Fix for the iPhoto '09 Faces merging bug

We previously reported on an issue in iPhoto '09 in which Faces categories inexplicably merge; in other words, two persons' faces combine into one face category.

A sampling of reports:

• I too have experienced the merging of faces in iPhoto '09. I spent more than an hour last night renaming photos where three people's pictures had been merged into one name.
• At least twice since working with iPhoto Faces over the last week I've had different individuals merge together totally losing one unique face name and category.
• I also experienced this issue with two large faces albums. While perusing through my 12,000 photo album adding new face identifiers I noticed that one of the faces I was previously adding did not appear in the drop-down that appears while you type the face name. Lo and behold, after checking other photos I had previously tagged with this person, I found that they all now had the wrong name associated with them!

As prevously noted, this problem can be circumvented by backing up the same faces.db mentioned in the section above, and faces_blog.db files. Locate the file iPhoto Library" then control-click it and pick "Show Package Contents," then backup the aforementioned files.

Now a user has created an Automator workflow that makes this process, well, automatic. The small download, created by "Old Toad" performs the aforementioned process

Old Toad writes:

"When launched, this Automator work flow application will copy iPhoto 09?s Faces database files, faces.db and faces_blob.db, from the iPhoto Library package to the Pictures folder replacing any previous versions there. If your iPhoto Library is not located in the User/Pictures folder or it is not named ?iPhoto Library? you will have to edit the workflow application in Automator to fit your specific iPhoto Library package location"

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