Forums | MacLife

wyoguy · 2006-09-11 5:49 pm

I picked up a macbook and transferred my old stuff off ibook g4. I opened the photo library several times, put new pictures in a few times, then I tried to open iPhoto and was told I don't have a library. I've searched by name, size, .jpeg, album names and everything I can think of. Naturally, I only have 500 or so of 4400 + photos backed up and would really like to find the others. I've done the recommended things from Apple, downloaded the iPhoto updates, rebuilt library and now I have a library, but none of the old photos. I set up my new computer as a target and used my old one to search, to no avail.
I am open to suggestions, thoughts, data recovery tools etc.
Thanks,
Guy

Dunkin' · 2006-09-12 11:45 am

May I ask a couple questions?

Did you move the photos or copy the photos from your old Mac to your new Mac?

Did you use the Apple Setup Assistant to transfer stuff from your old Mac to your new Mac?

If you think the data is really gone, as in deleted, DO NOT USE your Mac for anything at all until you run Data Rescue II from ProSoft Eng. Every time you operate your Mac, for any reason at all, there is the likelyhood of your data being overwritten and made non-recoverable.

wyoguy · 2006-09-12 3:49 pm

I used the Apple software that prompted me to plug in a firewire, start the old machine as a targert etc. It moved everything over. I did have to delete the Office X test drive library, but everything else worked fine. I showed pictures at a class, and copied some to a dvd and that was the last time I saw the library. I haven't been using the computer except to try different options to find them including software updates.
I appreciate any thoughts and your time,
Guy

Dunkin' · 2006-09-13 7:57 pm

I suppose you have looked in the trash for the photos.

Did you move the photos to the DVD? Move means copy to the new location and then delete the photos from the old location. If you told the Mac to move the photos to the DVD then the Mac deleted them after the move.

Any possibility you may have put a period in front of the folder name? A period in front of any folder or file name renders it invisible or rather hidden. Try a search from the terminal for the missing photos.

wyoguy · 2006-09-15 1:11 pm

I did look in the trash to no avail.
I used the export command to write them onto the dvd, so I didn't move them. Do you think that would have deleted the library?
All I did was copy and close, so I'm really at a loss.
Also, with the Data Recovery, looking at their website I didn't see if it would work with the new intel chip, or even if that matters. Do you have any idea?
Again, I appreciate the brain time.

Dunkin' · 2006-09-16 8:29 am

I found this over at the Apple iPhoto Discussion Forum:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp … p;#2964293

It mentions the Library.iphoto file that may be corrupted. You say that you have rebuilt the file. Use Spotlight to look for a file with a similar name (old.library.iphoto or archive.library.iphoto or some such thing). Since the photos are not in the trash and were not moved they must be on your Mac somewhere.

Here's a wild thought:
Could the photos be in a different user account?

And have you done a search for filenames instead of file extensions? Many of my photos have the camera generated naming (DSCxxxxx.jpg where the x's are some numbers). Try a search for DSC or whatever your camera uses as a prefix.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2006-09-11 5:49 pm

Missing iPhoto library

#2 2006-09-12 11:45 am

Re: Missing iPhoto library

#3 2006-09-12 3:49 pm

Re: Missing iPhoto library

#4 2006-09-13 7:57 pm

Re: Missing iPhoto library

#5 2006-09-15 1:11 pm

Re: Missing iPhoto library

#6 2006-09-16 8:29 am

Re: Missing iPhoto library

Board footer