Corrupt iPhoto Library

Hi all,

This morning I opened up iPhoto and it said that with this new version

my thumbnails need to be updated. I clicked ok, and all my photos disappeared.

I quit iPhoto and restarted it, but no luck. All my photos appear to still be in the

library in PicturesiPhoto Library but iPhoto can't access them. I've read through

the Apple support forums and other pages but I haven't had any luck. I've tried to

use iPhoto Library Manager to rebuild the library, but it just says that the

AlbumData.xml file contains no information. I've also tried to rebuild it by holding

down Command + Option while launching iPhoto, but after the repair process is

over it just shows iPhoto with no pictures in it again.

I hope someone can help me because all my family pictures were in there and

I'm kind of freaked out... :-/

Thanks,

Gabriel.

#491817

Sounds nasty mate.

This sounds like an iPhoto problem so the first thing to do is check your pictures folder and make sure the pictures are still there - preview with quickview.

If they are still in place which I am sure they are then at least that will set your mind at ease as to their safety.

It sounds like a major problem with the xml file so if you are using Leopard use time-machine to restore. If this is not an option I suspect you wil need to reinstall iPhoto and then rebuild your cache.

Good luck

#491823

Can you open the pictures? If you can, move all the photos out of there (preferably an external hard drive), and either reinstall iPhoto or create a brand new iPhoto library. Then, reimport all of your photos.

#491827

All the photos are still in their original place within the iPhoto library, but there

are modified copies and original copies all in different folders and re-organizing

them will be hell. Did I mention there are 14000 of them? Maybe I should just

delete the folder entitled "Originals" and keep just the modified versions, but I

don't know of when I have an un-tweaked photo is it stored in the "Originals"

folder or in "Modified"? I'm afraid I don't have time machine set up so thats not

an option...

#491832

This exact same thing happened to me this morning! I looked at the library xml file and its only 4kb now. Shouldn't iPhoto think to itself "Hmm I'm replacing a XX Mb library data file with a 4kb one ... that doesn't seem right at all ... let me at least make a backup of the data file first. Laws yes that's a good idea."

Did you find a solution to this problem? Other than reimport all my photos, that is ...

#493203

All the photos are still in their original place within the iPhoto library, but there

are modified copies and original copies all in different folders and re-organizing

them will be hell. Did I mention there are 14000 of them? Maybe I should just

delete the folder entitled "Originals" and keep just the modified versions, but I

don't know of when I have an un-tweaked photo is it stored in the "Originals"

folder or in "Modified"? I'm afraid I don't have time machine set up so thats not

an option...

I don't think re-importing them is such a bad option. 14,000 photos isn't unbearable. For example, when we had to do the same to a 6,000 photo library, it took between 30 minutes and an hour.

#493284