Problems with iPhoto library (missing photos)

Assuming you have iPhoto 9 apply the two fixes below in order as needed:

Fix #1

Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.

Since only one option can be run at a time start with Option #3, followed by #4 and then #1 as needed.

Fix #2

Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library

1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.

2 - click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.

3 - Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option.

4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.

5 - Click on the Create button.

Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

OT

This fixed my problem. Thank you!

Thanks a million! I'd give you 100 points if I could ---- The Bomb info saved the last 15 years of pics! 🙂

The iphoto library manager fixed my problem that I had for years. They couldn't even get it done at the genius bar. Thank you so much for the tip, I can now reflect with pictures of loved ones that I lost. So thankful!

I have the exact same issue; Excellent reply, Old Toad, especially the iPhoto Library Manager...but it still refuses to find the old files.

OS: 10.9.2

iPhoto: 9.5.1

Migrated old MacBook Pro to new Mac Air. All worked fine for about 2 weeks, till iPhoto suddenly decided to start "forgetting" random photos and even whole Events.

The weird thing is, iPhoto Library Manager actually "sees" ALL photos, until I try to do a Rebuild of the old library. In its preview of the rebuild, it suddenly sees only 1/10th of what's there!

Screen shots:

Original issue:

iPhoto Library Manager, original view:

It sees Thumbs, but when I inspect it, it disappears

iPhoto Library Manager—Rebuild Preview:

Fortunately I have several backups of the old library on the previous MacBook, Time Machine, Externals, etc. So I should have all data. But until a real solution pops up or this bug gets fixed, going to build a new library starting from the beginning of this year.

By the way, time Machine recognized ZERO DATA from my previous library, when I went to recover!

A quick b*tch session before I close: I have NEVER liked iPhoto. It's slow, buggy, is constantly losing files, and I've NEVER trusted it. This issue just hardens my resolve that Apple, while brilliant in the hardware building dept., couldn't give a flack about its software and support. (I'll leave my rants about the new, horribly dumbed down "upgrade" to Pages 5.0 for another thread.)

With that in mind, WHAT OTHER PHOTO MANAGING SOFTWARE DO YOU ALL RECOMMEND?

Oddly, I've been using iPhoto for years and have always liked it. It has never been slow, or buggy or never lost a file or photo at all. What you're describing has all the hallmarks of corrupted Library, but you don't give us enough details to say any more.

Before we can recommend alternative software - noting that it's somewhat odd to coem to an iPhoto forum to ask such a question - you'll need to tell us what features you want. They're not all the same.

.but it still refuses to find the old files.

In that case give this a try:

Starting over from scratch with new library

Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:

1. Open the library package like this.

2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.

3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.

This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.

Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

Once again, Old Toad to the rescue! I appreciate the detailed suggestions.

Terence, Oddly, I've had Apple/Macs since before the days of hard drives, and so have been on iPhoto from its inception. It's always been the way I describe. I have had to rebuild a corrupted library once before and it worked for the most part. But throughout its evolution, I've always lost data randomly. Otherwise my half dozen or so Macs have functioned fine, except for one hard drive failure (thank God for Time Machine.)

Thanks again, Old Toad, I'll give 'er a try as soon as I get a chance!

Hoping someone can rescue me...

I just noticed this same issue tonight, where I would see glimpses of events and then they'd disappear. I rebuilt my iPhoto library as directed above and the only photos I can see are from the last year or so. Most of my photos did not load into the new library; iPhoto does not seem to be able to locate the files.

What scares me is this: in Dec I got a new computer. I copied everything over to my new one. Then a few months ago I cleaned off the old computer for my kids to use. We back up to dropbox. I'm afraid that somehow my erasing affected what was being backed up to Dropbox, as I can't find the old photos on there either.

Any advice is appreciated!! Must find a way to recover these!!

We back up to dropbox

That is not a suitable backup for an iPhoto Library. The library requires a disk or volume formatted OS X Extended (journaled) in order to maintain the complex database links and file permissions that are the key element of the library. The best solutions for backing up an iPhoto Library is an external HD connected to the computer and use either Time Machine or one of the incremental backup applications like Synk Pro or ChronoSynk.

I wish our consulting company had realized that when my hard drive died and they moved us to do a dropbox backup.

When I look at the contents of my iPhoto library, I can see that there are folders from 2013 and 2014 in the master folder but empty ones from earlier years in the preview folder. Other than physically going in and emptying these out, what would cause the files to go missing??

Two questions:

1. I've tried all the solutions above and for some reason, my photos from August 2010 (except for 2 images) are not to be found. I'm going to start searching my back up drives to see if they are on there. Ironically, these are the photos from my trip to Universal Studios Harry Potter park -- I suspect magic may be at play here ;-)

2. After trying the new library and only importing all my photos in 2010, the photos from August are not there. How do I tell iPhoto to open only with the original library?

Thanks,

Boris

How do I tell iPhoto to open only with the original library?

Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down so you get this window:

Then either click on the library in the window you want to use as the default or click on the Other Library button, navigate to the library of your choice and select it. From then on that library will be the default library opened when iPhoto launches.

A method to see if the Harry Potter photos are in the library at all would be to do the following:

Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library

1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,

2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.

3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.

4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option

5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. Click on the Create button.

Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.

Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

Thanks OT, but after trying the IPLM orphaned photos rebuild, the photos are still not there.

I've looked in my back up drives and the libraries there are identical (including my back up from before I switched to my new MBP). Interestingly, the two images that are in the August, 2010 are from an iPhone. The missing photos are from my DSLR. I wonder if some of the EXIF data from those was corrupted and the date is not accurate. I had uploaded a few of those images to my SmugMug account, and that's how I know the exact date of these shots. The EXIF data is on the uploaded photos.

I may check my AppleSeed HD to make sure I wasn't using that at the time, although I doubt I would have done that without also loading onto the main partition.

Kind regards,

Boris