen. When I got everything back up and running the external drive would no longer mount. I tried several programs to repair and mount the drive, but they all failed. So, I ran Data Rescue to retrieve the files off the drive. As it was recovering, the software will tell you which files it's recovering, and I recognized the file names generated by my camera. I have the photos somewhere.
Now I have several copies of my photo library now available to me, but when I launch iPhoto and point them at any of the libraries, I get nothing. Totally empty iPhoto. When I try any of the rebuild functions, iPhoto doesn't do anything.
What exactly represents the actual photos in the photo library package? I see about 12 files and only one of the ThumbxxSegment.data files looks large enough to be my photo database. I have another back up library on another drive that will open, but dates back several months so I'm still looking at a large loss of data. Nothing in that package looks like photos either.
At this point, I'd love to archive my photo files completely outside of the iPhoto structure. But I need to find my files first. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Needless to say that I am researching other image storage/organization options.
It sounds like the disk was damaged because it was disconnected while it was being written to. When you're finished with the recover reformat the drive, for OS X Extended (journaled) as usual, and see if it won't work as it should. Then for backup get another external HD and use Time Machine to backup the first EHD as well as your boot drive or at least your home folder.
OT
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions) 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 or later), 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. There are versions that are compatible with iPhoto 5, 6, 7 and 8 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. 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.
NOTE: The new rebuild option in iPhoto 09 (v. 8.0.2), Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup" makes this tip obsolete.

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With the amount of information you've provided it's impossible to offer a potential solution. We need to know the details of your problem and situation, i.e.:
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