I have tried to Alt/Command and open with the newly created Photo Library and have exactly the same issue. When I try to repair either Library, it says it cannot find the Library. I have 58GB of photos and cannot access any of them. Please can someone try and help me before I go demented!!!!
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)
I have also tried to copy both the iPhoto Library and Photo Library to an external hard drive as a back up and it stops after about 28gb!
Try repair the iPhoto Library.
Download iPhoto Library Managerand use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Not only can I not transfer my iPhoto's to Photos, my Seagate backup plus drive fails to backup since updating to Yosemite 10.10.3 which introduced Photos. After numerous repair attempts I deleted my previous time machine backups & it looks like my seagate saved all my data but right at the very end couldn't complete the backup (my 1TB drive now has 650gb available but yet there is no backup showing in the Time Machine backups).
Whilst I had no previous problems backing up iPhotos, my thought is that the problem transferring to Photos may also be behind the reason I can't back up time machine.
I'm very tempted to to Take Terence's suggestion to download iPhoto Library Manager & use the rebuild function but having deleted all my backups (& currently unable to make another) I'm worried that something goes wrong with the rebuild & I lose my entire library, - though I read his comment that the 'old one is untouched'.
Reassurances or additional advice appreciated.
Make a back up before running the Library Manager rebuild that way you have double the assurance.
Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync- but there are many others. Search on MacUpdateor the App Store
I have the same problem.
Same thing happened to my 1TB WD Elements. I have my iPhoto Library backup there but when I try opening the iPhoto library in Photos-it just crashes everytime. I have 5 years of pictures in my iPhoto Library!
What format is that external?
iPhoto Library keeps crashing when preparing Library in Photo.
