Missing photos after upgrade from iPhoto 08 to 11

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Level 1

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Missing photos after upgrade from iPhoto 08 to 11

I just updated iPhoto from '08 (v7.1.5) to '11 (v9.5) and I opened a copy of my old '08 library. Unfortunately iPhoto '11 does not show any events or photos from this library. If I view the contents of the library in Finder I see that it still contains a 40 GB 'Originals' folder, but the 'Masters' folder is empty. Is there a more involved upgrade procedure - that is, instead of simply choosing the old '08 library upon start up?

I saw this earlier question https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5567071?answerId=23844703022#23844703022. Though the problem sounds similar the solutions was to give up on importing and adding the photos manually. There must be a way to preserve my albums, no?

Thanks.

Posted on Nov 19, 2013 11:36 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

207,409 points

Nov 19, 2013 11:55 AM in response to jensph

Apply the two fixes below in order as needed:

Fix #1

1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.

2 - run Option #4 to rebuild the database.

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 and select the library you want to add in the selection window..

3 - 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.

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 but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

OT

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Answer 2

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2013 12:22 PM in response to Old Toad

Unfortunately neither method worked. They finished very quickly, but no photos were added.

The contents of my library, in case that helps...

Thanks for any further ideas.

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 19, 2013 12:26 PM in response to jensph

what does this mean

Is there a more involved upgrade procedure - that is, instead of simply choosing the old '08 library upon start up?

You should not need to select anything - you upgrade iPhoto and it automatically upgrades your iPhoto library

What exactly are you doing?

LN

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Answer 4

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2013 12:37 PM in response to LarryHN

I had the 'select an iPhoto library' dialog when I opened iPhoto 11, so I browsed to the copy of my iPhoto '08 library. It appeared to recognize that it was an iPhoto library (it wasn't grayed out), but after choosing it I see no photos. The resulting library files are shown in the above image.

Thanks for the help.

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Answer 5

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 19, 2013 12:54 PM in response to jensph

and did iPhoto spend a while upgrading your library?

LN

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Answer 6

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2013 1:05 PM in response to jensph

No, it opened much too quickly. It didn't appear to process the old library at all.

The same can be said for the two 'fixes' in the first response above. They finished too quickly.

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Answer 7

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 19, 2013 2:25 PM in response to jensph

what version of iPhoto do you have installed?

If you have 9.5 (verify the version under th eiPhboto menu ==> about iPhoto) try depressing the option key and launching iPhoto - use the select library window to select each library that is available and report what you see

LN

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Answer 8

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2013 2:48 PM in response to LarryHN

As mentioned in the original post I'm now running '11 (v9.5), upgraded from '08 (v7.1.5).

The only iPhoto library that is available for me to select is the one that I selected previously and has already been 'upgraded'. I do have a back-up before the upgrade, and this back-up opens fine on a different machine under '08 (v7.1.5) (and on this machine prior to the iPhoto '11 install).

Does iPhoto not log the upgrade process somewhere?

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Answer 9

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 19, 2013 2:51 PM in response to jensph

did you verify the verion of iPhoto that you have installed?

and the library has not been upgraded - when it is upgraded the original photos are in the masters folder - that is why I whould like you to verify what version you have installed?

Something here is not computing and to discover what the problem is requires details

LN

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Answer 10

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2013 2:59 PM in response to LarryHN

I appreciate the help, so I'd be happy to provide details.

I chose my single library shown in the screenshot. You can see it's located on a portable drive. An image of the file contents of this library were pasted above.

And verifying the version of the installed iPhoto:

Right, so the library hasn't been upgraded. When I first opened iPhoto '11 it asked me what library to open, so I selected the one on the portable drive shown above. It then opened immediately - so didn't do the upgrade - but it's saved in the same package - as we can see from the file contents.

Thanks again.

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Answer 11

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Nov 19, 2013 3:04 PM in response to jensph

what format is the external drive? For the iPhoto library to work properly it must be Mac OS extended (jorunaled)

And depending on how the backup software works it may be necessary to actually restore the library before using - I know nothing about how SeaGate backup sotware works

LN

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Answer 12

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2013 3:05 PM in response to LarryHN

It is.

And I've been using it for a while with iPhoto '08.

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Answer 13

Jan 11, 2014 11:26 AM in response to jensph

Hi Jensph,

Did you ever find a solution? I have exact same problem only difference is I'm using OS X 10.9.1 and I don't have the external drive sceanario since I've allready copied the original iPhoto v7.1 library on my old iMac to my new iMac which uses iPhoto 9.5.1.

Thanks,

Dan

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Answer 14

jensph Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 11, 2014 11:34 AM in response to Dan Grant

Hi Dan,

I haven't found a solution unfortunately. Please share if you make any progress!

I'm actually also running OS X 10.9.1.

Thanks.

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