HT201769: iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library

Learn about iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library
snowmobile
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I tried absolutely every trick, from reinstalling Mountain lion and iPhoto to buying iPhoto library Manager. NOTHING worked

Your photo library is damaged or unreadable and cannot be opened. Please restore from a backup.

 

I went through all the repair/rebuild options when pressing cmd/optn and pressing the iphoto icon

 

I reinstralled Mountain Lion, ran software update, reinsalled Iphoto and ran software update,

 

I restored old copies of the iphoto library from Time Machine.

 

I bought Iphoto Library Manager and tried to retrieved and/or rebuild the library

 

ABSOLUTELY nothing worked and I still get this error message.

 

I went to the Apple store in Geneva and they told me that deleting Iphoto, reinstalling it and running software update will fix it. It didn't

 

Can anyone please help or shed some light on what could be wrong ?

 

OSX 10.8.2 and Iphoto 9.4.2 on Mac Pro 15 in

Posted on Dec 25, 2012 5:21 AM

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snowmobile

Q: I tried absolutely every trick, from reinstalling Mountain lion and iPhoto to buying iPhoto library Manager. NOTHING worked

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 25, 2012 7:26 AM in response to snowmobile
    Level 10 (139,547 points)
    iLife
    Dec 25, 2012 7:26 AM in response to snowmobile

    What happened when you Rebuilt with Library Manager? Were there any error messages?

  • by snowmobile,

    snowmobile snowmobile Dec 25, 2012 8:15 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 25, 2012 8:15 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    Library Manager opens the Iphoto Library and I can see all of the photos, about 12,500 of them. But when I open Iphoto afterwards, I get the error message again "Your photo library is damaged or unreadable and cannot be opened. Please restore from a backup."

     

    I tried to create a new Iphoto Library using Library Manager, but LM was unable to create one as it needed to access Iphoto back and forth and Iphoto would not allow it access because of the error, therefore LM was unable to create a new clean library.

     

    After opening the iphoto LIbrary within the Library Manager, I opened Iphoto and tried to repair/rebuild etc.. without success.

     

    The problem first occured after I upgraded my Iphone to IO6.02 then I transferred my Iphone photos to Iphotos. I alo synced the Iphone with itunes.

     

    Thank you for looking into this on Christmas day !!!!

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 25, 2012 9:29 AM in response to snowmobile
    Level 10 (139,547 points)
    iLife
    Dec 25, 2012 9:29 AM in response to snowmobile

    After opening the iphoto LIbrary within the Library Manager, I opened Iphoto and tried to repair/rebuild etc.. without success.

     

    Were there any error messages when you did?

  • by snowmobile,

    snowmobile snowmobile Dec 25, 2012 9:51 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 25, 2012 9:51 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    "After opening the iphoto LIbrary within the Library Manager, I opened Iphoto and tried to repair/rebuild etc.. without success"

     

    Iphoto displayed the error message: 

    "Your photo library is damaged or unreadable and cannot be opened. Please restore from a backup."

     

    and in the background there is the window: "Updating thumbnails... ". I cannot access the latter and the only option left is to QUIT Iphoto.


  • by snowmobile,

    snowmobile snowmobile Dec 25, 2012 10:31 AM in response to snowmobile
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 25, 2012 10:31 AM in response to snowmobile

    I am now trying to use the MERGE functionaltiy in Library Manager and creating an new library. When this process is finished, I will post the result

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 25, 2012 1:15 PM in response to snowmobile
    Level 10 (139,547 points)
    iLife
    Dec 25, 2012 1:15 PM in response to snowmobile

    If there are problems with the rebuild I would expect that the error messages would be from Library Manager,not iPhoto.

     

    Having rebuilt with Library Manager are you sure you'e opening the new library?

  • by snowmobile,

    snowmobile snowmobile Dec 25, 2012 1:50 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 25, 2012 1:50 PM in response to Terence Devlin

    LM is still processing for the past couple of hours and displays "Merge Applying Changes" with the process bar about 3/4 of the way. When I switch to Iphoto I can see that it is importing in the new library. The new library name appears at the top of the window bar. So far so good. I will post a message when the process ends

  • by snowmobile,

    snowmobile snowmobile Dec 26, 2012 5:40 AM in response to snowmobile
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 26, 2012 5:40 AM in response to snowmobile

    The MERGE funtion in Iphoto Library Manager has resolved the issue. It has rebuld a new library and all the photos were recovered.