For anyone having problems when storing their iPhoto library on an external Hard Drive. Or if you are still trying to figure out why the photos section of their media pane is empty or says "launch iPhoto 2 or higher to populate". I have figured out how to get mine to work, here is what I did step by step.
1. I first copied my iPhoto library folder from my external Hard Drive to my main hard drive (internal on my mac), by drag and drop.
2. I then reformated my external Hard Drive Extended (journaled) and named it "Photos". (It was previously named Pictures, not sure if this may have been a conflict since the default location for the library is also named Pictures).
3. I then copied my iPhoto Library Back to the External Hard Drive, from where I put it on my Internal, again by drag and drop.
4. I then went to my preferences (user/library/preferences) folder and dragged com.apple.iApps.plist, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, com.apple.iMovie.plist,and com.apple.iDVD.plist to the trash. You have to unlock the com.apple.iApps.plist first before it will let you throw it out. To do this highlight it by clicking on it once then chose Edit get info and uncheck the box marked locked.
5. I then launched iPhoto and it said that my library was missing so I chose Quit. I then relaunched iPhoto, this time holding down the option key and it will ask you to choose a library to open.
6. Click on Choose Library and locate the library that you just coppied back to your External hard Drive and your are done.
You should now be able to see your photos in iMovie and iDVD. I'm not sure if the first launch in step 5 was necessary or not. I hope this helps anyone else having this problem, it worked for me and I have been trying to figure it out for over 2 weeks.
Good Luck
1. I first copied my iPhoto library folder from my external Hard Drive to my main hard drive (internal on my mac), by drag and drop.
2. I then reformated my external Hard Drive Extended (journaled) and named it "Photos". (It was previously named Pictures, not sure if this may have been a conflict since the default location for the library is also named Pictures).
3. I then copied my iPhoto Library Back to the External Hard Drive, from where I put it on my Internal, again by drag and drop.
4. I then went to my preferences (user/library/preferences) folder and dragged com.apple.iApps.plist, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, com.apple.iMovie.plist,and com.apple.iDVD.plist to the trash. You have to unlock the com.apple.iApps.plist first before it will let you throw it out. To do this highlight it by clicking on it once then chose Edit get info and uncheck the box marked locked.
5. I then launched iPhoto and it said that my library was missing so I chose Quit. I then relaunched iPhoto, this time holding down the option key and it will ask you to choose a library to open.
6. Click on Choose Library and locate the library that you just coppied back to your External hard Drive and your are done.
You should now be able to see your photos in iMovie and iDVD. I'm not sure if the first launch in step 5 was necessary or not. I hope this helps anyone else having this problem, it worked for me and I have been trying to figure it out for over 2 weeks.
Good Luck