New iPhoto 6 Library/Folder Structure - Driving us nuts!

All of our photos were previously stored in iPhoto 5 in folders listed by year, month then day. This was perfect for us as we take multiple photos on one card on differant dates and made for easy tracking/finding. On upgrading to iPhoto 6 we now have the following:
Originals - Okay the folder name makes sense but they are stored by year and the a roll number, no month no day.
Modified - Again folder name makes sense (photos that were modified from original) but the same lame date/roll number filing
iPhoto Cache - Not sure what this is for (temp storage?). When and should it be cleaned out, like internet cache?
Data - Not sure what this folder is for, but has many of the same images as other folders. Same issue with they structure (year/roll)
Also 10 other files which I am sure are for library database etc.
We then have 3 addtional folders with year (2004, 05 and 06) with the structure of (year/month/day). Why are these outside of Originals? How did they maintain the preferred file structure.
Can we get back to the year/month/date file structure? In addtion, some of the dates of photos are whacked out. Trip to Oregon in 2004 is listed as 1999. I didn't even have a digitial camera then. Others of the same trip are in 2004.
Help...

restuart:
Isn't the cache folder titled "iPod Photo Cache"? It has to do with adding photos to an iPod. Even if you don't sync photos to an ipod there'll be that folder if you've ever connected an iPod.
The Data folder contains the thumbnail files for each photo.
Regarding the year folder with the old structure, I believe it's like our appendix, no longer needed. I had a 2005 folder with just photo in it. I moved it to the desktop and opened iPhoto, went to the roll that had that picture in and it was there and useable. I've since trashed that 2005 folder. Give it a try. and see if there's any problems with removing it. Make a backup of the library folder beforehand just in case.
There is some sort of bug with the roll dates. When you import an old folder of files it uses one of the modified dates instead of the captured date on many of the rolls. I haven't figured out how it determines which date on which photo to use. It's easy to change the date of the roll so it is located in the proper chronological position among the other rolls.
The current folder structure is a result of many requests to get iPhoto in line with other more professional image management applications. iPhoto's new capability of being able to use alias files instead of copying the entire file into it's new folder system allows it to be able to use soruce image files that are on another HD/CD /DVD and if the source files are not mounted iPhoto can still see the thumbnails, make and manipulate albums but cannot edit or work with books, slideshow or calendars. Once the photos come back on line iPhoto can use them again. This way users can develop their own folder/cataloging system and iPhoto will construct it's library in accordance with it.

Similar Messages

How is iPhoto 6 Folder Structure Working Now? (Straggling year folders)

I can see in iPhoto 6 that the new iPhoto Library folder structure is now based on YEAR>ROLL#, in place of YEAR>MONTH>DAY. After upgrading from iPhoto 5 to 6, I see the new ORIGINALS and MODIFIED folders with YEAR>ROLLS within, but what of the remaining YEAR folders right above at the same heirarchy? They still have the YEAR>MONTH>DAY format, and they only have a few pix within each.
Assuming one was not a previous iPhoto version user, would this be a correct statement: The fresh v.6 install would only create two folders within IPHOTO LIBRARY--namely, ORIGINALS and MODIFIED? Then v6 would add newly imported photos to ORIGINALS>2006>ROLL 1?
Then, as one modifies his photos, these new mods are saved as copies in MODIFIED>SAME YEAR>SAME ROLL#, correct?
But most of us are upgrading from iPhoto 5 to 6, and we end up with mostly empty YEAR folders at the same folder level with ORIGINALS & MODIFIED. Why are these year folders here? How to get rid of them, if possible?

Steve,
If you don't care about losing albums, keywords, books, slideshows...and just want to import the images it can be easily done manually now with iPhoto 6.
The only thing you will have to do is replace the original image with the modified image. I did just notice that on two images that I rotated in iPhoto, they are not in the roll in the Originals folder, but are in the same named roll in the modified folder.
For images that have been edited as far as cropping, red-eye, etc. You will find the same named image in both folders.
It might be just a matter of dropping the rotated images back into the correct folder of the Originals. then dropping the edited image in the modified folder back in the same roll in the originals folder and have it replace the same named one there.
Once all that is done, then import the Originals folder into iPhoto.
This should all be done when iPhoto is closed AND on a duplicate iPhoto Library folder.
If you don't understand anything I said, then leave it all alone.
If you do understand and want to go through with it then do it on a duplicate iPhoto Library folder.
-close iPhoto
-drag the iPhoto Library folder to the desktop
-open iPhoto and have it create a new library
-duplicate the library and the desktop
-follow the instructions above to get rid of the files you don't want
-When all is done drag the Originals folder into the open viewing window of iPhoto to import the folders/rolls.
since I have not done this, you will have to tell me how it worked out.
You still have your Original library to fall back on if it doesn't work out the way you like.
Lori

New Hard Drive-Recovering iphoto library folder

I recently received a new hard drive after a crash. My photos were recovered and are in a Recovered Files folder on the new drive. How do I get the iPhoto Library folder (or the entire pictures folder) transfered to the iphoto application on the new hard drive?
BTW, I am not really sure that I have the full iphoto application on the new hard drive. I just drug iphoto 4.0.3 from the recovered files applications folder into the new applications folder. It won't stay in the dock but does open from the applications folder. It imported pictures from my camera and seems to be working fine.
Thanks for your help, this may be my first post but I do monitor the discussions regularly. Your advice is always helpful.

sixm,
OK I better understand your situation.
1- So you say that there was no iP with the new OS 10.4. Most coomputer with 10.4 have ip5. But anyway. You did right to copy the ip4 into the app folder.
2-Now if your "shortcut" in the dock does not work anymore, then trash it. Click and drag the icon from the dock onto the desktop. You should see a puff of smoke.
3- Try to relaunch iPhoto directly from the application folder by double clicking on it. If it works, then you can re-create the alias/shortcut in the dock by dragging the icon from the appplication folder, onto the dock. Maybe the previous icon in the dock became corrupted.
The most important library with 2500 pics (approx)
I hope I understood you right that you NOW have 2 libraries in the pictures folder. iphotolibrary AND iphotolibraryold.
BTW DO NOT venture inside the ipLibrary and move any items/photos around. Iphoto will be all confused and will stop working properly
4-So you are saying that ip, right now start the iphotolibrary (with 250 pics). add a number at the end ( iphotolibrary2) this way when you start iphoto, it will not be able to find the library with 250 pic, and you will get a dialog box saying so. One of the 3 button will be "Find" the library. So click "find" and navigate to the "iphotolibraryold" and this wil point iP4 to it (the old library)
5-Hope it opens properly (if the library is intact from the transfert from HD to HD)
If it does work properly, then you can add the other 250 pics to this library within the iP application... meaning on the iP4 Window.
5.1 you can add by copying "recently scanned file that was sitting on my old desktop"
or
2 step process. We are going to extract the 250 pics from the "iphotolibrary2".
5.2 Quit iphoto. Change the name of iphotolibraryold to iphotolibraryold3. This way iPhoto will not be able to find the old library. Launch iP, Click "find" like stated in #4 above, and now you will have iP running the iphotolibrary2 with250 pics.
5.3 create an empty folder on the desktop, and select all your pictures from iP window, and drag all the pics onto the empty folder on desktop.
5.4 quit iP4, and repeat similarly to step #4. Remove the "2" on iphotolibrary2, and when you launch iP4, again it will not be able to find it. Then point to iphotolibraryold wit the 2500 pics.
5.5 When ip is running, drag the Folder from the desktop on to iP window to copy all the 250 pics into this "old library" with 2500pics.
5.6 If all is well, (everything copied like you wanted it) at this point you can trash the folder on the desktop, AND the iphotolibrary2 from the pictures folder. Now before you empty the trash, make sure everything is working perfectly. Quit iP and re-launch to test everything, only the you can empty the trash.
Now you have a better understanding on how IP work. You can manage multiple libraries. I personally have 8 libraries. one for every 2 years of pictures. An I use an application called iPhoto buddy, that can switch from 1 library to another without having to go change the name of the library inside the pictures folder.
Hope this works. let me know how you did.
one more thing..
as you experienced it, with a drive crash, I would suggest that you purchase and external drive, and you can make a "clone" of you internal drive. This way if you should have any problem, you can easily copy from one drive to another. HD are so cheap these days, I purchased a 120GB for $130 -70 rebate= $60 at fry's. I have suffered a drive crash 3 yrs ago, and lost a lot of pictures, videos...... It cost me $800 to retreive info on a 250GB that cost $500 back then.
Backing up onto a CD od DVD will soon become restrictive..... as your libraries become bigger than 4GB ..... with 5 or 8megapixel cameras it is not hard to go above this size with 2500 pics...
my 2 cents
michel

Wierd iPhoto 6 Folder Structure "issue"

A number of people here are having MAJOR problems with iPhoto not opening certain files in Edit view. The long-winded details are here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=316657&tstart=0
In trying to figure out what was going on, I noticed something strange about the new folder structure, at least as it is on my two machines.
One of the things that iPhoto 6 does when it "upgrades" the library the first time you run it is reorganize the photos from iPhoto 5 in a much simpler and more sensible way then they used to be. Before, everything was organized in this way:
/Year /Month / Day / Originals and / Modified
iphoto 6 changes this into two sets of folders:
Modified/Year/Roll #
and
Originals/Year/Roll #
The nice thing about this is that the structure is obvious when you look at it, all of your originals are in one place, in a nested series of folders by Year > Roll. And the Modified ones are elsewhere, in the same format. Simple and intuitive.
But here is the odd thing I have found in my folders (and this is true across three different libraries, one with 2500, one with 2000, and another with 13000 photos in them): In addition to the new sets of folders, there are a bunch of folders in the Library folder that are STILL in the old format. (/Year /Month / Day / Originals and / Modified)
That means that some of my photos are in the new folders and others are in the old folders. They all appear to be "in" the iPhoto library, in that they are visible and accessible from inside the program. But they are obviously not organized in the way that iPhoto 6 is supposed to organize them, which makes me worry that maybe somewhere down the line they will get lost.
Unfortunately there is no way to repeat the upgrade process to force the program to organize everything in the new format (once a library is labeled as 6.0, that's it.)
Doesn't this seem odd? Does anyone else have the same thing going on in their libraries? Doesn't this seem like something that will create problems down the line, maybe when I upgrade to iPhoto 7? Doesn't it just seem like bad software design, even if it "works"?
- Andrew

Hi Armedia,
i don't know if you read Nick LDN's post in one of the threads, but here is what he deduced ....
"When upgrading to iPhoto 6, the 'recovered photos' it finds are stored as follows:
a if you opt to import the photos when iPhoto asks, they are left where iPhoto found them (or lost them, depending on how you view it...) in the 'year' folder system, within the iPhoto Library folder in the Finder; e.g. 2005>12>15>photo.jpg, 2003>10>05>photo2.jpg etc. Within iPhoto itself the photos are grouped in one new roll, and an album is created in the Source list called "Recovered Photos".
b if you opt not to import the photos, they are moved from the 'year' folder system in the Finder into one folder within the iPhoto Library folder, entitled "Recovered Photos". The 'year' folders can be deleted, if they are still there - you should find that they are empty and they are not used by iPhoto 6.
In Case b you can move the "Recovered Photos" folder to anywhere you like, e.g the Desktop, as the photos are no longer associated with iPhoto. In fact, if you decide you need to import some or all of the photos back into iPhoto, you will have to move the RP folder to another location as iPhoto will disallow any import from within the iPhoto Library folder.
Take care either way; in my case I had 1014 recovered photos, which included all of the following:
a originals of some of my photos, the edited versions were still in iPhoto
b random duplicates of original photos
c photos, both original and edited versions, which I had deleted long ago - sometimes as long as 2-3 years, many versions of iPhoto ago!"
For me personally, iPhoto told me it had recovered some photos. i don't remember now if I told it to import or not (I think I am losing it) Anyway, when it was done, the first thing I did was take a look at the folder in the Finder. I checked through the loose Year/Month/day folders and all of mine were empty so I deleted them all in the finder. I opened iPhoto and all was fine (I already had made a backup so I felt safe deleting the empty folders)

Images not in "~/Pictures/iPhoto Library" folder not properly handled

One of the features I was grateful for in iPhoto 6 is the ability to NOT import photos into the ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library" folder. This meant I could use iPhoto to view and edit photos without duplicating a folder structure I use for my photo files.
Unfortunately, I have now discovered that any program that attempts to access photos through the iPhoto API can see the previews for these images, but can not actually access the images. This means the "Desktop & Screen Saver PrefPane" can see the iPhoto previews, but fails to load an image for the Desktop (or Screen Saver). NOTE: It does appear that iMovie does see the photos properly, but other non-iLife portions of the MacOS don't.
Anyone got a fix for this? I suspect it is a bug in the iPhoto sharing API, but I am hoping someone might have a fix.

I don't think there is an API for iPhoto, or at least I cannot find it anywhere. Any integration with iPhoto is purely a hack.
If you can find documentation for an API, please let me know.

My iphoto library folder with files of my pictures is missing from the pictures folder, only the application icon remains. I have read through similar discussions but have not managed to fix the problem with the recommended solutions. Can anyone help?

I have a Macbook Pro with iphoto '08 running on Mac OS X version 10.5.8. I used to be able to go to my pictures folder on my HD and access my pictures via that iphoto library folder. There used to be a small arrow next to the iphoto icon with all the albums then listed within the folder (to the right). That arrow is now gone and all I have is the iphoto application icon which just reopens iphoto when I click on it, but I want to be able to access the data files. Somehow I do have files btwn 2008 and 2009 but it hasn't created these since then...Could someone please help me to restore this ability? I have read other similar posts but they seem to be related to lost data all together and I do luckily have all my pictures in iphoto still. I just can't access them in the pictures folder which means I can't access them on my external hard drive. I am now out of start up disc space somehow so I figured I had to delete some albums (I have 12,090 pictures) and do have them backed up but want to make sure I can go back for them when I need them. I did export all the pictures to a folder on the hard drive but it is all 12,090 in one long list with only numbers as names and not in any order, this will be a nightmare to access later! Please help! Thank you!

You can’t open your current photo library using this version of iPhoto.
That indicates that that is your library. Put it in your Pictures folder if it already isn't there and make sure it's named "iPhoto Library". It should look like this:
Now launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and select that library to open. If you get that same message close iPhoto and try the following;
Apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
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.

I started with a brand new iPhoto Library and I still can't get it to work.

I have almost 40,000 photos and iPhoto simply stopped working altogether. You can read all about my trials and tribulations here: http://www.davidgagne.net/2014/01/02/dealing-with-my-iphoto-library/
Eventually I simply resigned myself to not being able to use iPhoto and started using a program called Lyn. (http://www.lynapp.com/index.html)
The only problems are that now there is no way to synch photos with my iPhone and now I have no way to use iCloud.
So I decided to create a brand new iPhoto library on my laptop and use it *only* for (a) dealing with iCloud and (b) managing the (copies of) photos I want to synch to my iPhone.
I opened iPhoto and created a brand new iPhoto library. This new library is completely empty.
As soon as I connected my iCloud account, iPhoto started using 250% of my MacBook Air processor, 99.9% of its RAM, and absolutely punishing the laptop fan. My entire computer basically becomes unusable; and remember -- this is a completely empty library.
Also fun: iPhoto was downloading every photo from my iCloud account to my laptop.
Am I the only one suffering like this?
Does anyone have an alternate way to synch photos between iPhone and computer?

Does Lyn put the image files in a special package or just accesses them in their folders on the hard drive?
You can sync photos to your iPhone using iTunes. Put copies of the photos you want on the iPhone in a folder on the hard drive and select it in iTunes to sync with the phone.
The screenshot shows syncing from a folder named NanoPics.
OT

Unable to find Iphoto library folder

I have been trying to attach photos from my gmail account, but after I browse for the iphoto library folder I'm unable to see my original and modified photos folders.
Can anyone advice how to solve!
Many thanks in advance
Raul

This is by far the most ask question - you would have had to look back at least ten posts to find the answer
look here for the complete discussion --- http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1178149&tstart=15
For g-mail specify go to you g-mail preferences and allow POP 3 access to your account and set the g-mail account up in Apple mail - then you can select photo(s) in iPhoto, click on mail and have a new e-mail created in Apple mail which you send via G-Mail
Larry Nebel

How can I access my iPhoto library folder?

My hard drive recently had to be replaced, and when they replaced it, they updated to OSx 10.9. I had not backed up my photos before my hard drive crashed, but they backed up all my files for me. I went to open my iphoto library from the backup files and as a new (to me) version of iphoto 11 opened, I got a message saying that it had to update the photos in my library in order for them to be compatible with this version of iPhoto and that after updating them, I'd no longer be able to read them on an older version of iphoto. I clicked ok. It only imported 9 photos (out of several thousand). I went to finder and tried to open the iphoto library folder (which contains the library file and the cache, etc.), but the folder will not open. Instead, when I click to open the library folder, it brings up iphoto, as though to indicate that my library is there. Did I somehow unknowingly overwrite my library or something?? Any ideas why I can't access my iphoto library? Are my photos gone?
I'm stupid so I don't have copies of the photos anywhere else. I don't have Time Machine or anything. Did I irreversibly screw up??

I didn't think to check what photos were there or what the library size was before trying to import at first. How do I restore my backup of the iphoto library? (sorry if that's a stupid question). I checked in the Masters folder and only saw a few of my photos (the same ones that were imported to iphoto).
I definitely know it was a mistake not to have a backup of the photos. It'll be the first thing I do if I can get them back. The mistake I was referring to in my initial post was clicking "ok" when it asked to update---but from what you're saying it sounds like that wouldn't have deleted anything.
I'm thinking maybe the backup is not complete (even though I asked the tech people 5 times if it was!), because I checked the imovie events folder, and it's also empty (and it definitely shouldn't be)! If this turns out to be the case, I may have to go back to the repair place to see if they can still pull files off.

How can I drag multiple photos into a new iPhoto library from search box?

I lost but found my list of photos that were in my iPhoto library. I am unable to drag more than one photo at a time from the search box into the new iPhoto library box. Am I doing something wrong or do I have to drag one at a time? (That would take hours.) Please help if you can!
Thanks,
Laure

Roam,
Thanks again. I know how to highlight and drag multiple photos or a list of files, but the only place I found my list was by going to Finder>File>Find then a dialogue box comes up. In the dialogue box I put in iPhoto and checked that then put in "kind" "is" "image" and "size" "is greater than" "30" KB. When I click search, the entire list from my library comes up but that is when I am unable to drag more than one file at a time. The box that comes up when I search isn't (at least I don't think it is) a "folder" as such. Any suggesttions?
Laure

I'm trying to transfer my pictures from my iPhoto library to my external hard drive. I dragged the iPhoto Library folder into the drive and after waiting a while it says Error Code -36. I need to free up space asap, what should i do?

I'm trying to transfer my pictures from my iPhoto library to my external hard drive. I dragged the iPhoto Library folder into the drive and after waiting a while it says "Error Code -36 The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'iPhoto Library' could not be read or written". I need to free up space asap, what should i do??

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

IPhoto Library file structure

I have consolidated a large number of photos into rolls with meaningful names (e.g. NOT Roll 108 etc.,) and when the roll is empty in iPhoto the title disappears. However, if I try to use othr applications to access the originals, all the old, empty rolls are still shown in the file structure. Can I safely delete these in Finder or will it affect iPhoto? I just want to tidy up the file tree for when I'm using something other than iPhoto for manipulating my photos.

BreizhRonB
an I safely delete these in Finder or will it affect iPhoto?
It is strongly advised that you do not move, change or in anyway alter things in the iPhoto Library Folder as this can cause the application to fail and even lead to data loss. Given that iPhoto is not removing them automatically may be because there are pics in the trash that belong to these Rolls (solution: empty the iPhoto trash). However, it might also be due to HD issues.
However, if I try to use othr applications to access the originals,
This is also not recommended. What other apps are you using? Photo editors? You can set any image editor as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in the editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically.
or
There are three ways (at least) to get files from the iPhoto Window.
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.
Also, many applications use the the media browser. However, the key information is that Users and/or other Applications should not attempt to access the iPhoto Library Folder.
Regards
TD
Message was edited by: Terence Devlin

Frantic-Photo's not in Iphoto but in iphoto library folder

Yes, i did something very stupid, but i went into my iphoto folder through my hardrive, and to "clean up" that folder, i dumped all the stray files into a simgle folder. Then i checked iphoto and there was nothing there. Nearly passing out, i went back to the iphoto files through my hardrive and all the files were still there, so i tried to dump them all back into the intial iphoto library folder. I checked iphoto again, and still there was nothing there. So i am stuck, i havn't lost my photo's but i can't see them in photo. If there is a way to get them back, and maybe maintain my filing system in iphoto itself that would be great.
Thanks
R

Hi, I have a similar problem to Richard's.
Last night I unwrapped my brand new Lacie external drive and thought, how difficult could it be? I installed it and then immediately backed up my iphoto and imusic libraries and other documents. Then I set about getting rid of files on my Powerbook, which was running out of room.
After first carefully checking ot make sure that iphoto could read the photos on the Lacie drive, I 'noticed' that in my Finder window, I had a pictures file in the sidebar, as well as in my user directory. It seemed to be the exact same file, with the exact same amount of data. I thought it was a duplicate! So I trashed -- not only that, I 'secure' trashed -- the extra pictures file in my user directory, along with other files. I had about 18,000 files chugging through the trash. After about 1,000 files were gone I got cold feet and stopped the trash operation. That's when I retried iphoto, only this time there were no pictures in the library. I tried to get iphoto to point to the backup files on the Lacie, and it would still not show any photos.
The good news is, I know the photos are there. I can see individual files on the Lacie. The bad news is, I think i've really screwed up my finder window on my Powerbook-- the pictures file no longer exists. I made it again, and put it in my user directory, but these new file folders are lacking the cute little photo icon (ditto for itunes, but i figure i'll solve the iphoto problem first).
So: now I have a new pictures file in my user directory on my powerbook; I have copied all the items from the Lacie backup picture file into the picture file on my powerbook. And iphoto still can't see the photos. A few times iphoto has asked me to choose the library -- i've tried pointing to the backup library on the Lacie, but it won't read it -- says there is some sort of problem. (I am thinking maybe it is because I included an apostrophe in the Lacie Drive's name? I'm afraid to rename the Lacie Drive because I don't know how to do it without wiping the backup.)
In the meantime I'm trying to import photos from the old library. It is chugging away. 9,000 photos total. Problem is, my iphoto library was heavily edited. (I had deleted bad shots and had only about 5k shots). Will I now have to re-delete bad shots, re-crop, and add in all new comments? That would kill me.
Thanks for any help.

IPhoto 09 folder structure bug

Let me start by saying that I am a big Apple fan. I have a Macbook Pro (end 2006) running 10.6 with a 30 inch Cinema Display, a 23 inch iMac (mid 2007), and an iPhone 3G and a Nano 5th G. I am an Apple Certified Systems Administrator and was also the first person in Japan to be certified on OS X 10.5 as an Apple Certified Support Professional, however I am primarily an Windows Active Directory/Exchange Server engineer.
I have been using iPhoto since version 06 (end of 2006). I upgraded to 08 as soon as it was released then last year I upgraded to 09. Until recently I had about 18,000 photos in my iPhoto library, but due to the issue listed below I have now switched to Windows Live Photo Gallery on Windows 7 for managing my photos (these are synced using Windows Live Sync to my Mac's Photo folder where I then use Picasa for Mac. Sounds complicated but actually not and it means I can import my photos on my Mac or PC and they are synced both ways. Anyway...
I posted the following Bug Report to: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphoto.html
If you use iPhoto and don't want to spend days/weeks fixing your folder names and reorganizing photos into correct folders if your library becomes corrupt or you ever want to move your photos out of iPhoto then please provide feedback to Apple so that they know that we are not happy about this.
Bug Report.
The problem with iPhoto 09 is that the the folder structure inside the iPhoto Library package no longer matches the event names in iPhoto.
Previously in iPhoto 08, when renaming an event in iPhoto the folder structure would also be updated. Additionally splitting or merging events would move the files in the iPhoto Library package's folder structure. This is a major problem for me and many other users on the Apple.com iPhoto 09 discussion forums, and this issue has existed since the beginning of 2009!
I need my photo's folders named correctly for the following reasons:
1). Incase I should ever need to move photos out of iPhoto and to another application or platform, I would' have to spend days or even weeks renaming all the folders.
2). If my iPhoto library ever become corrupt and I needed to recreate it then I would loose ALL my event names (hence the details) if iPhoto doesn't keep the folder names the same as the events.
I have recently spent many hours migrating my photos out of iPhoto and renaming the folders manually. iPhoto really was all I ever needed in a photo management application but with this underling bug/issue I can't trust all my photos to it's library format of storage, but I do hope this gets fixed so that I can migrate back to iPhoto in the near future. Might I suggest that the best way forward for the future would be change iPhoto so that it can monitor folders (the same way Picasa does so, this is open and then gives customers the choice of using multiple apps for accessing their photos).
Regards,
Andrew

A bug can be an error or fault in the software but it can also be a design flaw which IMO this is.
No it can't. A design flaw is just that. A bug is when the software fails to works as designed. iPhoto is working as designed. You may prefer it work another way, but that's your preference. Remember you can always use a different product for managing your photos. You're not required to use iPhoto, you know.
Exporting dumps all the photos into a single folder which again doesn't solve either points 1 or 2 that I made.
Yes - if you export the entire Library at once.
If, however, you export each Event in turn (an process that can be automated with either Automator or AppleScript) then it will export to appropriately named folders.
And, as to any issue of corruption, the simple fact is that backing up is the ultimate protection.
What you want will possibly preserve your Event names. But that's all. It won't preserve albums, slideshows, metadata, the relationship between original and modified versions, the non-destructive editing and so on and so forth. All you'll get will be some folder names.
Now that's both your points answered. For the second time.
I'm not sure why there are so many Apple apologists on these forums.
I see, so someone who explains to you that you have misunderstood something, explains to you a better way of doing what you want to do is an "apologist"? Just like your definition of "bug" it's a mite idiosyncratic. And rude.
I am pretty sure that at some point there will be many users who will want to migrate out of iPhoto and when they do they won't be very happy when they realize that they are locked in.
Nobody, I repeat nobody, is locked into iPhoto. That statement is a falsehood. File -> Export and off you go.
we can either sit back and just accept these limitations, anti-competative vender lockins and design flaws or we can voice our concerns to Apple and get things changed for the better of everyone.
Every software has limitations. What you have failed to show is that any of the matters that concern you are actually "limitations". There are no
anti-competative (sic) vender (sic) lockins (sic)
iPhoto works with entirely standard formats. All your files and metadata are easily accessible throughout the OS and can be easily exported.
Regards
TD

Blank thumbnails in iPhoto; photos (zero KB) in iphoto library folder?

Upon opening iphoto recently; 90% of my photo's (2,500) appear as blank/white thumbnails. If I select one of these photo's it gives the proper photo info (name, file size, etc..) but no photo. When I check the iLibrary folder, these same photos display zero KB. I have attempted a rebuild that was unsuccessful. I have not messed around with the iLibrary folder and am confused as why this happened. Any thoughts/ideas on how to fix??? Thank you.
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi Sandy,
You can follow the instructions above to create a new library and import the images from the old library to see if you get all your images back.
You can first try this tip from Old Toad:
There is a way you can recover your library. Here's what I developed and it worked for me. But make a backup copy of your iPhoto Library folder beforehand just in case:
How to recover those photos lost due to renaming in the Finder1 - do a search of just the iPhoto library folder with the following criteria:
File name contains ".jpg" (or .psd) and File size is less than 1 KB. (You can just do a search for File size less than 1 kb but do not delete the other zero sized files that are of a non image type).
That will find all of those zero sized files that were created when iPhoto couldn't fine the originals.
2 - move those zero sized image files to the trash.
3 - now delete those "bad" photos from the iPhoto library using the normal method within iPhoto (if you don't they will be recovered every time you do a library rebuild with the "recover orphaned photos" option selected).
4 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed and when the rebuild menu comes up select the last option, "Recover orphaned photos in the iPhoto Library folder".
This will recover those renamed files and put then in a new roll. The only downside is that their titles in iPhoto will be "Roll xx-1, etc. You can do a Get Info on them, find the actual file name and change the title so they are the same.
So it can be done with a little work.
The only way to rename files that have already been imported into iPhoto is to export them to the desktop, rename them there and then reimport. Once imported you can delete the original set.
Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.
O.T.

New iPhoto 6 Library/Folder Structure - Driving us nuts!

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