Restore saved iPhoto library after hard drive repair

My hard drive crashed and Apple were kind enough to repair it although it happened 1 week after the extended warranty expired. I was able to save the hard drive files to an external drive just before it died, but now when I try and import the iPhoto library back into the newly repaired computer one of 2 things happen: The photos begin to transfer and then the application (iPhoto) unexpectedly quits, or, the blue bar at the bottom says Working and nothing happens for as long as 10 minutes.
I would really appreciate some help as I no longer have covered support. One of the photo text files may be corrupted. How do I identify the problem file?
Thanks very much,
Colin Sieff

That's because importing from another iPhoto Library folder isn't the way to restore an iPhoto Library. I'm surprised you were able to do it without a bunch of warning dialogs.
If you still have the original iPhoto Library folder intact, the thing to do is restore it as I've described earlier. If you have sufficient disk space, quit iPhoto and drag the existing iPhoto Library folder from Pictures to the desktop. Then drag your backup iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, and the only thing left to do is to start iPhoto. If all's well, move the desktop copy of the iPhoto Library folder to the trash, then empty the trash.

Similar Messages

Restoring iPhoto library after hard-drive crash

I lost my entire hard drive on my iMac and had to physically replace it. I recovered all my files from Carbonite, but didn't notice until it was too late that there were errors restoring my iPhoto library. When I open iPhoto '11, the iPhoto library doesn't show any of the 43,000 photos (that includes thumbnails, "faces" files, etc. that were on my old library).
If I search my "Macintosh HD" drive for all ".jpg" files, I can see them all. They are all in a file path that is "Pictures/iPhotoLibrary/Masters."
But when I open iPhoto and select "import to library" and then search for the photos or the Masters folder, it doesn't see it. When I try to do a work-around by selecting the files individually and telling the computer to use iPhoto to open them, it says that I can't open the files because they're already part of the library.
I can't seem to find a solution to this exact question. Any ideas out there?

You can try 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.
But if this fails you'll need to accept that your back up is faulty and you'll need to make a new Library and start over from scratch.
Regards
TD

Reestablishing iPhoto Library after Hard-drive crash

After replacing the HD on this 1 yr old machine, restoring photos from iDisk and an external back-up drive I was able only to view my photos as thumbnails. Clicking on these or otherwise trying to access the "original" image resulted in the lovely gray box. I've tried rebuilding the data (OPTION+COMMAND), and am now not even able to view the thumbnails. Before I toss all, reinstall iPhoto and try this again does anyone have a better solution??
Thanks.
v

vonilee
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
It's unlikely that re-installing the app will help here, the problem is with the library. Before you restored, you had to back up? What did you back up and how did you do it?
If you backed up the iPhoto Library Folder as a single unit, simply put it in the Pictures Folder and all should be well.
If not, or if you've moved any parts of the iPhoto Library Folder around, what you need to find is your Originals folder. Inside this are your roll folders with your original pics. If you have these you can rebuild your library.
So what did you back up?
Regards
TD

Can't open iPhoto library after hard drive crash

My daughter's MacBook hard drive crashed rather catastrophically. I managed to clone the damaged drive to an external drive before it died completely. On the clone, her iPhoto library appears intact, but when I double click on it, and click the options to update the photos and thumbnails for the current version of iPhoto (I think she was using '08, and I'm on '09) I'm left with an empty iPhoto. When I open the package contents of the iPhoto Library, I can see the original files, but can't get them to open, even in Photoshop.
Any ideas out there? I have an older version of her Library on backup, but it's the more recent photos she's desperate to get back.

The 'Originals' are all around 3 - 3.6 megs each.
Well that sounds like at least there is data there. Try download a trial of Graphic Coverter . I've seen that open some hopeless cases.
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.

Restoring iTunes Library after hard drive failure.

So a few days ago I had to re partition my hard drive (erase all the data) because I received an unfixable problem from Finder error 10810. The problem created overlapping files on my hard drive which was able to be solved by doing a repair disk from Disk Utility. So I made sure I had a backup of all my information on my iMac, and erased the hard drive and re-installed Snow Leopard. After the installation was complete I began restoring all the files I had from Time Machine, but when I got to my iTunes library I received the error message saying that "You cannot access the iTunes folder because you are not authorized". So if anyone can help me out with this that would be great, I tried calling Apple but i'm not willing to pay the ridiculous $50 fee to speak to a human being.

I'm trying it file by file, because I don't need everything back on my hard drive but things like my iTunes Library I want. And I did use a different username when doing the setup assistant, but I thought about that and went back and re-named my current account and then went into my backup files and set all the sharing permissions to Read and Write for all accounts.

Problems restoring IPhoto Library after hard disk crash

I had a terminal hard disk crash a couple of months ago. The drive was replaced and new (well older) OS was installed. I have since updated to the current versions of the OS and Iphoto to iPhoto'09. My Documents and Pictures folders had been backed-up separately using Apple's Backup 3. My Documents folder was restored flawlessly, but I have been unable to restore my Pictures folder.
I spent some time with MobleMe support and we were unable to resolve the problem. My iPhoto library was backed-up on 2 occasions: the first was a FullBackup and the second an IncrementalBackup. When I run restore I get the following message:
"Begin restore at 2008-12-02 20:06:45 -0330 An internal application error has occurred. The disk archive could not be attached. End restore at 2008-12-02 20:06:49 -0330"
The MobleMe assistant thought it may have something to do with my user name changing when the new OS was installed. We played with this for a while but got no joy.
MobleMe next suggested that I do a manual restore:
"At this point, it sounds like you will need to try to manually restore it. These errors, such as "An internal application error has occurred. The disk archive could not be attached," can occur if one of the increments in a backup has become damaged and cannot be opened. Here are instructions for manually restoring files:"
Using these instructions they provided I have been able to access most of my photos, but I have not rebuilt my iPhoto Library yet. I have read most of the related posts on this form and there are some helpful tips. The problem I have is that I'm not certain how to bring the pictures back into iPhoto while maintaining some of the organization. My photos are spread across 7 IncrementalBackup files (packages?). Within each of these packages there is an Originals folder. Within the original folders there are several subfolders, and some of these subfolders occur across 2 or more of the Incrementalbackup packages. For example Originals:2005 subfolder occurs in 6 of the 7 backup files.
Finally my questions:
1) I'm still hopeful that I might be able to restore from the backup.
2) If not, I need to know how to recompile the the Originals subfolder system so I can maintain some the the organization, and then how I reipmort back into iPhoto'09
Thanks
Scott

Scott
That Library is gone. What you need to do now is start over with a new Library.
There is no way to restore your Albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc. This is a completely new beginning.
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library' .
From each of the Originals folders in each of the Back Up packages drag the folders of images to the iPhoto Window. Iphoto will import them and make Event folders from them. It will ask you do you want to import duplicates. Say no.
Only import from the Originals folders. Otherwise you will get massive duplication.
Regards
TD

Restore Library after hard drive format

I had to reformat my Windows hard drive and, of course, then I had to restore my Itunes Library. My music files are stored in a different HD so, I didnt have to back them up. I restored my library using the method described in this page article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313.
It worked fine, but now all my play counts are gone. How can I have them back? I have all my playlists, even the song ratings, but no play counts. Did I do something wrong? I haven't sync'ed my iPod yet, som I still have my play counts in it.
Thanks for your help.

Our hard drive crashed completely and we installed a completely new hard drive. My sister and I both shared the same library for our Videos. She plugged her's into the computer and all the music was erased almost immediately. How can I plug my ipod in with out having the music and other files erased??? Is there any way I can transfer music from my ipod onto her's??

How to restore library after hard drive reformat?

Hello, I am going to reformat my Mac Pro's boot drive, and I want to make sure my iTunes library remains intact (I'm using iTunes 12).
I keep my iTunes music files on a 2nd internal hard drive, in a folder that I titled "iTunes Folder". I also plan to reformat this internal hard drive.
I have backups of both drives on an external hard drive. I'm assuming that in order to restore my iTunes library, playlists, etc., to their current state, I simply need to a) restore the user/Music/iTunes folder to its current state and b) restore the "iTunes Folder" to my 2nd internal drive. Is that correct? Or is there a different way that it should be done?
Thanks.

Our hard drive crashed completely and we installed a completely new hard drive. My sister and I both shared the same library for our Videos. She plugged her's into the computer and all the music was erased almost immediately. How can I plug my ipod in with out having the music and other files erased??? Is there any way I can transfer music from my ipod onto her's??

Restoring iTunes library after hard drive crash

The hard drive on my Macbook pro (mid-2009) crashed. I took it to the genius bar for a diagnostic. The drive was physically fine so they wiped it and reinstalled Mavericks, which is now running 10.9.4. I am restoring user files from Time Machine individually to keep things clean. Hooray!
I'm now running iTunes 10.3.1. Years ago, I placed the iTunes library in Users>Shared on the hard drive, so my wife could access the files when she logged in. We don't need to do that now, so today I dragged all the music files from Time Machine to the "Music" section on the iTunes window.
They seem to have installed and indexed fine, but I lost some of the original data--like date added and numbers of plays--which would be nice to have. (Then all now read as installed today with zero plays.) My playlists are all gone as well; I'd like to have them back.
Is there any way to restore the music so those things stay intact, by basically making my library the way it was?
I considered dragging the entire set of folders over from the Shared section of Time Machine, but was afraid the music would not index, and the folder structure and nomenclature was different (for example, it had iTunes Music instead of iTunes media and there were a couple other anomalies). I imagine this is because the Shared library was set up under a different version of iTunes.
I hope this doesn't further complicate things but my user name was changed at the genius bar (from what it was prior to crash); they added my last name to my user name. I didn't notice till I got home. So far I have had no trouble accessing the files I have dragged in (Numbers, Word, etc), but don't know if the permissions on the music files might be affected.
All help greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answers to all your questions are in the links below:
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
06/2014 ChrisCA post: Restore iTunes library from Time Machine backup - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26104480#26104480

How to restore playlists and ratings after hard drive format

Several people have reported problems restoring paylists and ratings after reformating a hard drive. Here is what worked for me and what did not.
I had to reformat my hard drive. Before doing that I exported my playlists from itunes to another hard drive as an xml file. I also copied the folder with all my songs to another drive. (Also of course had it backed up on DVDs.)Then I copied the itunes library files (see url http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732) to anoher drive.
After reformating my hard drive and installing the lastest verion of ITunes, I copied the actual songs back into a subfolder in my music folder. I then told iTunes to import the subfolder with the actual music. That resulted in a restored library that lacked playlists and ratings.
Don't do this
I purchased Anapod ($30.00) because its web page said (http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/):
"Anapod CopyGear is an easy-to-use, compact utility for copying music tracks, playlists, podcasts, photos, and videos from your iPod back to your PC."
Well, I did transfer 104 playlists back to my iTunes library through the Anapod backup function. However, the transfer also put more than 20 gigs of duplicate songs into the library. All of the songs listed in the playlists were duplicated in iTunes. I could find no way in Anapod to simply copy the ratings and the playlists. Anapod documentation was outdated. For example the online help pages said that playlists could not be backed up. This was confusing because I had just done that.
"In a future release we will be adding the ability to backup your iPod playlists. This will allow you to generate backup files of your iPod playlists on the computer. These files will not be usable on your computer though. They can only be used to restore playlists at a later time on your iPod (assuming it still carries all the audio files referred to in that playlist)." This text is from url http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/support/tome/tx2pc.php#5.1.2
I sent requests to Anapod for help today, but they have not been answered yet. Docs truly did not seem to help. Would have been good if there was a pdf file rather than just an online help html file that seemed outdated.
This worked for me:
I ended up having iTunes wipe out the entire library because of all the dups Anapod made. (Made sure that iTunes only wiped out library and did not delete actual songs from hard drive. Then I had iTunes import my subfolder with songs again. That brought me back to where I was before wasting money and much time on Anapod.
After I had my iTunes library up (without ratings and playlists and after finding Anapod did not meet my needs.
1. I imported the xml file to which I had exported playlists before reformating hard drive. That gave me the playlists back although an error message said some items not copied because the music tracks listed in playlists were not in my iTunes library. --Possibly I deleted songs after playlists were downloaded some time ago to iPod. Importing the xml file is probably not necessary because of what I did below.
2. Quit iTunes
3. Because my song ratings were still missing, I then moved the iTunes library files made by the new version of iTunes into a different folder.
4. Then I put my old version 4 library files into the place where the library files should be.
5. Then I crossed my fingers and restarted iTunes. It took awhile to start and said it was updating my library files. Now I have back most or all of my playlists and ratings.
If problems develop, I will probably wipe out iTunes library and use Anapod to move everything from my iPod into a folder and tell iTunes to import that folder. That approach might avoid the dups that Anapod makes when restoring playlists to iTunes.
So my message is keep your actual songs backed up somewhere (such as DVD's and anotehr hard drive) and keep a duplicate copy of your library files somewhere not on your hard drive. With these items you should be able to restore iTunes library to its former status.
Sorry for the length of this message. Hope it helps someone.

The simple version of above:
iTunes Files to Backup (anytime you make additions or changes to the Music or Library that you want to retain)
1) All music files in their current folder structure (usually located in and under the ‘iTunes Music’ folder)
2) The Library database file: ‘iTunes Library.itl’ located in the ‘iTunes’ folder
3) The Library XML file: ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ located in the ‘iTunes’ folder
4) Any XML playlist files created for Playlist retention
5) The two iTunes.pref files (optional)
-- C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunes.pref
-- C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer Inc\iTunes.pref
6) The XML file of Ratings, Play Counts and Last Played attributes saved from the main Library and created by Otto’s SaveRatings script (also optional, but recommended):
“Download this: http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/SaveRatings.zip . It's a program, just run it like any other program. Run it on the machine where you're copying the info from BEFORE you move the files to the new machine. Click the "Save Ratings" button and it'll create a ratings.xml file. Now when you move the files, move the program and this file as well. Then after you make your new iTunes library, run it again and click the "Restore Ratings" button. Voila, all your information is back in the Library. Well, most of it anyway, it's not perfect. It'll tell you what songs it couldn't figure out though, and there's usually not very many.”

Missing iphoto files after hard drive replacement

I am working with iMac (27 inch, late 2009) running OS X Yosemite. Run time machine to an external hard drive.
Earlier this month, the hard drive crashed and had to be replaced. Before the hard drive crash, the computer was not using Yosemite. The iMac's hard drive was replaced and a full time machine restore was done. Everything was there except for all photos in ten very recent events in iPhoto. The event is named correctly "Halloween 2014," but there is no thumbnail picture. When I click into an event, the thumbnails for all the photos are are gray with white dotted lines around them. I repaired the thumbnails, and that didn't solve the problem.
I noticed in one (only one) event album, when I click into it, I can see the images at the bottom (in the teeny thumbnails) but when I click on them, I get the exclamation point in a triangle.
I have a few fairly basic questions -
1. When looking for an original photo file in Finder, is the correct way to do it by "Showing Package Contents" when the iPhoto icon is selected in iPhoto? This is the first time I've had to dig around to make sure the actual photo is on the computer. What is the organization default on the folders? Upload date? It doesn't make much sense to me yet.
2. Is it worth it to even bother doing this? Should I just either a) repair permissions, b) repair database or c) rebuild database?
3. What do a-c even mean?
4. If I do a-c, am I in danger of loosing photos I've uploaded since the hard drive install? I have some very precious professional family photos that I have on the computer now that I am deathly afraid of loosing.
Thanks!

1 - best to stay out of the iPhoto library - it is very complicated and easy damaged
2 - Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - from the resulting first aid window repair permissions and if necessary rebuild your database
3 - ?
4 - see 2 - step one is backup the Photo libreay in case a rare prblem does cause an issue
LN

IPhoto library on hard drive listing by roll

For some reason my iPhoto library is now organizing all of my photos by roll. I am not talking about how they are viewed from within iPhoto (I know that can be controlled under view/sort photos), but how they are saved on my hard drive. It may be associated with an upgrade to iPhoto 6, but I'm not sure of the timing.
I used to be able to find a photo on the hard drive (for example to upload) by going to the library, choosing the folder with the year, then with the month, the day, and finally the actual photo. Now, (since April) they are in folders labeled with the roll number only - it is almost impossible to figure out where anything is! Everthing before then is still organized by date. Can't seem to find anything in preferences. Any suggestions?
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Even for uploading to photo printing sites (other than Apple) don't you need to upload the files from outside iP? They prompt me to find the files to upload -- don't I have to go to the files on the hard drive? >
In this case, it would be recommended to select all the pics you want in iPhoto and then use File>Export>File Export to put the photos on your desktop. Then in the other app just navigate to the desktop files, and delete them when you have finished.
But as I said before, if you want your library structure to make sense to you, organizing the Film Rolls in iPhoto will do that. iPhoto 6 keeps those files in folders named after your Film Rolls, so the neater your film rolls, the neater the structure will be. If you liked having your pictures stored by date, then you can rename your film rolls based on dates. Or name them by client, project, etc. In Finder, they will list in alpha-numeric order, rather than the chronological order they list in inside of iPhoto. So maybe name each film roll "YYYY-MM-DD-projectname" so they will be listed in a predictable order.
If you have a large library, this may be a bit of a project. The calendar button at the bottom left of the iPhoto window can help you find all of your photos by a certain year and month. Once you find the files, you can select all, then create new film roll from selection, rename the film roll (in Film Roll view), and repeat for the next month. The good news is that once you have well organized film rolls, you will not have to change them again. And that you have control over how your pictures are stored, as long as you go about this organization via the iPhoto application.
Don't hesitate to post back if I can further clarify anything for you.

IPhoto library on hard drive

It used to be that iPhoto kept the photos on the hard drive neatly sorted into folders by date. Now all of a sudden my iPhoto library is one huge 9GB blob that can't be sorted through in the finder and is too big to back up to a DVD. I rather resent that Apple has decided make MY photos proprietary without even asking me first. I'm also worried that the big single blob file could eventually become corrupted and then I'd lose everything. Anybody have any thoughts about this?

The 9GB item is actually a package consisting of different files; the change was done because people were damaging the iPhoto library by modifying it outside of iPhoto. To see its contents, control-click it and choose to show them; if you split the folder between multiple DVDs, don't open iPhoto after a restore until it has been fully reassembled. The package itself isn't any more likely to become corrupt than the older format, and won't cause any greater problems if it does.
(30086)

Restore from Time Capsule after Hard Drive Crash

The HD on my iMac crashed Christmas Day. I have been running backups on Time Machine to a Time Capsule since I purchased the iMac (and also backing up a MacBook Air), but never had any occasion to see if it worked.
I yesterday got the computer back with a new HD installed. When I tried to do the restore from Time Capsule from the Setup Assistant which ran on start up, I could not get past the initial screen. It kept hanging up on "Opening Time Capsule," and then on one occasion it found only the MacBook Air back up volume.
After some research here, I tried running the utility after booting from my Snow Leopard disk. This time, it immediately found the backups from both computers, but hung up on opening the iMac backup.
After more research, I ran the disk utility and repaired the HD on the iMac. It finally worked -- I woke up to a "Restore Complete" message (it started around 10:00 pm last night). The iMac started up without a hitch to the way it looked Christmas morning. The only problem I have noticed is that my most recent events in iPhoto are empty. The thumbnails are there, but no pictures. I tried to rebuild the library using iPhoto Library Manager, but no luck. Any ideas?
The other thing I noticed is that I had to reauthorize the computer for my iTunes purchases. Will Apple fix that so it doesn't chew up my last remaining authorization?

think about the speed of wifi here
speed at 802.11n = a theoretical 540Mbps (less in real world scenarios)
Mbps = Mega bits per second
MBps - Mega bytes per second
8 bits = 1 byte
8 mega bits = 1 mega byte
How long would it take you to download a 1 gig file from the internet wired into your modem? About 10-20 min? And that is taking into account that the info is being uploaded hardwire. Now imagine that same file over wireless in your home being upload by the Airport card in your computer. People over look upload speed when considering these things. The wireless upload speed of your Airport card is what is limiting this. Just a limitation of the technology, not a fault of Apple just stating the numbers here.

Restore saved iPhoto library after hard drive repair

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