interrupted update; how do I restore corrupted library?

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interrupted update; how do I restore corrupted library?

My iPhoto update (to 9.6.1, I think) was interrupted due to a power surge. This seems to have left my iPhoto library (all 200+Gb of it) nonfunctional. I tried rebuilding my backup copy with iPhoto Library Manager but it says the album data file cannot be found. Googling around, I've found suggestions that all I can do is create a new library by importing all my pictures from the Masters Folder, which is pretty extreme. Is there any other alternative I have? I noticed that I have files called iPhotoLock.data and InterruptedUpgrade (when I examine package contents) and I do seem to have some files in Database; is there a way to rebuild that first?

Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Mar 27, 2015 6:10 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

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162,260 points

Mar 27, 2015 6:28 AM in response to mattn2

Why not restore your back up and then update that?

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Answer 2

mattn2 Author

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Mar 27, 2015 7:08 AM in response to Yer_Man

Unfortunately, I tried that and it created a truncated library that was smaller than the original and > 100 Gb. Time machine then backed that up which eliminated earlier backups (only have a 2 Tb backup disk). So my problem is my backup copy is already corrupted.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

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162,260 points

Mar 27, 2015 11:52 AM in response to mattn2

Are you sure you can't roll further back than the point since you restored that library? The point of TM is that you an roll quite far back, and with a 2tb disk for back up it seems likely that you would be able to go back quite far.

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Answer 4

mattn2 Author

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Mar 27, 2015 12:42 PM in response to Yer_Man

Unfortunately, I'm also backing up other data libraries, all of which have been growing lately, so it turns out I need a larger backup drive (had not been keeping an eye on this). I can close that barn door *now* but meanwhile I don't have any earlier backups.

I guess my question is can I do any restore from the files that I do have (even a partial restore would be better than nothing) or is it hopeless and there's nothing to do but grit my teeth and drag the Masters over into iPhoto to make the new library?

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

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162,260 points

Mar 27, 2015 12:48 PM in response to mattn2

Without a back up, there is no choice left.

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Answer 6

mattn2 Author

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Mar 27, 2015 12:50 PM in response to Yer_Man

So the InterruptedUpgrade file doesn't allow for a restart of any kind? All the Database files are useless?

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Answer 7

Yer_Man

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162,260 points

Mar 27, 2015 12:55 PM in response to mattn2

Can you figure out a way to use them?

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Answer 8

mattn2 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 29, 2015 3:57 PM in response to Yer_Man

Tried but no luck. Running across another thread, I tried deleting them and reopening in iphoto. But then I got stuck creating new thumbnails (got up to 32 Gb of ram before I killed the process). I had an older library from another six months earlier (I periodically copy the entire library to a hard drive that I store elsewhere in case of fire, which I mean to do more often than I actually do) and I was ultimately able to use that as a basis to then copy just six months of photos over. Better than nothing, but it still seems to me that it should be possible to recreate the xml file somehow.

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