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'

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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

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

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.

I went into the original files in the iphoto library and organised the photos there, now when I try to look at the photos in iphoto the tiles are there but when I try to enlarge or put into a slide show a big grey explanation mark occurs?

I tried to organise my iphoto originals to it would be easier to back them up onto my hard drive, so I renamed them and grouped them in the orinigal file. Now when I go onto iphoto to view the photos in a slide show a big exclamation mark comes up and if I click on the photo to see the original file it can't find it. Any ideas?

You won't be able to run the rebuild function and restore your library becaue you renamed and regrouped your original photos from the Finder. I doubt if you can change the names back to their original names and put them back in the folders they were in originally so your only option is get your backup library and replace the one you damaged.
If you don't have a backup copy of the library from just before the problem that contains all of your photos you will need to start over from scratch as follows:
Start over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Move the existing library folder to the desktop.
2. Open the library package like this.
Click to view full size
3. Launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
4. Drag the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the iPhoto Library on the desktop into the open iPhoto window.
Click to view full size
This will create a new library with the same Events as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
In the future stay out of the iPhoto Library package and only access the photos using iPhoto.
OT

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

Ihave 51 iphoto library and they keep increasing and i do not know why

My iphoto has 51 libraries and they keep increasing and i do not know why, i would like only one iphoto library and consolidate all photos in that.

If you're using an IMAP account, also check your other devices to be sure you don't have some filters or rules set up that either delete or move emails to subfolders. You can see all Emails on your iPad, but displaying the sidebar showing Mailboxes, tapping the email account you are having trouble with (NOT the Inbox, but the section below), then tapping All Mail or something similar depending on your provider.
If the mails are there, they are somehow being moved by one of your mail clients or by a rule you set up with your provider.

Hard Drive Crashed and Ended Up with older iphoto- Library wont transfer

I have been using my macbook for two years now and have used iphoto since I got it to start saving all my pictures (some 6 to 7 thousand pictures) though I never did check what version it was. I had made a back up of my iPhoto Library and good thing I did because my hard drive crashed.
I had kept all my photos organized by Events, rather than dates and such because I scanned photos in here and there as well. However, after I had my new operating system installed, I plugged in my external drive to transfer my iPhoto library into iPhoto (by clicking on the iphoto icon while holding option/shift to choose a library) but it came up with an arrow message saying that I needed a new version of iPhoto for it to work. Sure enough, when I just let iPhoto open up with a new library it would not in any way let me sort photos by events, just by year.
I tried reinstalling iPhoto with the original disks my macbook came with and even downloaded an update. This may not seem like a huge problem because thankfully i still have all my pictures but they are all over the place and organizing all of the pictures again would take a ton of time.
I do not get how I started with a newer version of iPhoto that let me organize my photos by events compared to the one I have now that came on my installation disk. I dont want to pay for a new copy of iPhoto if my macbook already came with it installed when I first bought it but I want my Library and its Events and albums to work (which it does because I tried it on a newer macbook) Any ideas? Thanks

Okay Sory about that. Here is the problem- i think- When I bought my laptop in May of 2007, the iPhoto that came preinstalled was a better version than the one that came on my Mac OS X install disk that I now have to use since my hard drive crashed.
In iPhoto 6, you can not sort photos by Events, only by date. In iPhoto 7.1 you can because when I tried opening my library on another computer with that version of iPhoto by holding down option/shift and choosing my library from my external drive, it worked since all my named events showed up.
I never bought an update for iLife, nor did I ever have my computer worked on. I only downloaded the free updatess for my specific version from the internet, what ever version it was.
I have always been able to sort my pictures by Events because when I bought my macbook, I immediately put pictures on it (my Library can prove that). I really do not want to buy the iLife 08' if I had already had the better version of iPhoto on my computer before it crashed.
I guess, is it possible that I did have iPhoto 7.something installed on my computer when I bought it (or at least an iPhoto that can sort pictures by events, since that is the main problem) and have an older version on the install disk it came with? That is the only conclusion I can reach.
Thank you for your help.

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I migrated an iPhotos Library to Photos Library. Both files are around 409GB. If I open the file packages I can see the photos. However Photos opens an shows nothing. And iPhotos is now useless so I can not get to pictures!
And I have already tried the repair process a few times.
Thanks

Hi cwsummers,
I understand that your current iPhoto Library and the photos therein are not being shown in the new Photos app. Here is an article that will help you choose this library file for you to use:
Designate a System Photo Library in Photos - Apple Support
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden

IPhoto is quitting unexpectedly and losing the photos I just imported and edited.

iPhoto is quitting unexpectedly and losing the photos I just imported and edited. Any suggestions to fix it?

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.)
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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

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 recently upgraded to Mavericks and now don't have access to iphoto. I cannot find my iphoto library to back the photos up before upgrading the iphoto but see the photos when I try to change screensaver? Where are my photos so I can back them up?

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The iPhoto library should be in your user folder/Pictures unless it was moved.

Hard drive packed up, but had Time Machine backup. I installed new sad and upgraded to Mountain Lion., but I can't find iPhoto library and photos or iTunes songs? Is there an answer to this? Graham

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Thanks so much but none of that helped. It was driving me crazy because it would back up another external drive. I just changed the name of the drive from iPhoto/iTunes Library to Media Libraries and IT WORKED!! I guess for some reason it didn't like the drive being called iPhoto or iTunes ???? I don't understand but I have tried so many solutions and exchanging things out but the name change did it????!!!
Thank you for your help and replying to this. Guess I made my own issue!

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?

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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

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Migrating older iPhoto library and losing latest photos

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