My iphoto library content disappeared

when i opened i-photo, it told me that the library had to be rebuilt. the library is very large
when it was rebuilding the thumbnails, it did not respond anymore and i had to force quite
now when i open i-photo, my library is empty

when it was rebuilding the thumbnails, it did not respond anymore and i had to force quite
Rebulding thumbnails can take a long time and eat up the CPU'S resources to where iPhoto can't do anything till it's done. How long did you wait before force quitting?
You best bet would be to restore a backup copy of the library created just prior to this happening.
Otherwise, do the following:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
2 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.

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My iphoto library has disappeared. How can I get it back?

My iphoto library has disappeared. How can I get it back?

I'm very new to this sort of thing, so bear with me. I had my computer in to the Apple store on Jan 10th, & they replaced Leopard with Snow leopard because of problems. I have iphoto 8.
This morning opening my computer a picture briefly appreared that I had saved to iphoto. I decided to place it in its correct event box, and ! sign appeared. Upon opening iphoto, I found a blank. I've not backed up my files. I've looked everywhere on the system, including Trash, applications, Pictures, all my document files.
Also I had 2 icons of iphoto on my desktop because it had disappeared 2 years ago & came back some months later. Two days ago I decided to clean up my desktop & moved the icons to the pIcture file and a document file. I don't know whether this triggered the disappearance. The main icon is still in the dock.
Does this help?

My iPhoto library just disappeared!

All of a sudden my iPhoto library is missing. iPhoto can't find it, and it is not located in my pictures folder anymore. How can this happen? I googled this problem, and it seems it has happened to people occasionally over the years. Luckily, I have backed up my hard drive, but how can an entire 12 gb iPhoto library just disappear?

The computer works just fine. The iPhoto library is the only thing that disappeared. My friend plugged his iPhone into my computer to charge it, and when I opened the computer, I was asked something about which iPhoto library to sync with it. That might have something to do with it.

IPhoto library completely disappeared from Lacie drive

Hi
I would be so grateful if anyone could help me.
My mac was backed up to an external hard drive (Lacie) then wiped. Within the back-up was iPhoto containing pictures from 2008 to 2013. They are my only copy and none have ever been printed out.
My daughter was making a movie for prom so I connected up the drive to get her some photos and videos. Indeed it was always my plan, that when she leaves for uni I would spend a year making albums of all of the pictures that no one has ever seen.
I went into time machine back up, latest and older copies, and there is no reference to iPhoto whatsoever. Many of the answers on line refer to empty iPhoto libraries. Mine is just not there, no reference to it at all. The back up is showing about 180 gb so the iPhoto library is not within this back up anymore as the library is much bigger.
I cannot understand what has happened.
I have googled every possible way of asking the question but i cannot find anyone whose iPhoto library has disappeared without reference to it.
Please help me
Thank you

What system and iPhoto versions are you using? Do you keep your MBP on all the time and iPhoto open? I
Do you have Time Machine enabled even when the EHD is not mounted? If so you may have "local" backups on your MBP that might have the library. See this site for more info: What are Local Snapshots?

My iPhoto library just disappeared... How can I get it back

I had an old Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard, but when I upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard I didn't reinstall iLife to save space. As a result I had a folder named iPhoto Library left over from the reinstall and no iPhoto application.
Now I just got a new Macbook Pro with Lion and the folder transferred over with all the images and software on the new computer. Everything was fine and the pics were still in a folder named iPhoto, sorted by year, etc as they were when I had iLife last. I wanted to open up the new iPhoto application that came with my new computer and sort through my photos as opposed to using Finder like I had been doing in the past few years without iLife.
Somehow the folder icon named iPhoto Library has changed and the icon representing the same location on my hard drive is now an application icon and not a folder icon. In addition when I open up the app and try and import photos to iPhoto, I can't because the library is not recognized as an app and not a folder.
I have these images backed up on a portable hard drive, but how can I recover them without using that method? In finder it says my iPhoto library is 4.4 GB in size, so I know the images are there somehow, but how can I open them in the iPhoto application? I can't open the finder folder any more.
Thanks.

Since iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is a Package File. This is simply a folder that +looks+ like a file in the Finder. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.
Frankly, I suspect that you've long since trashed that library.
Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.
Regards
TD

My iPhoto library has disappeared and there is no past library for me to import. Where did my pictures go?

I was cleaning up my laptop last night to free up some space. I deleted some unessecary pictures from iphoto and re-organised my events. I then deleted some pictures from 'images' which shows up in 'all my files' - I didn't delete any of the pictures that I kept in my iphoto, but not all my pictures showed up in 'images' anyway. I also then deleted the pictures that were loose in the 'pictures' folder but these were all edits I had done in photoshop not the originals. I emptied my trash before I went to sleep and this morning when I turned on my laptop my iphoto library was gone and there was no past library to import so I had to create a new one. Although I have the pictures from my 'images' folder not all of my pictures are there. Have I lost my pictures for good?

No previous backup? When you opened iPhoto did you get any error messages? iPhoto normally stores the images inside /Machintosh HD/Users/YOURNAME/Pictures/iPhoto Library you won't be able to simply look at the images if you go there directly you have to open it with iPhoto. You can hold the option key > then open iPhoto to make sure you didn't somehow create a different library.

Mt iPhoto library has disappeared from my laptop after syncing my new iPhone with the laptop. I now have a new iPhoto library with no photos. I have tried pressing option when opening iPhoto but I only get one library option and can't find my old one

My iPhone4s was recently replaced by apple due to grey out on wifi. when I went to sync with my laptop my iPhoto library disapeared and I was left with an empty library. I cannot find my old library on my laptop. I only get one option for a library when i open iPhoto while holding down option key. I am worried I have lost all my photos. there seems ot be no iPhoto library on my iCloud either.
Any suggestions?

Syncing with an iPhone should not delete the iPhoto library on your mac. It only will upload photos to the phone (iTunes sync) or import (connecting by USB). How did you sync your phone?
TD, do you know of any way, that a sync could delete an iPhoto Library on a Mac?
You may have opened a wrong library or may be working from a different user account. Are you using the same user name and Apple ID as before?
How have you searched for iPhoto libraries? Have you searched with Spotlight?
Each iPhoto library contains a file called "Library6.iPhoto" - even if your iPhoto library should no longer be recognisable as photolibrary, this file should be found:
Type "Library6" into the "Spotlight" search field in the upper right corner of your screen, like this:
When you see a list of files, select one of them and hold down the key combination ⌥⌘ to reveal the path to the file.
If Spotlight cannot find the file in the packages, use "FindAnyFile" http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile
Regards
Léonie

HELP - All of my iPhoto library has DISAPPEARED

A week ago I installed iLife 5. I have had no problems until today. Last night I was working in iPhoto, and had no problems. Now....I open iPhoto, all of my albums are there....BUT ALL OF MY PHOTOS ARE GONE....OMG...what has happened. The scary thing about this is...I remember a similar thing happened to me several years ago, when I did an upgrade from another version of iPhoto.
HELP..anyone with some assistance out there??

Foxall:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Look in your User/Pictures folder and see if there isn't a folder titled "iPhoto Library". If it's there then launch iPhoto with the Option key depressed and when asked, navigate to the Pictures folder and select that folder. It should open. If you have library issues like a damaged database file or whatever it may not open fully or not show all the photos. If it does open and everything is there we're done. If not, but it does open, then close iPhoto and relaunch it with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library. Select all of the options. You may get some duplicates but those can be culled out after you're up and running again. If that fails post back and we can go from there.

Iphoto Library Photos Disappeared

Using iphoto 8, just finished downloading photos from camera. Clicked umount on camera and disconnected mini usb from camera.
Then received msg that some events may have not been saved properly. Couldn't open pics i had just downloaded. Closed iphoto and when I reopened all my photos gone!
Help!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Do you see anything in iPhoto, like thumbnails or empty thumbnails?
It's a damaged database file. The following may help: try the three fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and follow the instructions to rebuild the library. Select all options.
Fix #2
Rebuild the library using iPhoto Library Manager as follows:
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 User/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 but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be untouched for further attempts at fixing or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
Fix #3
Start over with a new library and import the Originals folder from your original library as follows:
Creating a new library while preserving the Events from the original library.
1. Move the existing library folder to the desktop.
2. Open the library package like this.
3. Launch iPhoto and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
4. Drag the Originals folder from the iPhoto Library on the desktop into the open iPhoto window.
This will create a new library with the same Events as the original library if you have the Finder checkbox unchecked in the Events preference pane.
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.

IPhoto Library content

With multiple iPhoto '09 Libraries, can you have the same picture(s) in more than one library without duplicating them? i.e. Does the Library just contain alaises/thumbnails and call up the original from elsewhere? ( I don't want loads more copies/duplicates clogging up my 24" iMac

I’m somwhat puzzled as to why you would want the same photos in different Libraries.
However you can run libraries in Referenced Mode but I strongly caution against this.
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
However, you need to be aware of a number of potential pitfalls using this system.
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
Always allowing for personal preference, I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers.
If disk space is an issue, you can run an entire iPhoto Library from an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library 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.
If you're concerned about accessing the files, there are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 Only*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
*For users of 10.4 and 10.5* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
Regards
TD

My iPhoto library randomly disappeared

Yesterday I opened my iPhoto app on my iMac only to discover that it was asking me to choose an library to open. However, there was none so I chose create a new one. All my thousands of pictures just disappeared!!! I have no backup, unfortunately, because I had no external hardware, but according to the number of GB used on my computer, the number hasn't changed. I suppose this would mean the pictures are somewhere on my computer, just lost (I hope). How can I fix this? Are they recoverable?

Backing up to iTunes and storing photos in iPhoto are two unrelated things.
I'd ask about your iTunes back up on the iPhone forum.

Current iPhoto library keeps disappearing

Hello,
I keep having the same problem with iPhoto. I open iPhoto and it asks me to choose a library, offering me only one suggestion. I choose it, and I get an old version of the library with the last 2 years of photos and events, etc. gone. This happened a couple of weeks ago, and I found a message here that helped me fix it. It has happened again, but I can't seem to find the same answer that I did a couple of weeks ago? Anyone know how to fix this and how to keep it from happening again and again???
Thanks

After moving it to the final location, repeat step two.
Regards
TD

My iTunes library content disappeared

I was following the directions on this page here:
iTunes: How to share music between different user accounts on a single computer
When I dragged the iTunes media folder (step 3 for Windows 8) the only files that were in the iTunes library were the handful that I added today (from CD) and a few cloud stored songs. The other 8,000 or so songs were gone.
Looking in windows explorer and the files are not there any more either.
What happened? Can this be recovered?????

I don't know how or why your media when missing, but you might find this backup method more useful than the one you've used until now: Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
Something about those steps doesn't make sense. Moving the media folder independently of iTunes in Finder/Windows Explorer and then changing the media folder in preferences is usually a sure file way to break the library. See Make a split library portable for some background on valid ways to move the library around. To allow one library to be used by all users of the same computer I would normally opt to put it at the root of a drive as X:\iTunes where X: is a drive with room for growth.
tt2

My iphoto library disappeared. i am trying to restore my library from time machine -- from an external drive -- but everytime it tries to copy my library it tells me it can't do it because i don't have access to my iphoto library??!!! help!!

My iphoto library inexplicably disappeared! i am panicked but i do back up by time machine to an external drive and also to JustCloud. I am trying to restore my iphoto library from a back up on feb 28, 2014 and it says it's copying but then gives me a message that it can't do it because i "don't have authorization to access iphoto library"?! what does this mean? i really want to get my library back on my mac. Also if anyone knows why this happened or where my photos might be on my computer, i'd appreciate help with that, too.

Thank you Terence for your help. I was able to restore my backup from my time machine ext drive to a new 1tb seagate ext drive. so i felt sort of ok. but yesterday that older ext drive i used for time machine wouldn't open! i called applecare and they trouble shooted with me and said it's probably a goner and data is probably corrupted. it's only a few years old and i'm very careful with it. my husband accidentally dropped my new drive last night -- i know, unbelievable, i was SO upset, poor guy -- but I'm so stressed with all of this. i have 10 years of photos and videos. so now i only have the one newer drive with a backup. i have to buy another one today to backup again so i at least have two backups. i tried to delete a ton of files last night to free up the 30 gb of space i need to get my full library back on my mac. i have 90gb free and deleted 7 years worth of photos i had on picasa that were in my "pictures" folder and also a ton or random photos and videos i had in that same pictures folder and thought that would give me the 30 gb but it hardly freed up any space at all! do you know why that is? all of this stuff is really a pain and really stressful. thank god i did have a backup in the first place but now i am panicked the one i have left will somehow crash. especially after my husband dropped the drive lastnight! it didn't fall far and fell onto a wood floor and seems fine, but after my older ext drive crashed yesterday -- and i lost my entire iphoto library a fewweeks ago off my mac -- i feel cursed. any answers you have would be great. thank you.

IPhoto library disappeared after I updated Quicktime. Help!

I don't know if the two are related but my iPhoto library completely disappeared after I updated Quicktime. Please help!
Jeri

Jeri
Disappeared from where? Your iPhoto Window? Or the Pictures Folder?
Regards
TD

My iphoto library content disappeared

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