Transferring photo files off of external hard drive to new iPhoto Library

Forgive me if this line of questioning is pretty elementary, but when it comes to advanced computing, I'm in the Stone Ages. I really have no clue how to remedy the following problems I've been running into and I'm hoping for some sort of help/detailed explanation.
I purchased a MacBook Pro back in 2009 and was using a G Drive Mini 500 GB to perform backups via Time Machine. I was under the impression that this was automatically transferring all of my files when I would plug it in, including my entire iPhoto library.
2 years ago I decided to sell my MacBook Pro to Best Buy in exchange for store credit, as I was getting by with my basic computing needs via my iPad. I figured I was in good hands security wise assuming Best Buy would wipe out all my personal data safely and responsibly and that all of my files were already backed up anyway via my G Drive Mini. I know this was a large assumption on my part now.
Truthfully, the only files I want off the G Drive are my old photos so I can put them on my girlfriend's MacBook Pro and then transfer those photos to my cloud based storage. So with that being said I attempted the following...
I plugged in the G Drive into my girlfriend's MacBook Pro thinking I could simply open up the G Drive, find the old photo files and drag and transfer all my old photos into her iPhoto for storage. I realize now it is not that simple.
I then attempted to access the photos by opening the iPhoto application I found under the Applications folder in the G Drive, but continuously received the following message, "You can’t open the application “iPhoto” because it is in a Time Machine backup.". The advanced computer experts probably already knew that was coming. Is there any way around this? Does anyone have any ideas how to transfer these photos?
I would really appreciate any help, but if someone had a direct solution that they wouldn't mind explaining to me, it would be greatly appreciated. I did some research on my own and it appears that I might need the original MacBook Pro that I owned even to access the photos, since the G Mini and Time Machine were really just archiving the files, rather than backing them up.
Thank you for any and all help.

So you're running Yosemite and iPhoto 9.6, right? In that case do the following:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
2 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.

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Manufacturer & Model: HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC/NM101UA#ABA
Type of Computer: Laptop
CPU: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00GHz 73 °C Penryn 45nm Technology
Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard 3624 (CPU) 69 °C
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HDD: 244GB Seagate ST9250320AS ATA Device (SATA) 33 °C 244GB Seagate ST9250320AS ATA Device (SATA) 38 °C Video: Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz) 1024MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (HP)
Sound: High Definition Audio Device IDT High Definition Audio CODEC Bluetooth Hands-free Audio Bluetooth St
OS: MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor on ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (1600x900 60Hz) ;work res(1600x870 60Hz)
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sooooo no one has any suggestions?
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