Recovering iPhoto Files

Hello. I have a difficult problem. I have a Macbook 13 inch - the white one - not 13 inch Pro or Air. Unfortunately I dumped water on it and it's not booting up anymore. And yes, I know that was a stupid move so don't bother to criticize it please. Thanks. I took the Macbook to the genius bar at my local Apple store and we're in the process of reviewing options/money.

However for the time being I purchased a drive adapter to copy over my files on to an external hard drive. Almost everything copied successfully except for my iPhoto picture files. I can't access them. I go to the "home" folder and nothing is visible.

Part of the problem may be that the computer I'm using for the transfer is my old Powerbook G4 15 inch laptop. I don't know if it recognizes those files or if it's another issue. The only other computer we have is an iPad 2 which I'm using to post this message... and it isn't going to help me either.

Is there anything I can do to access the home folder files with my old Powerbook or am I only going to be able to access them after I either get my Macbook repaired or purchase a new one? Thanks to economic factors we're trying to put off the expensive repairs or purchasing a new one for as long as possible but not being able to access those pictures that were still on there may be a factor in biting the bullet sooner than we want to.

Thanks for any info you can offer!

Hi,

Did you use Migration Assistant when you did this ?

The pictures should be in your 'iPhoto Library' ?

Hi Pendlewitch - thanks for the response. I don't know about Migration Assistant... the guy at the Genius Bar never mentioned it. Is is a software program, and if so is it compatible with a G4 Powerbook? I can't find the iPhoto Library - at least not the most current folder - only the stuff I imported previously, when the Macbook was still working.

Hello JohnPellegrini,

Migration Assistant is in your Utilities folder. Normally on a Mac the iPhoto Library resides in Finder/ 'Home'.... or Finder/'Your Name'/Pictures/ ...folder.

If I can remember rightly you can just migrate any folder or file that you want to.

Okay - I took a look at Migration Assistant and I can't use it. My Powerbook is running an older version of OS X and I can't update it. I'm using it to run Pro Tools and because of my setup if I update the OS on the G4 the Pro Tools won't be useable. Upgrading my entire setup so that it's current will cost over $5,000.00. Running Pro Tools TDM on a laptop seemed like a good idea when I put it together but when Apple changed to the Mac Book Pros they left out PCI slots for a few years. There have been too many upgrades to Pro Tools & Macbook since then so it's not an easy project.

I'm a real pain, aren't I?

JohnPellegrini said:

I'm a real pain, aren't I?

Click to expand...

Sure are pal

Did you find your iPhoto Library file? All your pictures are within it.

All you need to do is copy over the entire iPhoto Library file (or the entire iPhoto Library folder if it appears as a folder). That's it.