My external hard drive won't upload my iPhoto pics to my mac mavericks

I uploaded all my iphotos onto an external hard drive recently, before I got a cable replaced in my Mac Mavericks (which would have deleted all my files/photos etc.) , but when I went to put all my photos back on to my laptop -it wouldn't let me.

When I plug in the external hard drive, the IPhoto app pops up and nothing else. It then says I need to quit the app and upgrade to the new iPhoto . The only way of doing this is to upgrade to Yosemite which I don't want after reading all the ghastly negative reviews about Yosemite!!

Also no one appears happy with the new "photos" app. One review stating, "it's one step backwards and one step sideways !!!"

It appears that Apple are forcing it's customers to upgrade without options or pushing customers towards the iCloud??.

Any suggestions on how to get my photographs back on my laptop without upgrading to Yosemite or iCloud? Could I install Photoshop Elements and maybe that would resolve the issue?. The laptop and external hard drive only appear to be recognizing the iPhoto app and nothing else. I cannot put them in a file of any sort.