I installed Yosemite on my iMac (late 2009, storage 8GB, processor 2.8 GHz Intel core i7). previously using Mountain Lion (10.8.2) I had stored many photos on iPhoto that weren't on the Cloud. Now I cannot access these photos. How do I recover?
iMac, Intel Core i7 2.8GHz processor
Now I cannot access these photos.
You need to update to iPhoto 9.6.1. Only that is fully compatible with MacOS X 10.10.3.
You can no longer buy iPhoto from the App Store anywhere, and also not update it from the "Updates" tab of the App Store. You can however reinstall it, if it is showing among your Purchases at the App Store and associated with your AppleID.
Sign into the App Store and look at the Purchases tab. If you do not see iPhoto there, try to unhide your Purchases as described on this page: Hide and unhide purchases in the Mac App Store - Apple Support
If iPhoto shows on your Purchases tab, reinstall as described in this User Tip:
Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS... | Apple Support Communities
The main idea is to move the incompatible iPhoto app to the Trash, so Spotlight does not see it as installed, reload the App Store by pressing ⌘R, and then to try to download again from the App Store - from your Purchases tab, not from the main page, since you can neither buy iPhoto nor update it, but you can reinstall, if your AppleID is associated with it.
So move iPhoto to the Trash (don't empty the Trash), relaunch the App Store. The button to the right if iPhoto should change to Install on the "Purchases" tab.
Alternately, you could migrate your iPhoto library to the new Photos.app.
When you launch Photos, it will try to migrate your iphoto Library, if it can find the library. Where is your iPhoto Library stored? If it is in your Pictures folder, simply drag the iPhoto Library to the Phots icon in your Dock to migrate it to Photos.
Photos will make a migrated copy, so you still can use your iPhoto Library with iPhoto.
Now I cannot access these photos.
You need to update to iPhoto 9.6.1. Only that is fully compatible with MacOS X 10.10.3.
You can no longer buy iPhoto from the App Store anywhere, and also not update it from the "Updates" tab of the App Store. You can however reinstall it, if it is showing among your Purchases at the App Store and associated with your AppleID.
Sign into the App Store and look at the Purchases tab. If you do not see iPhoto there, try to unhide your Purchases as described on this page: Hide and unhide purchases in the Mac App Store - Apple Support
If iPhoto shows on your Purchases tab, reinstall as described in this User Tip:
Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS... | Apple Support Communities
The main idea is to move the incompatible iPhoto app to the Trash, so Spotlight does not see it as installed, reload the App Store by pressing ⌘R, and then to try to download again from the App Store - from your Purchases tab, not from the main page, since you can neither buy iPhoto nor update it, but you can reinstall, if your AppleID is associated with it.
So move iPhoto to the Trash (don't empty the Trash), relaunch the App Store. The button to the right if iPhoto should change to Install on the "Purchases" tab.
Alternately, you could migrate your iPhoto library to the new Photos.app.
When you launch Photos, it will try to migrate your iphoto Library, if it can find the library. Where is your iPhoto Library stored? If it is in your Pictures folder, simply drag the iPhoto Library to the Phots icon in your Dock to migrate it to Photos.
Photos will make a migrated copy, so you still can use your iPhoto Library with iPhoto.
Thank you so much for the detailed response! You provided so much information and I am working on figuring it out. I have not been able to find a purchased iPhoto app and have not been able to view hidden purchases. I read on one of the links that if I didn't have iphoto 9.x that there is nothing I can do. I found the following in Finder: iPhoto 9.1Update.dmg and iPhoto 9.4.3Update.dmg, but I don't know anything more than that. When I opened Photos in Yosemite, there were 2 listings for iPhoto library, but one is so large that it exedes my monthly download allowance. The other said I needed to use the Upgrader, which I installed, and then it said I didn't need to use it. At this point it appears that I only have what was on my PhotoStream. I also have a separate hard drive that should have my photos, but I don't know how to combine that now with Yosemite. I am really concerned that I have lost these pictures. Feeling very foolish that I did not research this before upgrading to Yosemite. Thank you for your help!
When I opened Photos in Yosemite, there were 2 listings for iPhoto library, but one is so large that it exedes my monthly download allowance.
Why download allowance?
Your iPhoto Libraries should be in the Pictures folder, directly on your computer. If Photos is showing large iPhoto libraries, when it launches, there is hope for your pictures.
When you launch Photos while holding down the alt/options key you will see a library chooser panel. Click each of the libraries in the panel in turn and you will see a path bar at the bottom of the panel. that will tell you where your old iPhoto Libraries are.
Select the largest of these libraries that is on your Mac and let Photos migrate it.
iPhoto 9.1Update.dmg and iPhoto 9.4.3Update.dmg,
These are updaters for any iPhoto 9.x.x installation. So you probably had iPhoto 9.x.x installed or you tried to use them to update your iPhoto 8.1.2.
Have you checked your backup drive? Look into the applications folder in your backup, which version of IPhoto is there.
I have pictures on Photos! Thank you so much for your help--can't tell you what a relief it is. I used the suggestion about the alt/option key when launching Photos and selected my iPhoto library. At first it said (again) that I needed to use the Upgrader which I did but didn't need to, and then I tried again and the pictures migrated. Thank you!!
Great! You're welcome 🙂
I recommend to make a backup copy of the migrated library now, before you start experimenting with the new Photos. It is so very different, it is easy to make mistakes - better safe than sorry!
Yes, very good idea. What is your recommendation for best way to back up a lot of photos (12,000)?
Thanks again!
TimeMachine? CarbonCopy Cloner? drag the library to an external drive formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)?
Lots of different ways to make a backup (which you must always have if you photos have any value to you)
LN
Thanks for the advice!
I installed Yosemite from Mountain Lion and my photos have disappeared. How do I recover?
