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Level 1

18 points

Upgraded to OS X El Capitan and lost my whole iPhoto library

Hi,

I had a huge bank of photos and videos in my iPhoto library going back years and years. For some reason, when I updated from Yosemite to El Capitan then my whole iPhoto library was wiped. The day before I updated then I uploaded photos to iPhoto and it all worked fine. Everything was there from all those years ago, all happy. Then, soon as I updated the OS, poof! all the photos are gone. The iPhoto app is still there alongside the Photos app, but when I click on it it asks me to select a library from an empty list (I can no longer find any iPhoto libraries on my computer) or create a new library. Where have all my photos gone?? Please help.

Thanks,

Jack

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 2, 2015 4:56 AM

Best reply

KEGouv

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Jan 6, 2017 10:28 AM

So true. I consider it a slap in the face from Apple, considering how much I've invested in their products over the years. There is no easy fix, and if you wait to upgrade your machine too long, there will be no fix for a number of similar problems. In any case, the amount of time it would take to remedy the problem if your system is out of date is an additional insult. It's like having your best friend burn your family albums. What is the result? Simple, I'm migrating to Linux.

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99 replies

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,396 points

Apr 22, 2016 11:12 AM in response to paula1040

If you have an up-to-date version of iPhoto - v9.6.1 to be precise - then iPhoto runs on El Capitan just fine.

If the version you have is already a version 9.something and it is associated with your App Store account, then you may update. No other version an be updated.

I would caution you that sooner or later there will come a version of the OS where iPhoto won't run. For instance, if you get a new machine. Even if you don't want to use Photos.app (and I'm no fan of that myself), you need to now be seeking out an alternative. Sticking with iPhoto is not a long term solution.

Apr 22, 2016 11:22 AM in response to Yer_Man

Silly question - how do I find which version I have? I have clicked Info, but no version is visible. I have also looked in applications and cannot see it?

I done a search for IPhoto and 2 appeared - IPhoto (under Other) and another in preview labelled IPhoto Library.

Thanks for your advice.

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,396 points

Apr 22, 2016 2:47 PM in response to paula1040

Most simple way:

Go to your Applications Folder and using column view, just click on iPhoto.

Jun 7, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Yer_Man

Terence, i lost my entire Iphoto library 2 years ago. I have been reading your advices and to make the long story short, i was able to migrate it to Photos but it never got organized as I had it, on the contrary, it duplicated thousands of pics. I saved it in a hard disk and from there I Was able to kind of reorganize it which took me two years. I never made it to a back up because of the size But was able to continue working on cleaning it w no problems. after the last update for El Capitan, the entire library (still in the external disk) vanished !!!!!! i everything and the more I do repairs, the more it shrinks in size. I am desperate, I hope you can help.

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,396 points

Jun 7, 2016 11:15 PM in response to Cristacasta

I would create a new thread on the Photos forum here

Photos for Mac

You'll need to be a little more precise though, when you describe the problem. The stuff from two years ago you can leave out. A complete doescrption of what happens when you launch Photos would help.