Apple’s support forums are awash with complaints about the new iPhoto ’11, with some users reporting that the upgrade process has wiped their entire image library.
Others are reporting that the upgrade goes into a loop and fails to finish. Force-quitting the process leaves an iPhoto library with just a fraction of the images still present.
“Please spread the word that upgrading to iPhoto 11 can completely destroy your iPhoto Library,” says LizCastro. “You MUST have at least one backup completed, and preferably more than one, before you attempt the upgrade. Also make sure that if you’re using Time Machine, that iPhoto is CLOSED before you back up.”
The last sentence refers to the fact that Time Machine cannot backup iPhoto while the application is running.
LizCastro’s complaint is echoed by chester4444, who, after finally getting the upgrade to finish, saw an 120GB library reduce to just 14GB. The missing images were recovered by reverting to a Time Machine backup of iLife ’09.
Both threads have fewer than 20 replies, but 143 people have contributed to the longest discussion on the matter, complaining of stalled upgrades, damaged libraries and, again, lost images.
“Stuck ‘Upgrading iPhoto Database.’,” says Larry Walsh, echoing previous posts. “Let it run for 10 hours through the night and still upgrading. Activity Monitor has iPhoto Not Responding and using all my RAM.”
One user notes that Apple is investigating the issue.
“Rest assured Apple is looking into this,” says WillGonz. “I just sent off my iPhoto Library (minus the actual photos) to them along with my console log.”
However the company should have been prepared — similar upgrade snafus affected the Aperture 3 upgrade released at the beginning of the year.
