iPhoto Library photos gone

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iPhoto Library photos gone

I'm on Leopard 10.5.8 and iPhoto 6. Cleaning up my computer I moved old HP Photoshop app to trash. My Pictures folder in Preview is empty and I only have a blank, grey square and the photo label in iPhoto. I know the photos are still in my system since I can search the title of a photo and find it.

I immediately moved the HP Photoshop app back but the library only partially there.

Help! How do I get photos back into iPhoto library. I have tried the "rebuild library" feature and get this message in a window:

Unreadable Files? 1
The following file could not be imported. (The file is in the iPhoto Library folder.)
"/Users/nancymills/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Library6.iphoto

Huge thank you for your help.

Nancy

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), iPhoto 6

Posted on Aug 5, 2014 3:58 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Aug 5, 2014 11:36 PM in response to WhiteiMac

Which 'rebuild library' feature is that? Because that message is telling you that iPhoto is trying to import one of the Library database files. That is not part of the rebuild procedure.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

Aug 6, 2014 8:02 AM in response to WhiteiMac

That message appears if one tries to import one library into another with is possible with iPhoto 6 libraries as they are just regular folders. Can you describe what you did in cleaning up your Mac?

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Answer 3

WhiteiMac Author

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Aug 6, 2014 10:29 PM in response to Yer_Man

I followed these instructions given by this Apple Support page: iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library

I checked the "Repair the iPhoto Library database" and I got this window:

I know my photos are on my computer because if I search for a title, it's there. Here is a picture of my iPhoto page:

I had just finished removing duplicates and sorting into albums and folders. Took hours and hours. I don't know why deleting the HP Photoshop apps would disappear my photos.

I hope you can solve the mystery.

Again, thank you so very much,

Nancy

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Answer 4

WhiteiMac Author

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Aug 6, 2014 10:39 PM in response to Old Toad

I'll try. I removed duplicates in iPhoto and sorted the photos into folders and albums, This took hours and hours. I then went through my applications in Preview removing (trashed) those apps I was no longer using. Among them was an HP app:

and opening that app you get these:

When I saw that my iPhoto Library was gone I pulled it out of the Trash since I knew there was a photo library in the HP Photosmart Studio app. Never dreamed it would damage my iPhoto Library. This occurred within a very short time that day.

I hope this helps. It is a mystery. I know my photos are still on my computer because I can search for any title and up it pops. I can copy it to iPhoto. But one by one will take me a very, very long time.

Thank you so much for your help!!

Nancy

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

Aug 7, 2014 11:58 AM in response to WhiteiMac

I know my photos are still on my computer because I can search for any title and up it pops.

When you search and find those photos where are they located on the HD?

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Answer 6

WhiteiMac Author

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Aug 7, 2014 1:15 PM in response to Old Toad

I assume so. I do not have my back up drive connected.
And yes, I did back up my computer on Time Machine a while back. But that was before I removed all of the duplicates, of which there were many, many and sorted all of the photos into albums and files.

Thank you!

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Answer 7

WhiteiMac Author

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Aug 7, 2014 9:54 PM in response to Old Toad

I read your last question wrong about where the photos I found were located on my HD. If I do a search for a photo label from the library I get a list like this:

If I open the "Data" the photo is smaller, but untitled folder, Originals and Download folder are full size. What is interesting is if I try to open either of the "AlbumData.xml - iPhoto Library, the Apple game Big Bang Four In A Row opens. I have been playing Backgammon which is one of the games in this Games folder that came in my original software package. That is very strange.

I hope this answers your question.

Thank you again,

Nancy

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Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Aug 8, 2014 12:27 AM in response to WhiteiMac

There's a lot of stuff going on here that is confusing.

1:

What is interesting is if I try to open either of the "AlbumData.xml - iPhoto Library, the Apple game Big Bang Four In A Row opens.

Not important or relevant. It just means that this game has become set as the default app for opening xml files to edit. As you never edit xml files it doesn't matter.

2.

If I open the "Data" the photo is smaller, but untitled folder, Originals and Download folder are full size.

Where are these Data and Original folders? Can you give us the location of the enclosing folder - such as /Pictures/iPhoto Library/ Data or /Documents/iPhoto Library/ or whatever. You can use the / symbol to denote a level in the folder hierarchy.

Do you have a back up of the Library?

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