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

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