Q: Backup of photos from iPhoto9 or upgrade into iLife 11

Depending on the age of your Mac computer, and the system running on it,

you may be able (if using older OS X, and if your Mac has optical drive) to

buy an iLife '11 on DVD (online) and perhaps use the last iPhoto from it.

However, if your computer's OS X has surpassed any of those options and

since nothing has been said here about the computer or its system, you may

have to settle for the new Photos for Mac. Unless you had previous iPhoto

and could look into Purchases at your App Store to see if the last iPhoto may

be available from there. A special process (been discussed in ASC) may be

used to try and update the last version of iPhoto.

Please detail the computer configuration and OS X version running inside.

When you tried to get an update to iPhoto, did you try Software Update in the menu bar, or

the App Store? -- The update may no longer be available from those, since the App Store has

moved on to support later OS X versions, such as Yosemite 10.10 and now El Capitan 10.11.

The iPhoto in iLife '11 on DVD would require a third-party purchase since the Apple Store

online does not have one listed. Another vendor such as Amazon, may show the item in a

search; sometimes individuals who have a copy will sell one in the original packing.

The version iPhoto in my Mavericks OS X 10.9.5, says it is iPhoto 9.5. With availability of

Yosemite 10.10, the iPhoto was upgraded (either as purchase or free if one had a new Mac)

then the iPhoto in App Store now for me, says -- IF I Upgrade to El Capitan -- may be version

iPhoto 9.6.1. However this upgrade may not yield a working iPhoto if older one is not listed in

the App Store for your account. Mine is there because I bought a new computer with 10.9.

But never upgraded past that OS yet, since I had questions that had never been answered.

A new El Capitan 10.11.4 would bring a new Photos of Mac application, and the iPhotos would

not be readily apparent. If you do not wish to upgrade to El Capitan, and need a later version of

iPhoto than the one in your computer, to buy an older iLife '11 DVD could be one means. From

what I see having read, that version may be fairly old, too.

{I've tried to avoid using iPhoto, after a false start with a defective new computer in 2003, where

I had hopes of going all digital until the new computer had issues nobody in my state was willing

to help me resolve; as there was no Apple Store. Only dysfunctional independent resellers...}

As an image editor, the free 'ToyViewer for Mac' has been helpful. It does more than I need. Also

the Image Capture, in the OS X, is a good basic means to handle images. Plus the Preview app.

I also resize using screen captures, to make email size copies. The results vary. I had thousands

of film images and was going to get a slide scanner (35mm) but with the defective iMac, I didn't.

An older G4 Mac Mini has different OS X and better versions of these included OS X software.

Did you ever see any App Store updates and use it to get the last iPhoto update in Mavericks?

Depending on how long you had the computer, these options may vary.

Sorry to not be of much help in this matter.

Good luck in any event...!

I would like to backup my photos from iPhoto9 (version 8.1.2 - 424).

Apple stopped the development of iPhoto and is not selling it any more.

For  OS X Mavericks you need iPhoto 9.5.1. You need a purchased upgrade to go from iPhoto '09 to iPhoto '11. But iPhoto 9.5.1 has only been available from the AppStore. The last update you can download from Apple's Support downloads is iPhoto 9.4.3, but that will not help you to be able to run iPhoto on Mavericks, even if you buy an iLife '11 installer.

You need an iPhoto '11 version that is associated with your AppleID at the App Store to get to iPhoto 9.5.1 for Mavericks or iPhoto 9.6.1 for El Capitan.  The window of opportunity to get this upgrade has been closed a year ago. It is too late now.

If you upgrade to El Capitan, you can open your iPhoto Library in Photos for Mac, as K Shaffer pointed out.  This document describes,how the content will be migrated (How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support). It will be a nearly lossless migration that will preserve the original image files, the edits, the albums, the metadata.