I upgraded to el capitan today and I have lost all of my photos and videos

El Capitan supplies a new app called, Photos, to which you can import from your iPhoto library. iPhoto will not work in El Capitan unless you are able to update the version you now have:

Terence Devlin

Apr 14, 2015 2:21 PM

Re: Is Iphoto gone ? i want it back!

Go to the App Store and check out the Purchases List. If iPhoto is there then it will be v9.6.1 If it is there, then drag your existing iPhoto app (not the library, just the app) to the trash

Install the App from the App Store.

Sometimes iPhoto is not visible on the Purchases List. it may be hidden. See this article for details on how to unhide it.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4928

One question often asked: Will I lose my Photos if I reinstall?

iPhoto the application and the iPhoto Library are two different parts of the iPhoto programme. So, reinstalling the app should not affect the Library. BUT you should always have a back up before doing this kind of work. Always.

So you have no choice then except to use the new Photos.app that comes for free with El Capitan. It will work with your iPhoto Library.

Are you sure that your iPhoto Library was converted? Where do you normally keep it?

Photos can import everything from your iPhoto library.

Start Photos holding down the Option key.
You should get a window that asks you to choose the library you want to use. Select your iPhoto library from the list.

Use Other Library and look in your Pictures folder for the iPhoto Library.

Time to restore from your back up then.

Please copy the following line and paste it into a Terminal Window, then hit return.

defaults read com.apple.iPhoto | grep RootDirectory

Copy the output of that command and paste it into a reply here.

dooleyd wrote:

YYes ok what backup? I was told to do this by an apple 'tech' over the phone I did as I was told it was to restore a disabled iPad he said I needed to update to el capitan and I just did what he said was over the moon because that worked but now I have this issue and tbh am absolute in tears

If you had iPhoto before the update, it should still there. Upgrading to El Capitan does NOT delete this.

In the Finder, open the Pictures folder: press command-shift-H to go to your home folder then open the Pictures folder inside it. That is where the iPhoto library is stored by default. It will still be there and called "iPhoto Library" unless you have at some point named it something else or stored it somewhere else.

This is a "package" and has all the pictures stored inside it. So even if one can't run an older iPhoto and if Photos cannot import this, at least your valued pictures can be manually recovered. But first do look carefully to find it.

You can also use Spotlight to try and locate that library. An iPhoto library has a hidden file extension ".photolibrary".

Open a Spotlight search (by clicking the magnifying lens or just pressing command-space) and type ".photolibrary"

(without the quotes). The iPhoto library should appear in the list. Select it and press command-R to see it in its folder in Finder.