Old iPhoto Library won't update

I have an old iPhoto library from iPhoto 9 that won't update to iPhoto 11 and won't open. How do I fix this or can I retrieve the photos from the old library without opening it in iPhoto?

Honestly I'm not sure what it is then. There is a forum for iPhoto, I would repost there and let them know what you have already tried, hopefully someone there knows what to do. You can find that forum at:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto

Similar Messages

IPhoto Library won't update

I have an old iPhoto library from iPhoto 9 that won't update to iPhoto 11 and won't open. How do I fix this or can I retrieve the photos from the old library without opening it in iPhoto?

Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
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

My Iphoto Library won't upgrade / update after Lion install.

Ok so i updated my OS X to Lion and everything seemed fine but the Iphoto Library had an update and I installed it after this. Now i'm getting a message that my Iphoto library needs to upgrade to be able to run on this version of Iphoto. It starts to upgrade fine but never stops i just have a wheel as pointer like its thinking or trying to upgrade. It will go like this for days. I have GB's worth of photos i can't seem to get to. Help

To repair the Library:
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. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
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

Where is my IPhoto library? I updated and the last two years of photos disappeared. Help., Where is my IPhoto library? I updated and the last two years of photos disappeared. Help.

Where is my IPhoto library? I updated and the last two years of photos disappeared. Help., Where is my IPhoto library? I updated and the last two years of photos disappeared. Help.Thank you.

Simple and fast solution: restore from your back up.
Other than that:
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.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
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

How do I import an old iphoto library from an external hard disk while keeping my editing and organization in tact?

I am running iPhoto '08 on a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz Intel C2D (MacBook Pro 3,1). I backed up my hard drive contents onto an external hard drive, then formatted my computer and installed Mountain Lion. I then re-installed iPhoto '08 and ran all the updates. Now, I would like to import my old library from the external disk onto my computer without losing my editing and organization; however, when I select "import to library" from iPhoto, the old iPhoto library is not a selectable option.
I know how to "show package contents" and import directly from the Original and Modified folders, but I don't want to lose my organization. Can I simply drag the content of those folders into my new Original and Modified folders? Will iPhoto read that correctly?
I tried to open the old library from the external disk, thinking to export them all to a folder and import from there, but that just opened my new library and none of the old photos were imported or available.
I'm running out of ideas and would appreciate any help you guys can give. Thanks!!

You don't import it.
Just drag the iphoto Library from the external to the Pictures Folder.
Then open it:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.

Old iphoto library from an old computer's hard drive doesn't open anymore

My old computer broke some time ago, but I got the hard drive saved with its iPhoto library. I used to be able to open the old iPhoto from the old computer's hard drive with my new computer connecting them, but now it says that the old iPhoto cannot be opened because I have to update to a newer version, but the only button I can press is 'quit'. So I don't know how to get a newer version of iPhoto to my old hard drive or how to get the pictures out of the old iPhoto. I have a separate iPhoto in my new computer.
When I press 'show content' of the old iPhoto, there are no pictures anywhere.
Please help, I have my old pictures there!
Thank you!
Best regards,
Petra

I used to be able to open the old iPhoto from the old computer's hard drive with my new computer connecting them, but now it says that the old iPhoto cannot be opened because I have to update to a newer version, but the only button I can press is 'quit'.
Petra, do you mean, you opened the old iPhoto application from the old computer on your new computer or did you open the iPhoto Library?
If you have a newer iPhoto version on your new computer, try to open your old iPhoto Library with the newer iPhoto version on your new Mac.
What was the old iPhoto version on the old Mac, and which version do you have now? And which version of MacOS X?
If you now have iPhoto 9.5.1 on your new computer, launch this version while holding down the options key (sometimes called alt key). This will bring up the library chooser panel. Select the old library on your old drive. iPhoto should offer to upgrade the library., unless your old library has been created by a very old iPhoto version.
If the old library had been created with iPhoto '08 or earlier, you need first to run the iPhoto Library Upgrader to prepare the library.
See this document: iPhoto '11: About the Library Upgrader
After running the upgrader, proceed as described above.
-- Léonie

I cannot open several pictures from my old iPhoto library which I saved on an external HDD.

Hi,
I saved my old iPhoto library on an external HDD and successfully opened them in past several times. But now with iPhoto 11 v. 9.2.3 all I can see is a black triangle (image attached) for majority of my pictures and folder from my old iPhoto library on the external drive. Several times I tried rebuilding iPhoto library but that did not help.
I am runnig MAC OS X 10.6.8 with most recent updates.
Thanks in advance for yor help,
I must admit its highly frustrating. Sometime I feel, am I still using the same Apple product or it is something else .
Image:

that indicates a disconnect to the original photos - have you deleted any photos using the finder or run any clean up software?
If no then download iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - and use the rebuild command in the free trial to create a new library leaving the existing one as is
LN

HT5037 Difficulty moving old iPhoto library from 2008 (not sure which version of iPhoto it is) to new macbook pro running OSX Mavericks.

I tried downloading AND RUNNING the upgrader and I'm stuck in an infinite loop. After running the upgrader from the utilities folder, it looks like things are working. Then a window pops up asking me to launch iphoto to complete the upgrade. After launching iphoto, iphoto goes back to the original error message that I need to download the upgrader.
I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the upgrader multiple times to no avail. I've also tried dragging my iphoto library from the external hard drive it is housed on to many different areas before trying to launch the upgrader, none of them worked. The external hard drive format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I also tried dragging the iphoto library folder in the pictures file onto my new Macbook right next to my new iphoto library folder. This allowed me to open up iphoto (Yay!) but of course, none of the photos from my old iphoto library were in their, even when the old library was selected.
I've read what seems like hundreds of posts on this same issue, but can't seem to find a solution that works for me. I want to simply transfer my iphoto library from an external hard drive (my old macbook just crashed, so this is the only option) to my new macbook, keeping the albums, slideshows, and organization intact.
I would appreciate any help or feedback. Thank you in advance for reading this!

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.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
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

Problems transferring old iPhoto library to iPhoto 6

Several months ago, I upgraded to iPhoto 6. Prior to doing so, I saved my photo files to another hard drive as a backup. Somehow, the old iPhoto library (~9000 photos) did not transfer to iPhoto 6. Then, I tried to drag the “Originals folder “into iPhoto 6, and although it first appeared the transfer was working, iPhoto quit during the download. After trying several more times with the same result, I decided to use iPhoto 6 for new photos and it has worked like it should.
I would like to put all of my old photos back into iPhoto, so, today, I booted iPhoto while holding the option key down, “chose library” and then selected the old iPhoto library file. When it said that the old file would be changed to an iPhoto 6 file, I clicked OK. Everything went well until new thumbnails were being created and then iPhoto quit again.
Is there another way to do this? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Rick

Rick
Given that iPhoto crashes on the update and on the import, it suggests that there's a damaged jpeg in there somewhere.
Try rebuilding the library with the Rebuild command from iPhoto Library Manager. This will create a new library with your pics. Read the help on iPhoto Library Manager first.
Regards
TD

How do I import my old iPhoto library to my new macbook Pro?

I have a new laptop pro and I don't want all my files similar to my old laptops so I didn't use the migration assistant. All I want is iPhoto to be the same on my new laptop as it is on my old laptop.
Is there a way to do this? Can I just grab the iPhoto library folder located in user/pictures/iPhoto Library and drag over to the new mac to copywrite it? or will that still not preserve the faces, places, and event's database?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Caleb

I have a related situation. I recently purchased a new Macbook and like the originator of this post, did not use Migration Assistant to set it up. Also like the originator, I want my iPhoto library to move to my Macbook intact. My old computer is an iMac G4 running OS X 10.4.11. That computer has iPhoto 2.0.1. I dragged my iPhoto Library on to an iPod in disk mode and dragged it from that device onto my new Macbook which is running Snow Leopard and iPhoto '09. I started iPhoto on the Macbook and pointed it to the old iPhoto Library. It started up fine, updated the Library and went through its Faces recognition routine. Super, except that my old machine tells me that my Library holds 4818 images and iPhoto on my new machine counts just 3415 images.
Can someone help me understand the discrepancy and how to rectify? Thank you.

Moving my old iPhoto library to my new macbook

I recently purchased a new Macbook and did not use Migration Assistant to set it up. I want my iPhoto library moved to my Macbook intact. My old computer is an iMac G4 running OS X 10.4.11. That computer has iPhoto 2.0.1. I dragged my iPhoto Library on to an iPod in disk mode and dragged it from that device onto my new Macbook which is running Snow Leopard and iPhoto '09. I started iPhoto on the Macbook and pointed it to the old iPhoto Library. It started up fine, updated the Library and went through its Faces recognition routine. Super, except that my old machine tells me that my Library holds 4818 images and iPhoto on my new machine counts just 3415 images.
Can someone help me understand the discrepancy and how to rectify? Thank you.

Hello Old Toad:
Thanks for your second response to my photo dilemma--I've been unusually busy the past ten days and haven't been able to try your suggestion. Part of the "busy" was exasperation at Apple over the download of the iPhone upgrade 4.0; I didn't understand all the ramifications of the upgrade and thus lost all the remaining photos on my iPhone except those taken with the iPhone camera. Luckily for me, that numbered over 1100 so all was not lost. I told a friend who has both iPhone and Mac desktop of my inability to download photos from iPhone to laptop, and he said he has been doing it for over two years! I asked him to show me how he does it. We then tried it with my iPhone but were stopped by a message on his desktop saying it could not download photos from my iPhone because I didn't have iTunes 9.2 installed. At home I opened iTunes on my MacBook and found that I did have 9.2 installed. I plugged my iPhone into my computer and to my utter amazement in less than 30 seconds iPhoto opened up and asked if I wanted to download x number of items. That had never happened before, and I don't know why it happened now. Two possibilities come to mind: that iTunes 9.2 was downloaded recently as part of an upgrade bundle and I hadn't tried the photo download SINCE the upgrade--in other words, all I needed was iTunes 9.2? Or, that in the iPhone 4.0 upgrade a mechanism was installed to accomplish the task, but neither explains my friend's success at the same task. If anyone else is as puzzled by this as I am, I'd like to hear about it. Also, why was such a seemingly simple question/task so difficult to find a solution to?
Sincerely,
Medren

Question re: Copying an old iPhoto Library to a new Mac

Hi -
I have an old, G5 PowerPC iMac, running OSX 10.4.11 and iPhoto '08 (version 7.1.5), and a new (2013) MacBook Pro running OSX 10.9.3 and iPhoto version 9.5.1.
I'd like to know if I'd have any problems copying the old iPhoto Library (22 GB) from the G5 iMac to the new MacBook Pro. I'm concerned that the great difference in versions would prevent the library from updating to the current version once it is copied. Thanks for any information or help anyone can provide. Thanks,
Shelly

Copy the library to your new Mac.
To be able to upgrade it to iPhoto '11 run the iPhoto Library Upgrader on your newer Mac, see this document:
iPhoto '11: About the Library Upgrader

Old iPhotos library

Looking for things cluttering up my hard drive. Noticed my old iPhoto library and the new Photos library are the same size. I've opened Photos and used it. iPhoto has been removed from my dock, I understand it's still in my apps folder. Do I need iPhoto or my old iPhoto library anymore? Is it safe to delete it?

If your version of iPhoto has been updated to the latest version, it will still be available in your Applications Folder. If it was not kept up-to-date, you can re-download it from the Purchased section of the App Store. I think it is a good idea to keep the old app and library until you test drive the new version. I am using Photos and have found that if you click on View> Show Sidebar, you can choose to show your photos in your old iPhoto Events view. This keeps your old organization available. There will be no more support for iPhoto and I would expect that there will be many improvements made to Photos in the future.

Trying to open old iPhoto library on osx 10.9.5 with iPhoto 9.5.1. iPhoto says I must upgrade but upgrade eventually hangs. Tried to rebuild/repair database but it always says you have to upgrade database first and eventually hangs

Trying to open old iPhoto library on osx 10.9.5 with iPhoto 9.5.1. iPhoto says I must upgrade but upgrade eventually hangs. Tried to rebuild/repair database but it always says you have to upgrade database first and eventually hangs

What version was the old library made with?
What is the exact message? when it hangs does it crash or do you have to force quit?
LN

How do I move my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to my new Mac?

Hi guys!
I recently bought a new MacBook Air as my MacBook Pro was on its last legs... I have my backup for my old MacBook Pro on an external hard drive and I'm trying to put a selection of albums from my old iPhoto onto my new MacBook Air iPhoto. I can't simply click and drag it over as I get an error message "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library...". I've tried to reopen iPhoto while holding option and selecting my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to open... AND I get the same message.
If anyone could help me out that would be amazing!
FYI: The hard drive I am using is a G|Drive mobile with Thunderbolt 1 TB.
Thank you very much in advance!
Cheers,
Kendall

I may sound like a real rookie here, but on my new MacBook Air there isn't a "Pictures" folder under "Users/kendallwilson" like there used to be on my old MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I'm still working out the new software on my MB Air, so where exactly should I open this new window to start following the steps you just provided me.
Thanks again!

Old iPhoto Library won't update

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