Iphoto library rebuild

Better to post this in the iLife/iPhoto forum where they specialize in it's quirks.

DALE

Here is what I suggest you do.

(a) Download iPhoto Library Manager. I think it costs $20 or $30 but it is worth it.

(b) Make a copy of your iPhoto Library from your backup that presumably is in better shape than the one you have been working from. I don't know what format your backupo is. If you can simply copy the iPhoto Library file (it's actually a type of folder but looks like a file) over from the backup, do that, and work with that copy, leaving the backup copy alone, untouched (in case something goes wrong). If you used Time Machine, run Time Machine and go back in time to before you started trying to update the iPhoto Library file and copy that earlier backed up copy over to work with. If you instead wish to work with your current version of the iPhoto Library, which I don't recommend but which might be ok, you can do that.

(c) Run iPhoto Library Manager. Choose Add Library and navigate to and select the copy of your iPhoto Library backup from above (or your current copy of the iPhoto Library if that is the approach you are taking).

(d) Once you have that iPhoto Library selected in iPhoto Library Manager, under the File Menu select Rebuild Library ...

(e) It will save this rebuilt library as a separate file, not modifying the file you are rebuilding. This is a big plus.

(f) As the rebuild proceeds, it will show you each photo as it processes it, so you can gauge the progress precisely.

(g) When done, the rebuilt iPhoto Library (new) file should work properly with iPhoto.

My daughter's 22,000 iPhoto Library was rebuilt this way and it took ~ 4 hours. But it worked. Hers stopped working when her computer froze while working in iPhoto.

This iPhoto Library Manager program is more successful in rebuilding these photo databases than is iPhoto itself.

Answers to your questions:

(1) Depends on your backup. I gave some hints above for Time Machine.

(2) The iPhoto Library is a database of all the photos. I suspect from what you describe that it is the iPhoto Library itself that has become corrupted. This is the most common problem. The database is complex and is prone to this sort of thing.

(3) You should use the most recent version of iPhoto. Click ONCE on the iPhoto application in your Applications folder and in the File Menu select Get Info. It should be version 9.3 or later. You can update it through Software Update or through the App Store if necessary.

(4) Even though your iPhoto Library file/database appears to be corrupted, the photos are all still there. Just the pointers have been corrupted so iPhoto cannot access them in an orderly way. You can see the original photos by going to the iPhoto Library, RIGHT-CLICKING on it, selecting Show Package Contents, and looking in the folder there called Masters (or Originals). If you really had to, you could copy those originals out into a big new folder and re-import them all into a new iPhoto Library, but I doubt that will be necessary. By the way, do not change or modify anything that is inside this iPhoto Library file/folder, but you can look in there to see that your original photos are still present.