My iphoto Library is Empty ?????

Hi there
just opened up iphoto to find that it contains no photos. It used to have around 6500. The still exist on the drive, but iphoto's libraries are empty. any thoughts ??
nic

Nic
Here are some of the standard fixes I think may help in your case:
4. Your iPhoto preferences file may be corrupted.
(MAKE SURE you QUIT iPhoto first)
You will find it in your Home directory:
(Home/your account) >Library>Preferences>com.apple.iPhoto.plist
Remove or trash the preference (.plist file) and restart iPhoto.
If it still doesn't work go on to these remedies, in order.
5. Bad Album data?
Old Toad says:
1 - move the Albums folder and the AlbumData.xml file to the desktop.
2 - launch iPhoto. It if launches successfully you probably have a corrupt album.
To locate the bad "apple", pun intended, do the following:
1 - move one of the individual album folders and it's associated data file into the new Albums folder that was created in the iPhoto Library folder.
2 - launch iPhoto. If it's successful do the same with the next album folder and data file. If iPhoto doesn't launch successfully, that's a bad one and remove it and the data file.
3 - repeat for each individual album folder in the old Albums folder.
6. Rebuild Library
QUIT IPHOTO FIRST
Relaunch while holding down the key combination below for your version
Option+Shift IPHOTO 2
CommandOptionShift IPHOTO 4
Command+Option IPHOTO 5

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I have my photos iPhoto but my iPhoto library is empty. when clicked message reads could not be opened image capture cannot open files in the photo library format. How do I get my photos back into my library?

I have my photos in iPhoto but my iPhoto library is empty.When clicked message reads could not be opened image capture cannot open files in the photo library format. How do I get my photos back into my library?

When what is clicked?
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.

(Big) iPhoto Library opening empty from external drive

I need help! I have a new 2014 MacBook running Yosemite, as well as an older MacBookPro. I copied my large iPhoto Library from old laptop (labeled old library "iPhoto Pics 2008-2014", or similar) onto an external drive so that I could access all my photos on this new laptop in iPhoto. I have been holding the "option" key and then opening iPhoto & choosing this 2008-2014 Library to open, and it has been working great. All my 6 yrs worth of pictures immediately populate iPhoto just like it did on my old laptop. HOWEVER, my external drive was accidentally unplugged yesterday without properly "ejecting" it, and it gave me a warning/error message saying something like "your external drive was improperly disconnected". The next time I went to open iPhoto, choosing my 2008-2014 library, it said (something along these lines...) that I had to update the format of the library I was trying to open and it might take a few hours. I had received this message (or similar one) the 1st time I opened this library in my new laptop iPhoto app and so I said yes, for it to fix it. However, it didn't seem to do it properly this time and ended up closing itself. When I tried to open it again, it said some other errors needed to be fixed and I said yes again. Sorry, these details are a bit fuzzy about what went wrong & what messages I got...I just know something didn't seem right as my laptop wouldn't let me close iPhoto and I ended up having to do a force quit to shut down my laptop and reboot.
So now when I rebooted, and I click "option" and open iPhoto, I am able to choose my normal 2008-2014 Library, but it opens with the basic "To get started with iPhoto, do 1 of the following 3 things...", with NO PHOTOS or VIDEOS showing up at all in events, places, albums, etc. It looks just like a brand new Library. However, when I look in Finder and find my 2008-2014 iPhoto Library file, it says the size of it is 171.72 GB, which I think is large and would indicate photos are still in there? These are ALL My photos from the last 6 years. I have most of them still saved on my old laptop (everything before getting my new laptop Nov 20th), just don't have pics I've downloaded to that Library on the external drive between Nov 20th and now. Can anyone help me figure out why iPhoto is opening up an empty library when it should have 6 yrs wroth of pics in it? Did I accidentally erase all the photos in my Library on my external drive??? Thanks in advance for your help/thoughts.

Thanks guys. I did what you said and am about to choose option #4. I cannot really back up this drive before starting rebuild as I don't have a backup of this library exactly, but it is a copy of my entire iLibrary off my old laptop, which I copied over on Nov 20th, so I should have a complete copy of this Library though 11/20 date on my old laptop. I will just potentially lose any photos I've taken and downloaded to external drive since then (luckily not many or any since I haven't downloaded my SLR camera since Dec 5th, so all pics are still on my camera). One last question...is it worth doing the rebuild, or would be be safer (long term...this external library on this drive will be my primary source of ALL my 2008-2014 photos) to just copy over my original library again from my old laptop to this drive?
One additional question though...I just came back to my computer after being away from it for 30 minutes, and again got the "you improperly disconnected your external drive" message. However, my drive is still plugged in and I did not touch it!! So it is disconnecting itself somehow. Any advice on why it's doing this or how to get it to stop? Is it because my computer went to "sleep" or something? Should I not leave my external drive plugged in? Seems like a pain if that is the case as I need to access these pics on my drive often and don't want to be constantly plugging in and then ejecting my drive all the time to keep it safe.

Aperture / Iphoto library looks empty.

I installed the latest Aperture version 3.6, and when i tried to open, it ask me to rebuild the library for the latest version with iphoto, i did everything it asked and after all when i open aperture or iphoto they don't show anything, they don't have any pictures. One important thing is that the file size of the library, thats stored on an external drive, is really big, 4.6gb so i think my photos are still there.
I tried rebuilding it, repairing permissions and all that and its still the same, what else can i do?
thank you for your help

Does it mean that I will lose all my versions, ratings etc with my old photos? I have 400Gt+ library with lots of modifications and I would be a catastrophe it they are blown away ;(
Are you seeing the same library corruption as omar.msk after trying to upgrade the library? An apparently empty iPhoto library, and the original image files in the "Old Masters" folder instead of the "Masters" folder?
Then it is the same bug. Recreating he iPhoto Library by importing the Old Masters into a new empty library will only rescue the photos, but not your work - edits, rating, albums, ...
Copy the Old Masters to an external drive for save keeping, also the Old Previews and Old Thumbnails. Then try first to restore your iPhoto library from your last backup you made before the upgrade. (iPhoto '11: Restoring from Time Machine with iPhoto '11 (9.2 or later) and OS X Lion 10.7.2 (or later)). Then add any newer photos from the "Old.." folders, that have not been part of the backup.

Why are the folders within my Iphoto Library folder empty when I have 16000 photos in Iphoto.

I discovered this when I went to move my Iphoto library to an external drive. Eventhough I have 1600 photos in Iphoto my Iphoto Library folder only contains 3.5MB and the Attachments, Masters, Previews and Thumbnails folders are empty. Therefore if I drag this folder (Iphoto Library) to my external hard drive which is what every advice site says to do when backing up Iphoto, I will lose all of my photos. When I see screenshots of the Iphoto folder in the support communities I see the Iphoto icon beside the Iphoto Library in Finder-Pictures but I just have a folder icon.
I am using Iphoto '11 on a 2012 27" Imac running Mountain Lion and want to move Iphoto to an external drive to free up space.

Are you saying that iPhoto is working fine and has 1600 photos in it but when you look in the iPhoto library ther are no photos in Masters, previews or thumbnails? If so then you are not looking at the iPhoto library that iPhoto is using - under the file menu do to the switch library command and seelect it - it will show available iPhoto libraries and the one you are using will be highlighted
LN

IPhoto library appears empty after update.

A while ago I updated iPhoto to v9 and have been happily using my main personal iPhoto library since.
Recently, I needed to check one of my older, business, libraries and iPhoto is behaving as though it's a newly created library with no photos. Further checking of my eight further libraries showed seven of them in the same state, the other went through the expected 'upgrade' procedure and is intact.
So,
1. Why didn't the others update automatically?
2. How do I force them to update?
3. Short of going into the package contents and extracting the photos what else can I do to recover the situation?

If there are edited photos in the backed up library and you restore it you should be able to view those edits once you convert the library to the latest version of iPhoto.
There is no way to identify which are edited versions from the Finder.
Since iPhoto 7 will still run on Mavericks I would try this on one of your iPhoto 7 libraries or as restore iPhoto 7 library:
1 - restore iPhoto 7 from your Time Machine backup.
2 - launch it with the Option key held down and select the V7 library to open.
3 - close iPhoto 7 and relaunch with the Option+Command keys held down to open the First Aid window.
4 - select all options and rebuild.
5 - after the rebuild launch the iPhoto Library Upgrader
select the rebuild V7 library and upgrade it.
6 - launch iPhoto 9.5.1 and open the library. Check to see if it's working as it should.

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Try using a data recovery product such as the ones listed here. Don't write anything else to the drive until the files are recovered or you choose not to recover them.
(115466)

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The hard drive on our laptop crashed and we took it to the apple store and they said we can transfer all files photos and videos over to another mac laptop via a special cable. We did that and everything for the two users transferred over to the other laptop fine including 80,000 photos. We got the laptop fixed and my husband transferred everything back to our laptop. In his profile (he’s the administrator) his iPhoto library has all 7900 of his photos in it as well as all his events and albums that he created prior to it crashing. It’s organized exactly how he had it; however, in my profile, my iPhoto library is empty. I had over 9,000 photos in it and like 65 events and a couple of albums and it’s completely empty yet when he transferred everything back to our mac, he it showed that 80,000 photos were transferred as well. Do you know where all those photos could possibly be stored?

Yes you can move the book but not by exporting
The book is just entries in the iPhoto database so the only way to transfer it is ot transfer the entire library it is in - you can make a "mini" library containing only one book to make the transfer easier - see Old Toad's tutorial #9 - http://oldtoadstutorials.net/No._9.html
You also can save a PDF of the book and transfer that but you can not edit pr process it
LN

How can i restore an iphoto library without using time machine

I somehow created a new iphoto library and my old one was deleted and wasn't saved using time machine. Is there any way i can get my old library back. Please help!!!

The dock icon always enters the last IPHOTO library opened - so all may not be lost ..
Look in Macintosh HD/Users/*your name on your mac/Pictures
iPhoto Library is the default - if you have another iPhoto library with some extension that may be the new one -- so simply click on iPhoto to reset the dock icon.
If you use time machine - and the Iphoto library is empty - Enter time machine while in this folder and back up through time until you find the last one with pictures.

Accidentally trashed iPhoto Library - how to remake

Hi,
I have a user who accidentally trashed her iPhoto Library and emptied the bin.
With the tool Photorec I am in the progress of finding all jpg on the disk system - it takes a lot of time and it is not finished yet. So far more that 85.000 files with the file type "jpg" has been found.
The good news is that a whole lot of deleted images from her iPhoto Library is showing up.
My question is: Since the iPhoto database consist of different sizes of the same picture I can see, from the files retrieved so far, that I will need some way to filter the original large jpg file from all the smaller dublets, face recognition files and other.
Any one know of a way to do this the easy way?
Best regards
Peter

My question is: Since the iPhoto database consist of different sizes of the same picture I can see, from the files retrieved so far, that I will need some way to filter the original large jpg file from all the smaller dublets, face recognition files and other.
Some duplicate detection applications can recognize duplicates in different sizes.
If Terence Devlin's recommendation of sorting according to size does not weed out all duplicates, you might try one of these helpers.
See Old Toad's list here: How to delete .jpg files

Use Automator/AppleScript to clean iPhoto Library

Hello,
Having read a lot of posts about the use of AppleScript and Automator to do things with iPhoto, I think it's possible to create a script or a processus to clean the iPhoto Library (let say, a copy of it) to eliminate "zombie files" (photos which have not been deleted of the iPhoto Library when emptying the iPhoto trash).
The script should simply verify, for each file in the "master" folder, il the path of this file is known in the iPhoto database (the data base is in the "AlbumData.xml" file). If it is, the file is kept. It it's not, the file is moved to trash (or to a temporary folder).
Should anyone create this script ? I should try, but I would need two weeks to do it correctly, and I'm sure someone can do it in 5 minutes... Some help here ? Thanks !

Hi,
Try this AppleScript:
repeat
    set r to (choose file with prompt "Select an iPhoto Library package" default location (path to pictures folder)) as string
    try
        (r & "AlbumData.xml") as alias
        (r & "Masters") as alias
        (r & "Previews") as alias
        exit repeat
    on error
        activate
        display dialog "This package does not contains \"AlbumData.xml\" file or the \"Masters\" folder or the \"Previews\" folder." buttons {"OK"} default button "OK"
    end try
end repeat
set iPhoto_Library to quoted form of POSIX path of r
set AlbDataXML to quoted form of POSIX path of (r & "AlbumData.xml")
tell application "Finder"
    set newFolder to (make new folder) as string
    set dest to (make new folder at folder newFolder with properties {name:"Images qui ne sont pas dans AlbumDataXML"}) as string
end tell
set destF to quoted form of POSIX path of dest
set file1 to quoted form of POSIX path of (newFolder & "filesPath.txt")
set file2 to quoted form of POSIX path of (newFolder & "PhotosDataPath.txt")
do shell script "dest=" & destF & "; tFile=" & file1 & "; tFile2=" & file2 & "; iPhotoLib=" & iPhoto_Library & ";
grep -A1 '\$\\<key>OriginalPath<\\|\\<key>ImagePath<\$' " & AlbDataXML & " | sed -n '/<string>/s/^.*<string>\$.*\$<\\/string>$/\\1/p' | sort -o \"$tFile2\"
find \"$iPhotoLib\"Masters -type f \\! -name '.*' >\"$tFile\"
find \"$iPhotoLib\"Previews -type f \\! -name '.*' >>\"$tFile\"
sort -o \"$tFile\" \"$tFile\"
diff -ab \"$tFile2\" \"$tFile\" | sed -n '/> /s/^> //p' | while read f; do
   name=${f##*/}
   if [ -e \"$dest$name\" ];then
        i=1
        while [ -e \"$dest$name $i\" ];do
            ((i++))
        done
        name=\"$name $i\"
   fi
   /bin/mv -f \"$f\" \"$dest$name\"
done"
tell application "Finder"
    activate
    reveal folder dest -- select the folder which contains moved files
end tell
This script move every files in the ("Masters" and "Previews") folders which it's path is not in the "AlbumData.xml" file to a new folder on the desktop.
The grep command get all path in "AlbumData.xml" from the (OriginalPath and ImagePath) keys and put the result in file2.
The find command get all file's path in the ("Masters" and "Previews") folders and put the result in file1.
The diff and sed command get all file path in text file1 which is not in text file2
Before moving file:
This script check name of the file to not overwrite any file in the destination folder.
If a name already exist in the destination folder, the script add a space and a number to the end of the filename.

Restore iphoto library from external disk backup

Dear all,
I need to restore all the iPhoto library after have backup and formatted my MacBook pro with iPhoto11.
Before to format the hard disk I have copied all the "Pictures" folder to an external HDD and it also includes a file named "iPhoto Library".
Then I have formatted the hard disk, installed the OS Montain Lion and iPhoto11 and the iPhoto library was empty at the beginning.
I tried to simply copy the file "iPhoto Library" from the external hard drive backup and substitute the original emply file. Then when I run the iPhoto it said "iPhoto library was probably created with a newer version of iPhoto and cannot be opened" and I could just quit. So I have restored the original empty file.
I've noticed that the file "iPhoto Library" is an archive and can be opened by itself. Is there a way to copy the right files from that archive?
I tried to find a solution in the website http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2504 but it's not valid in my case.
Hope you guys can help me since I had very important pictures in the archive!!
Thanks in advance.
GP

Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - rebuild your iPhoto library
LN

Time Machine did not restore my iPhoto library

Hi everyone,
I have been told that my hard drive has physical damage and all data are lost. I used TM to back up so I thought everything will be OK. I got new hard drive. When I was restoring my Macintosh HD from TM, I got restored pretty much everything. Problem was only that all folders and files were all of sudden locked, I had to unlock manually all files. I am still working on it. Not easy but I will get on with it.
However, my biggest problem is, that for some reason my iPhoto library did not get restored. I tried later to restore only iPhoto library. TM looked like it was working properly and TM was copying for about 2 hours all 25GB of pictures. However, once it was finished, my iPhoto library was still empty, no data. Where did TM copied all this pictures?
Can anyone please help me? I don't want to lose all my photos.

Hi Glen,
When I got computer back, home folder name was different that my original one. However, as I said, I manage to restore from TM almost everything, including all my video clips, but iPhoto library. When I try now to restore iPhoto library, I get message "Not sufficient privileges ..." and nothing happens. Computer name is same. Then I created new account with home folder name same as was before, tried to restore iPhoto library from TM and all of sudden, it was working and computer was copying all pictures. However, after he finished copying, iPhoto library stayed empty (iPhoto library icon changed and now looks like empty blank document), i tried in finder to find some image, just in case TM copied it somewhere else, but there was nothing.
Thats why I could not open iPhoto with option key because iPhoto library is just empty.
As you wrote, it looks like changing home folder name in the current account is not a good option.
I am thinking of deleting my account with wrong home name folder with option 'save home folder' just to keep all data that I have recovered already and leave an account with my original home folder name and try to copy pictures folder again, but now I am not sure that will work as it doesn't work now. ?

IPhoto library gone after upgrade to Tiger

My iPhoto library was empty after upgrading to Tiger. I am on my 4th digital camera, so you can imagine how many photos I can no longer find. What is worse, and I don't think there is anything worse, I can no longer see photos of my child who is deceased. I want my photos back!! Can anyone help. The "computer nerd" company that did our upgrade is of no help at all. They talk to me as if I knew anything about computers and I know nothing. Please help me.
Elizabeth,
Ray'sMom

Phil
Three separate issues then:
1. The files which are corrupt or a file format that Preview doesn't recognize
Some things to try:
Change the file suffix to .jpg (i.e lowercase) or .jpeg and see if that helps.
Download Graphic Coverter and try open them with it. Graphic Converter is a image editor, and frankly, if it won't open them, I doubt anything will.
2. "Unreadable Files: 1
The following could not be imported. (The file is in the iPhoto Library folder.)"?
iPhoto will not import files from the iPhoto Library Folder - it's a simple protection against duplication.
3. iPhoto fails to display any of these images at all.
Do you get a blank square in the iPhoto Window? What happens when you click on a pic to edit it in the iPhoto Window? Do you get a ? or a !
The ! or ? turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents. The most common cause of this is User Activity in the iPhoto Library Folder. Have you altered, moved or renamed anything in the iPhoto Library Folder?
If you haven't, then try rebuilding the database. Hold down the apple and option (or alt) keys and launch iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose the top three options.
If you want to start over:
To create and populate a new library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same film rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, books, calendars etc.
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library Folder on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual rolls to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library Folder on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

I'm a new Mac user. I imported photos from my PC they ended up in iphoto library on the hard drive, but when I open iphoto from my dock its empty. How do I import those photos to the dock file?

I'm a new Mac user. I imported photos from my PC through a jump drive and they ended up in my iphoto library on the hard drive but when I open iphoto from the dock its empty. How do I import those photos to the dock file from the iphoto library?

Paragon Software has the most reliable NTFS driver for Mac
tips on importing and organizing, transferring from Windows etc
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes
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My iphoto Library is Empty ?????

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