Rebuilding the iPhoto Library

I messed up the iPhoto Library!
What i did was that i wanted to use Automator to COPY all of the original photo files to a new hard drive for backup, but i MOVED them instead. So now I have one big folder of originals and an iPhoto library empty of originals.
Question:
1.Can i use the rebuild iphoto library thing?
2.Where do my originals need to be for iPhoto to find them again?
3. Any other way or program?
Thanks!

You need to put the original files back into the proper film roll folders. I think it will need to be done manually. You can look at which roll the thumbnails with the same file names are located and then move the originals into the same rolls in the Originals folder.
Inside your library folder (named "iPhoto Library" unless you changed it), you will see two folders you are interested in. The one named "Data" contains the thumbnail files. The one named "Originals" contains the original image files. They have the exact same structure except "Data" only has thumbnail versions of your photos.
Use the Data folder and its thumbnails to see where your original images should go in the "Originals" folder.
Rebuilding the library will not help, in fact if you try a rebuild before putting those files back it may mess things up.

Similar Messages

  • I have iphoto 6 and my pictures are no longer showing.  I have tried importing them but it just give me an error msg. (file format not recognized) I have tried rebuilding the iphoto library but that doesn't work either. Any suggestions?

    I have iphoto 6 and my pictures are no longer showing.  I have tried importing them but it just give me an error msg. (file format not recognized) I have tried rebuilding the iphoto library but that doesn't work either. Any suggestions?

    How did you rebuild?
    Try these in order - from best option on down...
    1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
    2. Download <a href="http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/"><b><u>iPhoto Library Manager</b></u></a> 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.
    3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
    To create and populate a new *iPhoto 6* library:
    Note this will give you a working library with the same Rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
    Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
    Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
    Go into the iPhoto Library on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Roll Folders 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 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.

  • Trouble with rebuilding the iPhoto library

    Hi, I'd need help for a problem I have found on my dad's Imac. It's a late 2009, 21.5" with Core 2 Duo and 8 GB ram running Snow Leopard and the preinstalled iPhoto (I'm not sure about the version)
    He told me about some issues with photos in his library, so I thought that maybe rebuilding the iPhoto library would fix them. Unfortunately I can't access the "rebuild" dialog and holding down Command and Option keys when opening iPhoto does nothing.
    I've been trying with the iPhoto icon in Applications folder, not through the dock, keeping them pressed before doubleclicking, pressing them at the same time, pressing also shift or control or both... I've tried all combinations without any luck, as iPhoto starts normally without showing the dialog.
    What could be the problem? Any solution?
    Thanks!

    Yep! I know it doens't make any sense... I've tried repairing permissions and checking the file system, I've also deleted the content of "caches" folder but without any luck.
    I've moved the library to the desktop and started iPhoto, created a new library and then tried with that one. It doesn't work.

  • My iPhoto closed unexpectedly and now it says "Rebuilding the iPhoto Library database". What is going on and are my photos still going to be there?

    My iPhoto closed unexpectedly and now it says "Rebuilding the iPhoto Library database". What is going on and are my photos still going to be there?

    With the amount of information you've provided it's impossible to offer a solution.  We can't see your computer so we need to know the details of your problem and setup, i.e.:
    what version of iPhoto are you using?
    what system version are you running?
    what were you doing when iPhoto closed unexpectedly?
    how big is your library, i.e. how many photos?
    how long has the rebuilding been going on?
    do you have a recent backup of the library made just prior to this occurring?
    where is your library located?
    did you apply any updates or upgrades just prior to the problem occurring?
    are you running a "managed" or "referenced" library?
    what type of Mac?
    how much free space on your boot drive?

  • Should I rebuild the iPhoto library or restore from backup?

    When I start iPhoto I get this message:
    "Your iPhoto library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable"
    Shut down and restart your computer, and then open iPhoto again. If the problem persists, try rebuilding your iPhoto library. To do this, quit iPhoto, and then reopen it while keeping the Option and Command keys pressed. You can also try restoring your photo library from a backup.
    What do I do?  Which is best?
    Robert

    If the restart did not solve it, rebuild the library, but make a backup (don't overwrite any backup, that you have).
    See Terence Devlin's post on how to rebuild here: 
    Your photo library is either in use by another application or has become unreadable https://discussions.apple.com/message/16810380#16810380

  • Loss of photos resulting from rebuilding the iPhoto library?

    On behalf of myself and Susan Pease: Can following the directions to rebulild the iPhoto library (by holding down the option and shift keys while opening iPhoto) result in a loss of the photos? Is there some precaution we should take to make sure that the photos are not lost?

    Hi, aag. I didn't make myself clear, at least not to you. Inside your personal Home folder on your hard drive is a Pictures folder, and inside the Pictures folder is an iPhoto Library folder. You can see this folder structure by visiting your Home folder in the Finder. What I was advising against in my prior post is opening that iPhoto Library folder in the Finder and adding, deleting or moving any of its contents. Don't do that.
    When iPhoto is open, what it displays is the contents of that folder. It expects to find them exactly as they were the last time you closed iPhoto, and it counts heavily on finding them structured exactly the way it structured them the last time you ran it. If you have changed anything in there while iPhoto wasn't running, you're going to have trouble: iPhoto won't load the library, it won't display all your pictures, some of your albums may be missing or incomplete, etc.
    "Nobody has any business in there except iPhoto itself" means that the only methods you should use to tweak, edit, delete, import, copy, export or organize the photos in your iPhoto Library folder are the methods offered by iPhoto itself when it's running†. When iPhoto isn't running, leave your iPhoto Library closed and stay out of it.
    † Note that, at least in iPhoto 4 (I'm not familiar with iPhoto 2), these allowable methods include the designation of a different application for use in iPhoto's Edit mode, allowing you to use Photoshop, GraphicConverter, etc. to tweak your photos without removing them from iPhoto's control. But under no circumstances should you import a photo from your camera into Photoshop or GC and then save it in your iPhoto Library folder without opening iPhoto and importing it properly. And similarly, you should never open one of the photos in your library with another application, make changes to it, and resave it in the same place (or worse, a different place in that folder) without going through iPhoto to do so.
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  • IPhoto randomly stopped letting me drag/drop photos into finder. It's been working all week and all of a sudden, the photos bounce back into iPhoto and don't copy. I tried to rebuild the iPhoto library using the ALT   CMD buttons, but that didn't work...

    Any suggestions?

    What happens if you export the photo (file menu ==> export)?
    What do you see if you right click on one ane reveal in finder?
    LN

  • Trying to rebuild my iphoto library from time machine backup and it still says 0 restored with a grey screen and the circle. How can i restore my library?

    I just bought a new Macbook pro and i tried to rebuild my iphoto library from a time machine backup on an external hard drive. Even after pressing command+option when starting iphoto and selecting rebuild library from automatic backup, it still doesn't work with the grey screen with the white circle and a little window that says 'rebuilding library: 0 versions restored'. I also tried to make a copy of my iphoto library but that did not work either. how can i restore my iphoto library or at least gain access to my photos?

    Your question is not clear
    Rerairing or rebuilding the iPhoto library never involves using Time Machine in any way
    TM is a totally seperate program and you can "restore" a file (including the iPhoto library) from the past using TM - you launch TM and go back to the time you want and select the file (or folder or package) you want and click restore - it probably is best to keep the current one until you are sure everything is good
    LN

  • Hung the iPhoto library rebuild

    Intermittently, iPhoto synchronizes all my events to my iPhone 4 or iPad 2 in random order. The events are not in alphabetical order (like I have the on the computer), or apparently even time-ordered, expect that the most recently created event does seem to appear at the very bottom of the list. This makes finding the events I want  on the phone/pad agonizing, since there are many events and many thousands of photos. To make matters worse, when I plug the device into the computer, and look at the synchronization details in iTunes, the list of events appears random there too. Albums and Faces are always in order. I've deleted all photos from the device, then re-synced. That seemed to help once and failed about 9 times. Occasionally the problem seems to fix itself for a while. Right now it's fine on my iPhone and messed up on my iPad. Suspecting library corruption, I tried to rebuild the iPhoto Library after making a backup. It gets to 98% then hangs forever when I ask for the first option (rebuild) with or without other options selected. If I ask for the rebuild from automated backups option, it gets to "Rebuilding Library: 14625 Versions restored" then hangs forever. If I only ask it to rebuild thumbnails (either of the 2 options) it has no trouble.
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    I've got the same problem with iPhoto. Hangs at 69% when rebuild; hangs at a large number of items when rebuilding from backup. If I try to rebuild from backup, wait for the hang, and then force quit, the library is corrupted and iPhoto opens up with nothing. I have to use Time Machine to rebuild.

  • Iphoto locked up, I forced quit and now when I try to open iphoto it gives me a Caution note...The iphoto library is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have permission to make changes to it.  What do I do now?

    I had to force quit from iphoto...
    then I tried to reopen iphoto and it gave me a Caution message.
    The iphoto library is locked, on a locked disc, or you do not have
    permission to make changes to it....
    What do I do to be able to get to my photographs?

    Try Rebuilding the iPhoto library and post back with results. BTW if you don't get an answer on this forum there is an iPhoto forum too.

  • Photos exist in the computer but have disappeared in the iPhoto library

    I needed more space on my hard drive and realized I had about 200 photos double loaded in a Nikon Photo program and in iPhoto. When I deleted them from the Nikon program, my iPhoto Library would suddenly no longer load any of my 5600 photos in edit mode and said they were all 0X0 in size. The photos exist on the hard drive but is there a way to relink them to iPhoto? I tried Toad's idea of deleting the 0X0 images but my computer can't find any as the iPhoto library no longer has any names or .jpg designations on the photos. (It does if you open up the library in the black background - everything looks fine - but then on the left the only info that comes up is the day and date shot.

    I don't know if this will help or not, but have your tried to rebuild the iPhoto Library? If you are using iPhoto 5 or later, hold down the Command and Option keys while you open iPhoto. iPhoto 4 and earlier is it the Shift and Option keys. At this point you will be prompted to rebuild the library.
    Make a backup first though!
    I have a tutorial with more details here: http://www.learntomac.com/index.php/troubleshooting/rebuilding-iphoto-library/
    Dan

  • Will my photos delete if i rebuild my iPhoto library

    iphoto is saying to rebuild. Will I lose all my pics from my old library if i rebuild my library?
    please HELP!!!!

    No.  Always good to have a back up in place however, like TimeMachine.
    I've never had a problem rebuilding the iphoto library.

  • I am trying to rebuild my iPhoto library and noticed my backup contains aliases (pointers?) and not the actual file. What's the best way to rebuild my library?

    I am trying to rebuild my iPhoto library and noticed my backup contains aliases (pointers?) and not the actual file. What's the best way to rebuild my library?
    Facts:
    In moving to a new iMac, I copied the iPhoto library to an external HDD assuming that I would point the new iMac to the backed up iPhoto Library
    All worked fine when I pointed the new library but noticed that some folders contained aliases and not the original file. So when I attempt to open that photo it can't find it because the alias is pointing to another drive.
    I do have all original photos from a couple of external HDDs. In the folders titled, "Originals" (from older versions of iPhoto) and "Masters" (from current iPhoto)
    I'm thinking I can create a new folder and drop the original files and make that my new iPhoto library. Is there a better way to rebuild my library? I do not want to create any future aliases.
    Thanks in advance for any help!

    do you have a strongly recommended default "managed" library (the iPhoto preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library is in its checked state) or a referenced library - you have unchecked that option?
    It sounds like you have a referenced library and are now experiancing one of the very siginificant drawbacks of a referenced library and one of the many reasons they are strongly not recommended
    Also note that iPhoto '11 may use alises in the originals folder as part of the upgrade
    It is important that we understand exactly what you have and what is not sorking - what error messages you are getting
    You must NEVER make any changes of any sort to the structure of content of the iPhoto library - there are no user servicable parts in it  --  and you can not rebuild yoru librtary - only iPhoto ir iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ -  can rebuild a library unless you are a SQL programmer and understand the structure that iPhoto uses
    LN

  • How do i keep the original manual sort of my photos that i had in previous library after a rebuild in iphoto library manager?

    how do i keep the original manual sort of my photos that i had in previous library after a rebuild in iphoto library manager? and keep the events in the same order with blank events also

    Not sure you can.
    Library Manager creates 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.

  • How can I rebuild my iphoto library from backup

    Can I rebuild my iphoto library from the Time Machine backup?
    Somehow the iPHoto libary structure(?), if that's the word, has gotten corrupted. 
    There phtos are still these, in their year/month/day folders, but though iPhoto
    opens it does not show Events, Slideshow, etc.
    I found a Support page  that tell you how to re-build the library, but
    it didn't work.
    It just occurred to me that the Time Machine back up should contain the 'library'.
    Is so, how do I access it and will it open the iPhoto library intact with Events, Slideshows,
    etc.?
    Thanks,
    Hal

    You don't rebuild a library from a backup, you replace the library with the backup:
    If you'll describe what happend when you tried rebuilding the library with iPhoto maybe we can offer another possible fix like try using iPLM as Larry suggested.
    OT

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