iPhoto Library put into trash - HELP!!!

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iPhoto Library put into trash - HELP!!!

Good evening everyone and Happy 4th of July!

Earlier today I accidently put my iPhoto Library file from the Pictures folder into the Trash on the desktop. When I noticed I had done this I used the 'Put Back' feature. I then opened iPhoto but it says there is no library. I tried to import the pictures, rebuild, etc. and nothing worked. Even when I just look at the Pictures folder in the Finder it is completely empty. My iPhoto Library is not gone though; I can see it in places like Import Pictures as a 84 MB package but it is always grayed out.

See attached image.

I still have hope someone knows how I can access this. Please help!

iPhoto '11, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jul 4, 2013 6:26 PM

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Answer 1

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Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 4, 2013 7:17 PM in response to Schaso

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:

ls -@OTaen Pic* | open -f -a TextEdit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.

If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

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Answer 2

Schaso Author

Level 1

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Jul 5, 2013 12:00 PM in response to Linc Davis

total 56

drwx------+ 6 501 20 - 204 Jul 4 20:17:09 2013 .

0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny delete

drwxr-xr-x+ 18 501 20 - 612 Jul 3 17:04:28 2013 ..

0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny delete

-rw-r--r--@ 1 501 20 - 24580 Jul 4 21:19:08 2013 .DS_Store

com.apple.FinderInfo 32

-rw-r--r-- 1 501 20 - 0 Feb 23 22:53:52 2012 .localized

drwxrwxrwx@ 6 501 20 - 204 Jul 4 19:14:04 2013 iPhoto Library

com.apple.FinderInfo 32

drwxr-xr-x@ 20 501 20 - 680 Jul 4 21:32:50 2013 iPhoto Library.photolibrary

com.apple.FinderInfo 32

com.apple.quarantine 21

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 5, 2013 12:59 PM in response to Schaso

Back up all data.

You have two items named "iPhoto Library" in the Pictures folder. One of them has an iPhoto icon, and one has a plain icon. Move the one with the plain icon to the Desktop.

Quit iPhoto if it's running. Double-click the library in the Pictures folder. iPhoto will open it. If all your photos are there, you should be able to delete the item you moved to the Desktop.

If your photos aren't all there, quit iPhoto again. Move the item in the Pictures folder to the Desktop, and move the one that you previously moved there back to the Pictures folder. Also, rename it to add the suffix ".photolibrary" (without the quotes) to the name. It should then have an iPhoto icon. Repeat the above procedure.

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Answer 4

Schaso Author

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Jul 5, 2013 4:02 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you for the support Mr. Davis.

I did exactly as you instructed but after renaming the plain iPhoto Library and attempting to open I get the following error:

Unreadable Files: 12

The following file could not be imported. The file is in an unrecognized format.

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/BigBlobs.apdb

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/Faces.db

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/Faces.db-journal

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/History.apdb

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/History.apdb-journal

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/ImageProxies.apdb

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/ImageProxies.apdb-journal

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/Library.apdb

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/apdb/Properties.apdb

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Database/History/Changes/0000000001.plist

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/iPhotoLock.data

/Users/isconman/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/Data/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Projects.db

______

Any suggestions?

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 5, 2013 5:00 PM in response to Schaso

What about the other library -- did it open? What backups do you have?

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Answer 6

Schaso Author

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Jul 5, 2013 5:38 PM in response to Linc Davis

The other one opened but it never had any pictures so it was empty. No backup. Moved from Florida to Connecticut last month and my time capsule was lost. Thinking its a lost hope now.

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 5, 2013 5:48 PM in response to Schaso

Repair or rebuild the library.

Scavenge the library with iPhoto Library Manager independently of iPhoto (Library ▹ Rebuild). Books, calendars, and slideshows won't be preserved.

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Answer 8

Schaso Author

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Jul 5, 2013 7:16 PM in response to Linc Davis

Unfortunately for me, no luck. Cannot scavenge any photos. I believe I am going to have to start over at this point now.

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Answer 9

Schaso Author

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Jul 5, 2013 7:39 PM in response to Schaso

Belay my last. I had decided I was going to start from scratch and redo my entire iPhoto and Photo Stream. Somehow, every single photo just magically appeared!! I don't know what I did but I am backing all of this up right this moment!

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Answer 10

May 31, 2014 8:47 PM in response to Schaso

I have this same problem and was trying to follow the instructions in this thread. Nothing was working, but I downloaded the iPhoto Library Manager for my version and it shows 2983 photos in my iPhoto library, however they cannot be read, extracted, etc. When I try to rebuild the library, it says none of the photos can be found. Please, is there something I'm forgetting or doing wrong? It's so many photos to lose; I will be heartbroken.

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