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
Similar Messages
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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. -
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 -
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?
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? -
I've tried to open my iPhoto and a message box opens up and reads "To open your library with this version of iPhoto, it first needs to be prepared. To prepare the library, use the iPhoto Library Upgrader available from Apple." I update this and this message continues to pop up. I've even tried to rebuild it, but no matter what I do the same message appears and iPhoto still wpn't open. Can somebody please help me?!
i'm having the same problem with my iMac (Mac OS X 10.7.5) . i haven't really made any updates to it and yesterday when i tried to access the iPhoto library of my MBP (from my iMac) is when problems started. The iPhoto on the iMac initially said I need to install the recent version of the iPhoto. Since I can't find a 9.0 download, I went to buy the iPhoto on the App store.
When I tried to install iPhoto (version 9.4.3) to the iMac, I got this message:
The iPhoto Library Upgrader is a tool that prepares libraries from iPhoto 5 or earlier, so you can upgrade them with the current version of iPhoto. You can download the tool here.
Note: If your library is from iPhoto 6 or later, this tool is not required."
I then installed the iPhone Library Upgrader, but I got the same prompt:
'You can't open your current photo library using this version of the iPhoto. You have made changes to your library using a newer version of iPhoto. Please quit and use the latest version of iPhoto."
I guess this takes me back to square one? I am inclined to buy the iLife on eBay with the iPhoto 9.0 version, but needed to know if this is the case before I unfortunately bite the bullet. -
I had to upgrade to Mavericks to send off the iCanendars I made in iPhoto. Then I had to upgrade my IPhoto from 7 to 9.5. Now when I go to open iPhoto I get the message "To prepare the library, use the iPhoto Library Upgrader available from Apple." Well, I installed the Upgrader, but I still get the message and can't open iPhoto. I have tried restarting the computer, but that didn't help. How do I get the computer to recognize the Upgrader?
You may get more replies in the iPhoto forum.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/iphoto -
After restoring my iphone 4 to factory settings, then restoring from a recent backup, my phone will reboot but keeps coming back to the "new setup or restore from backup screen". How can I by-pass this screen to go directly to the sync apps/music screen?
Well, it's certainly behaving as though the phone that was backed up was synced to a different iTunes library.
I'm going to throw one more thing out there... Yes, you backed it up to this computer... Was the phone previously set up to sync with this computer? Or was it syncing with a different computer and you just backed it up to this one?
You may have to end up setting it up as a new device and rebuilding the phone by manually re-syncing your data, apps, music, etc. to the phone.
Trying to keep your library on a different drive can be tricky. If iTunes starts up and the library isn't available, it may end up generating a new library ID, meaning that you could easily find yourself in exactly the position you're in now...
I'm curious why there was a need to restore your phone to begin with... It may not have any bearing on this at all, but it could. -
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. -
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.
If you can train yourself to think of the iPhoto Library folder as a locked box to which only iPhoto has the key, you'll be doing yourself a big favor. -
Is it possible to copy the iphoto library and albums from a G5 to a macpro
I would like to copy my iphoto library and albums from a G5 10.5.8 iphoto 8 to a macpro 10.6.2 with iphoto 9. I would like all the photos and albums to appear in the macpro just as they were in the G5. I have vantecs ezshare adapter that allows you to drag files between two computers mac or windows. Copying photos should not be a problem but its the albums I want to go with the photos and appear in iphoto 9 on the macpro.
iPhoto '09 will open and convert any previous version of the iphoto library - if it is working correctly on the old system it should convert
Firewire target mode is a good way to transfer the iPhoto library - make the connection and drag the entire iPhoto library at one intact as a single entity to the new computer (put it on the desktop or somewhere so as not to mess up what you have done - depress the option key and launch iPhoto on the new system and select the library you just copies (be sure not to select the one on the old computer - you do not want to convert it - conversion is a one way operation) - it should open and convert and be ready to use - then you can quit iPhoto and place it where you want and do the option launch again to tell iPhoto where it is - and do the option launch any time you want to switch between multiple libraries
LN -
My wife dropped her iPad and fried the screen. It was still functional, so I backed it up with iTunes. The backup was successful for all apps, photos, etc. I just swapped that iPad at the Apple Store for a refurbished model and attempted to Restore From Backup. iTunes now doesn't see that old iPad so I can't restore the old data on the new device. Any help appreciated.
Here's an interesting bit: iTunes will let me restore my iPod touch from backup: it's still running iOS 4.3.3. I figured as much... there's backups showing in the Preferences -> Devices list for both devices (and even my old, long gone iPod touch 2G), but my iPhone (on iOS5) isn't giving me any such option. I remember I had to downgrade before to get the backup restored (something went haywire in the setup assistant, and I couldn't restore a backup from iTunes there)... If it was possible to go to iOS 5.0 rather than 5.0.1 I would just do the same thing again, but iOS 5.0.1 isn't an option. I attached a screenshot. Hopefully Apple can get this nonsense sorted out; I think iOS 5 might be the root of this, somehow.
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Is there a way to rebuild the ITunes Library XML file from my IPod?
After several promptings, I finally decided to install ITunes 7.4.3.1. Like a fool, I did not backup my entire library prior to doing this upgrade. Nothing is going to go wrong now mate, is it? Everything seemed to proceed just fine with the upgrade. I noticed that ITunes updated the XML Library in the process. Where the problems occured was after the upgrade, I was in the middle of listening to the latest "NPR Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" Podcast (I have some 3,000 downloaded podcasts in over 85GB worth of space) when ITunes crashed. When I brought ITunes back up, it had seemed to have reverted to an earlier backup ITunes Library XML file that I had made months ago.
I still have all of the .mp3, .m4a, .mp4 and .m4v files stored in my ITunes Music folder. Somehow when I brought ITunes back up, it had lost all of the music I had dowloaded from the ITunes store even though the files were still out on disk. It thought there were only 395 podcasts despite the 3,000 plus files out there.
Clearly, something went horribly wrong and I don't want to spend weeks downloading these files again when the only thing that really needs to be done is the ITunes Library XML data file needs to be rebuilt. It dawns on me that my IPod has an XML data file that save any updates I have not yet synced with it that it is quite current. Is there some way that I can sync my IPod with ITunes and copy the IPod XML data file into ITunes Library XML data file? I know that there must be some way to access the IPod since I can plug it into my Kenwood car stereo and read through the IPod's contents.
Is there anyone out there that has an idea that might be able to help me recover my ITunes library?
Thanks for any assistance,
--randyt00The XML file is not used by iTunes. It is created for the use of other programs. Your library is in the itl file. SInce you still have the file you could simply add them to your library using the add folder option instead of downloading again.
What are library files
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732
Rebuild library.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313 -
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 -
I cant open my iPhoto
You have to run the upgrader first then launch iPhoto - the upgrader is in Applications ==> utilities
LN
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