Recover Iphoto library

Following a cleaning I may have put in the trash all my iphoto library (I then emptied the trash) because when I am clicking on Iphoto I get the message "iphoto can t continue without a photo lobrary. Make sure the disk containing your iphoto library is connected". Any idea how to recover the Iphoto Library.
Thank you in advance!
Best regards

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. At this point your only option would be to use a file recovery application like SubrosaSoft FileSalvage to recover the image files from your hard drive. You can run FileSalvage in demo mode to see what image files you can recover before you have to purchase it. I believe other file recovery applications have similar demo modes.
It might be time to consider getting an external FW hard drive to use with Time Machine for backups.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. There are versions that are compatible with iPhoto 5, 6, 7 and 8 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
NOTE: The new rebuild option in iPhoto 09 (v. 8.0.2), Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup" makes this tip obsolete.

Similar Messages

HT201250 How to recover iPhoto Library after format of hard drive?

I've recently reinstalled Lion onto my hard drive but I forgot to backup my iPhoto library. Is there any way of recovering this library? I also have an external hard drive that had Time Machine Backups but that hard drive has since gone through formats as well. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

SOLUTION : iPhoto folder recovered after formatting hard drive by mistake.
I was able for recover my iPhoto library ( intact ) after formatting the hard drive by mistake.
On top of that I formatted it in FAT32 format. My iPhoto folder was huge 100GB with file and movies of all sort of formats. I kept it on a secondary hard drive of 500 GB. one day I was formatting flash drive for somebody which was 500Mb, seems similar to my 500GB and I formatted my hard drive by mistake. I realized the mistake a week after the person called me and said there is nothing in flash disk and I find a single file on my hard drive. Needless to say the earth disappeared underneath me. All my pictures for 10 years , 8000 thousand of them, cherished memories all gone. But was I determined to find them back and I know they are intact somewhere. My biggest fear was that formatting on MS-dos format might have really deleted them , but they were there. and here is how I got them back.
First I tried the Data recuse 3 software. I got the photos back, but they were all jumbled up. Long numerical file names and original dates were gone. No way I could sort it out back to the way it was before . So my target was to recover the iPhoto folder intact.
- I bought an external hard drive with 1tb space to retrieve the data.
- The software which did the miraculous job is called " STELLAR PHOENIX MAC DATA RECOVERY" .
- I ran a deep scan all night and came up with many volumes. volume-1 was the MS dos , volume 2 was a mac system,
- I tried MS dos volume first and there was nothing on it.
- I tried the 2 volume with mac system. It got all my files and some other system file.
- I could see the iPhoto folder and click on that only to recover. After that I went for my doc and other files later.
- It took hours to retrieve my iPhoto folder intact, The folder size was right and file were there in master folder.
- I checked in FINDER , opening iPhoto with "show content " and all my picture file were there with original date.
- BUT when tried opening it in iPhoto , there was nothing. it keep showing the wait icon and nothing shows up. Empty iPhoto.
- I tired starting iPhoto , holding command -option and tried building and repairing database, nothing worked.
- Then I got this software " iPhoto library manager" .
- downloaded, installed it and pointed it towards my iPhoto folder.
- It asked for space to rebuild a new iPhoto library with existing picture and folder.
I had another external hard drive , I used it to make a rebuild iPhoto library.
and there I GOT IT. only took three night of pain.
IMPORTANT:
I never touched my original formatted hard drive. Don't write anything on it until you are sure you have recovered everything. open and see files with your own eyes.
- I recovered the iPhoto on another hard drive and then built it on another hard drive . Yes its pain in the neck but well worth fixing your stupid mistake of not making a back up in the first place.
I hope this helps all who are looking for iPhoto recovery and their lovely memories.

Error 36 when trying to recover iphoto library from time machine back up

When I try to recover a backup of an iPhoto library from my Time Capsule using TimeMachine, I receive the following error code: "The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “iPhoto Library” can’t be read or written. (Error code -36)." I have read a post regarding Snow Leopard 10.6.6 being the issue. Has anyone else had experience of this and if so how did you reslove this.

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Connect to the TC via Ethernet cable if at all possible.
Try repairing your backups, per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Recovering iphoto library: rebuilding database doesn't work

My iphoto-library runs on an external HDD (using a MBP 256 SSD). It contains 38.000 photos, lots of albums and projects (photo albums) and a week ago it crashed. I accidentally removed the hdd while using iphoto. This happened to me before and with a simple recovery (update library. 'Werk bij' in Dutch. I work with a Dutch version) it was back.
But now my library is completely gone. I tried recovering my library by using 'option+command'. It recovered my photos, but not my settings. See the screen print. No albums and projects...
My masters, previews and projects (photo albums) are all there (in finder).
Does anybody have a solution for my problem? How do I recover my setting/iphoto library?
Thanks in advance.

Have you tried Repair Disk?
Connect the external drive and open Disk Utility from your main drive. (Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility)
In DU, select the external drive, then First Aid and click Repair Disk.
Good luck.

How to recover iphoto library

This morning i was looking for a way to hide a event in iPhoto library but by mistake i deleted my whole Iphoto library in pictures folder in Finder. Now my iphoto is empty. Is there any way-out to recover those pictures. Even i emptied my trash can. Please help me. Thanks in advance

No. I assumed that if your photos - or any data - is important to you then you would have a back up. It's a basic requirement for anyone using a computer, really.
Now you're into data recovery. You'll need an app like File Salvage. This will scan your Mac and give you a lost of what's recoverable. To actually recover you'll need to purchase the app. You'll also need an external HD to recover to.
Regards
TD

Is there a way to recover iPhoto library after erasing drive and clean install of Mavericks?

Is there a way to recover the photos in my iphoto library after erasing my SSD drive and reinstalling mavericks? My time capsule backed everything up except iphoto, and I had 3 years worth of important photots in there. Is there any way to recover them?

In addition to using a Time Capsule drive and using Time Machine, with this painful lesson learned, in the near future, purchase another high quality, high speed (USB 3.0, Thundetbolt OR FireWIre 800 depending what connections are on your Mac) external hard drive, formatted for Mac, and use a data cloning app such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to make bootable clones/copies of your Mac's entire internal hard drive.
Bootable clones and data cloning apps are the best and most reliable way of creating reliable backups of your important data in the future.
Also, my other advise stands, too! If you have data the is like "gold" to you copy this data manually to other media such as CDs/DVDs and/or high capacity USB flash drives.
Sorry you have lost your precious photos.
Painful lesson, but good info to prevent this all from happening,again.
WIth computers, having many copies and redundancies of data is key to never losing important computer data.
Again, sorry.

Recovered iPhoto Library is missing data, can it be fixed?

I accidently erased my Iphoto library, when I recovered it from Time Machine the most recent images do not show up. The events are blank put it shows how many files are in each event. When you try to open one image it shows an exlamation point in a circle. If you try to edit the photos you can see them in the thumbnails above the edit window but can not access them. Is there a way to recover these images? I am driving myself crazy trying to figure this out.

How did you restore the library from Time Machine. Did you open Time Machine, go to the Pictures folder, select the iPhoto Library and use the Restore button? If not that may be why you're getting the exclamation marks.
If you did use TM correctly 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.
OT

Recover iPhoto Library on MPR from iPhone/iPad?

By mistake I deleted the iPhoto library from my MBP. I did not back up many of the photos in it, but I have them still on both my iPhone and iPad. Is it possible to recover these photos and include them in my iPhoto library again?
Many thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

See Terence Devlin's answer here:
Re: Is there a way to move albums from your iPhone to iPhoto?
Your iPhone does hold your photos, and you can recover them with the help of recovery software.

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

How I do recover iPhoto Library from an external drive?

I stored user files on my Mac Mini on an external harddrive. The Mac Mini is now not functioning so I am trying to recover files from the external harddrive. Specifically I'm trying to recover pictures from iPhoto.
I can plug the external drive into another Mac and see its contents in Finder. I can see the "iPhoto Library" on this disk. It shows up in the Finder as a single 41 GB file instead of a file system. I want to be able to extract the photos from this library and back them up online.
I tried running Import from iPhoto on my functioning machine, but iPhoto won't let me click on the "iPhoto Library" file. I don't know if I need to reset my iPhoto library location, or if this is a application version issue. (I'm running iPhoto 6.0.6 on the working machine, but the library I'm trying to get into was created by a later version, I think from iLife '09.)
How do I read the photos in this iPhoto Library?
Thanks.

If you want to preserve that Library you'll need to upgrade from iPhoto 6 to iPhoto 09 on this other machine. The v6 version cannot read the 09 library.
Doing anything else will destroy the library - you'll lose Albums, Slideshows, keywords, Faces, Places, books, calendars etc etc erc and basically have to start over from scratch.
How to do it? Go to the external diks and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.
Your Photos are in the Originals Folder.
The Edited versions are in the Modified Folders.
If you import both you'll have duplicates.
Regards
TD

Recovering iphoto library

Our iphoto library is on an external hard drive, and I foolishly disconnected the hard drive while iphoto was still in use. It is no longer possible to see the thumbs; each photo is grey with a white border. Needless to say, I'm in the dog-house, and I wonder if there is any way out? How can I recover the library?
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

That type of shutdown while iPhoto is writing to it's database files most always results in a corrupt library6.iPhoto file that is terminal for the library. If you can't get it back up an running you'll have to start over from scratch by importing only the Originals folder from your old library folder. Do not import the entire library folder. You'll get the thumbnail files included as full sized files and that will really mess up the library.
Do you Twango?

How to recover iphoto library from recovery mode

My macbook pro suddenly went on Utility Disk Mode and can only be accessed through recovery mode. I cannot even view the files. I'm willing to let everything go except for the photos and videos in the iphoto library. I don't know how to access my photos on icloud and when I did, it was just my iphone's photos that are there. is there any way I can view my photos in my locked macintosh hd in other devices or computer?

Thanks for the response BDAqua, I did use Migration Assistant to transfer her data from the SuperDuper backup. Are you suggesting that I use Migration Assistant to transfer data from the Time Machine backup? Will that result in duplication? Sorry, but I've no experience at all with Time Machine backups and don't know whether you can 'pick and choose' what to restore from the Time Machine using Migration Assistant.
Cheers
Tricia

Recovering iPhoto library from Space Capsule

I've a backup of an iPhoto library on a Space Capsule disk. I restored most things using the Migration Assistant. For some reason the iPhoto Library didn't come back.
So, I've copied the Space Capsule backup onto another disc and I've been trying to copy the photographs out of the sparce file structure.
The problem is that iPhoto goes on for a long time, saying that it's getting ready to import things, but then crashes without importing any.
Is there an easy way to extract all the photographs from the sparce files? If I could do that, then I could just point iPhoto at the extracted files and I'd have everything.

The best way would be to connect the Time Capsule to your Mac, enter Time Machine, go back to the version of the library you want and do a Restore. That will produce the library from that time period.
Trying to get files out of Time Machine via the Finder is not how you're supposed to use TM.

Recovering Iphoto library on External HD

Hey,
So I decided to transfer my entire Iphoto Library to my external HD, about 1 hour ago. I did the transfer, and checked to see if I could open my new Iphoto Library from my external by pressing option before clicking on Iphoto and choosing the new library. Everything worked fine, so I deleted my Iphoto library on my mac HD. After deleting all the files I tried to open my Library on my external and Iphoto opens without and pictures. The Iphoto Library on my external has 14.97 GB being used so I know the files are there, I just cannot open them.
I would love to figure this out, so I dont loose all of my photos!
Thanks for the help
JT

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
First off confirm that you're opening the Library on the Extenral. It's possible that for some reason iPhoto has created a new blank Library. Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'...
If that doesn't help:
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 Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
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, 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

Recover iPhoto library from crashed HD

Hi
My mac stopped working soon after i did the latest iTunes update, i was unable to repair the disk using disk utility so in the end i swapped the HD for a new one and recovered what data i had backed-up to that new drive. Problem i have is that my back-up processes were somewhat slack! I have none of my photos backed up...
I have tried to view the contents of my old HD by connecting it up via USB. It looked like it was going to work; i could see the drive, navigate through the folders etc then it just disappeared. I can no longer see it in Finder. I can still see it in disk utility and have tried to repair it again with no joy.
All I want to do is recover the photos, there's nothing else on there that i need
thanks folks....

Other recovery software;
Data Rescue 3;
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Stellar Phœnix;
http://www.macintosh-data-recovery.com/
Both programmes will give you a free download to scan your HD and see if the files are recoverable, but you'll have to pay for the full application to actually recover them.

Recover Iphoto library

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