Restore an iPhoto Library in Lion

Just purchased a new harddrive and installed snow leopard and then upgraded to lion. I'm wonding how I can now restore my iPhoto library and iTunes. I backed up both folders to an external drive before doing the upgrade.
Do I just copy the folders back to their original locations and then start up the programs?
Thanks,
L.

Yes for iPhoto - remember the iPhoto library ia s database and must be kept as a single entity - most likely for iTunes but best to check on the iTunes forum for iTunes questions
LN

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How can I restore an iPhoto library from Time Machine (ML) - when I TM doesn't see the backup??

Hi,
I recently did a Time Machine backup of my MacBook Pro (Mountain Lion) onto an external HDD. Around the time of the last backup, my system was behaving funny so I decided to rebuild the OS X.
Because the last TM backup was of a system that as mentioned, was somewhat 'unstable', and I only had a few backups available (didn't have TM running too long beforehand) - I decided not to use TM to 'restore' my system. I just did a clean install of ML and planned on pulling files over manually. I'd done this before and it worked a treat.
This time ran into a snag. The backup disk TM used was an external HDD which I wanted to upgrade (suffice to say it works fine). So, I needed to move the backup.backupdb directory to my other HDD. The copy seemed to work fine ... so far so good.
I installed the new ML OS on my MacBook Pro and that was fine too. I was able to pull most of my files over by going into the TM backup and copying what I needed.
BUT, for some reason, this didn't work for the iPhoto library?
Alas, I found that you need to do a 'restore' iPhoto library file from whithin TM. So I fired up TM and noticed that it didn't recognise the old backup file located on the HDD. I.e. when I turned on TM, pointed it to the external HDD (where I copied the previous backup to), it started a fresh backup.
So ... my question is - "How do I restore the iPhoto library if I can't get to it from TM?"
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help! The last 15 years of photos are stored in this library!

Hi ...
I've found a solution to my problem.
Time Machine locates extenal HDD backups differently depending if they were done via a network or via a USB/FireWire/Thunderbolt connection.
My initial backup was done via a direct Thunderbolt connection. I ran into the above issue b/c the second time when I tried looking for the backup file the HDD was conencted to my iMac and I was accessing it via a network conenction.
I simply connected the drive directly to my MacBook pro and ... voila. I was able to see the backup, select the iPhoto library and begin the restore.
Hope this helps.
BTW - I found this out by reading the 'blue box' selection on this page: http://pondini.org/TM/E2.html
(Thanks goes to Pondini!)

How to restore an iPhoto Library after hdd change?

Hi all!
I just had my old 120gig hdd changed on my MBP to a 500 one and all my files have been restored on there apart of my iPhoto library under Lion.
I also had a backup done on time machine but unable to find the file of the library to restore it to iPhoto.
What can I do to find my pics back in iPhoto? Are they lost for ever?
Thx a lot in advance for your answers!
Tenbee

Well I've been backing up my computer with TM for about 2 years now every few months now.
About a year ago my motherboard didn't want to do it's job anymore so got it changed...restored the computer then with TM but somehow got a prob doing that for some weird 'user' problem, been told that was normal since the TM could not recognize the new motherboard.
Now when I enter TM i cant find this long sought after iphoto library file, but when i go into my TM 'manually' through finder, i see under 'users' 2 different users which are both mine, one with my first name, the other one with firstname followed by familiy name.
I then found out that the library was in only 1 of those 'users', it also shows 35gig, and if i double click it to open it says it is a TM backup and cant open it just like that, so here i am back to square 1 trying to find a file not appearing in TM...

Restore saved iPhoto library after hard drive repair

My hard drive crashed and Apple were kind enough to repair it although it happened 1 week after the extended warranty expired. I was able to save the hard drive files to an external drive just before it died, but now when I try and import the iPhoto library back into the newly repaired computer one of 2 things happen: The photos begin to transfer and then the application (iPhoto) unexpectedly quits, or, the blue bar at the bottom says Working and nothing happens for as long as 10 minutes.
I would really appreciate some help as I no longer have covered support. One of the photo text files may be corrupted. How do I identify the problem file?
Thanks very much,
Colin Sieff

That's because importing from another iPhoto Library folder isn't the way to restore an iPhoto Library. I'm surprised you were able to do it without a bunch of warning dialogs.
If you still have the original iPhoto Library folder intact, the thing to do is restore it as I've described earlier. If you have sufficient disk space, quit iPhoto and drag the existing iPhoto Library folder from Pictures to the desktop. Then drag your backup iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, and the only thing left to do is to start iPhoto. If all's well, move the desktop copy of the iPhoto Library folder to the trash, then empty the trash.

How do I restore an iPhoto library from Time Capsule

My iMac was stolen. I have a MacBook Air running Yosemite version 10.10.2. The iPhoto Library was not on the MacBook. How do I restore my iPhoto Library from a Time Machine backup on my Time Capsule onto my MacBook? I am using iPhoto version 9.6.1.
Two complications:
1. I have several hundred photos from a different iPhoto library on my MacBook.
2. I think the iPhoto library that is hopefully on my Time Capsule is too big to fit on my MacBook. I have 50 GB free space remaining on a 256 GB SSD.
Thank you.

If the library to be restored is too big for your boot drive you'll need to get an external HD, formatted OS X Extended (journaled) with ownership set to be ignored, and restore the iPhoto Library to it according to the instructions in the following screenshot:
With the restored library up and running you can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to merge the Macbook library into the restored library on the EHD. A possible candidate for the EHD is the OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro USB 3.0 / FireWire 800. It lends itself nicely for portable use.
Once you are satisfied that the merge was successful you can delete the Macbook library from the Pictures folder.

How do I restore my iphoto library from backup

Hi,
I'm trying to find instructions on restoring my iPhoto library from a backup that is not based on Time Machine. I have an external hard drive with the entire user folder information which includes all the photos. I'd like to know if I should delete current file and replace with the backup, or something else?
Thanks much!

The risk free way to do it is to drag the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the Back Up to your Desktop.
Then open it and check it:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
If it's all there and working correctly, then - and only then - delete the one currently in your Pictures Folder.
Regards
TD

How do I restore my iPhoto library from my old macbook (stored in time machine) to my new iMac?

I have my old macbook backed up on my time machine. The problem is, when i enter time machine on my new iMac, I can only restore files from the current iMac's backups. I can go to finder, and find my files under the "shared>airport time capsule" menu, but I don't know how to safely and accurately restore the iPhoto library to the current iMac's iPhoto.
Most of the searches I did on this topic kept advising to enter time machine, find your file and hit restore, but I can not select files from my macbook's backup in time machine on the current iMac.

Linc Davis wrote:
While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.
If you need to restore from a backup of the hidden user Library folder, first select a snapshot, then press shift-command-G. A Go to Folder dialog will open. In it, you'll enter the path to the folder. The dialog will help you by automatically completing the parts of the path when you start to type them.
The path begins with slash character ("/"). Enter that. The rest of the parts will be separated by slashes.
The next part is the date and time of the current snapshot. Enter a "2", and the rest of the date should be filled in automatically. Press the right-arrow key to jump to the end of the path. Enter a slash to start the next part.
Next is the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD" unless you gave it a different name.) Start to type that, then jump to the end and enter a slash.
The next part is "Users", followed by a slash.
Next is your (short) user name, which is also the name of your home folder.
Finally, enter "Library", then press return. You should now be in the Library folder. From there you can get around as in the Finder.
This seemed to do the trick. I found the iPhoto library file and chose restore. The question now is where to put the iPhoto library file.

How do I Restore my iPhoto library from my time machine if it does not give me the restore option?

How do I Restore my iPhoto library from my time machine if it does not give me the restore option?
When I go into my backups and click on the iPhoto library it does not come up with an option to restore it just says open and of course then won't let me open it because it is a back up in time machine? I need these photo very important.

Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support
For detailes TM support post in the forum for your OS rather than the iphoto forum
LN

HT201250 Why won't Time Machine won't restore my iphoto library [says there is not enough room on my hard drive.] Any ideas?

I've got 20,000 plus photos on my HD [yes, I know, way tooo many]. I'm trying to clean up by storing them on an external HD, but for several months I've not been able to export iphoto [even geniuses can't figure out why]. So as a work around, I'm trying to export events and albums to external. However, I realized that I didn't export in the original format making the files too small. Now, I just want to restore my iphoto library to the date before I started this process and when I try to restore from Time Machine, it comes up with an error message that I don't have enough room on my HD. Any ideas out there? [The reason I want to restore is because I started to delete some of the iphoto files from my HD to clean it up and I want to get back to the original format for export].

In the simplest sense, archiving a file means making a copy that you never change and never discard. You already know how to do that.
iPhoto has built-in archival features, in the sense that it saves all versions of an image that you've modified. As long as you have adequate backups, you don't necessarily have any reason to archive an iPhoto library. If you want to delete images from the working library but still have access to them in case you change your mind, then you do need to archive those images. I don't have a specific suggestion as to how you should do that. You might post a question in the iPhoto forum.

Trouble with restoring an iPhoto library from a time machine backup.

I'm having trouble restoring my iPhoto library from a time machine backup.
I have created a new library in my pictures file.
When I try to restore the library the restore process is trying to copy it to an external drive that no longer exists - it failed and I had to have it recovered and all the recovery (including backups) data is now on a different external hard drive.
iPhoto had been using that old external drive location to start. iPhoto is now pointed to the newly created iPhoto library in my pictures file on my MacBook Air.
Is there a way to have the restoration process point to that new iPhoto library that is now empty and not to the old external drive?

You might try this with the restored library:
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

Restore just iPhoto Library from Time Capsule, to a new machine

Hi,
To free up space on my MacBook Pro, I backed up my iPhoto library to Time Machine before moving the library to a seperate external hard-drive. My EHD was excluded from automatic time machine backups, and when it subsequently got unrepairably damaged about 4 weeks later I lost about 4 weeks of photos - luckily not a big problem. I checked time-machine and my old iPhoto library was still there in an earlier backup, not the latest - naturally that shows the current state of my MPB without an iPhoto library.
Now, I'm trying to restore the iPhoto library to a Mac Mini rather than to my MacBook Pro, however, I'm not having much luck. I've tried the following:
Use migration assistant, selecting only photos - this created a new account, (even though I didn't want it to) but the photo library was blank. I think this may be because my last time-machine back up was after I'd moved iPhoto to an EHD
Use finder to navigate to the correct iPhoto folder in time-machine... I get an error message saying I don't have permission to access the file
I have used the same apple ID when setting up the the Mac Mini as I did on the MBP, but the accounts have slightly different names.
I would appreciate any help you could give.

Setup Assistant would be my recommendation for this if possible.
Migration Assistant can work, but there may be some issues with file ownership and permissions.
See Pondini's great support document on this:
http://pondini.org/OSX/Setup.html

HT202321 I am getting an error 36 when I try to restore my iphoto library. Can someone please advise on how I should resolve this?

I am getting an error 36 when I try to restore my iphoto library from my time machine. Can someone please advise on how I should resolve this? I have tried repairing permissions in the iPhoto library and that didn't help. I've also tried using different versions of the iPhoto library from the time machine. That resulted in the error as well.

You can ask Time Machine queries on the firm for whatever version of the OS you have:
Mac OS & System Software

Apple physically replaced the HD on my Imac. I backed up everything on a Seagate Go Flex Desk for Mac external drive for Mac. I went through the motions to restore my Iphoto Library back to my computer. Can't find them!!!!!

Apple replaced my hard drive on my Imac. I'm lucky I backed up everything on a Seagate Go Flex Desk for Mac external drive via Time Machine . I followed directions in order to restore my iphoto library , but I can't seem to find it on my computer. Are the files locked?

No reason to assume they are locked. The library will be restored to the location it was backed up from, unless you specified somewhere else. Have you looked in your Pictures Folder?

Time Machine did not restore my iPhoto library

Hi everyone,
I have been told that my hard drive has physical damage and all data are lost. I used TM to back up so I thought everything will be OK. I got new hard drive. When I was restoring my Macintosh HD from TM, I got restored pretty much everything. Problem was only that all folders and files were all of sudden locked, I had to unlock manually all files. I am still working on it. Not easy but I will get on with it.
However, my biggest problem is, that for some reason my iPhoto library did not get restored. I tried later to restore only iPhoto library. TM looked like it was working properly and TM was copying for about 2 hours all 25GB of pictures. However, once it was finished, my iPhoto library was still empty, no data. Where did TM copied all this pictures?
Can anyone please help me? I don't want to lose all my photos.

Hi Glen,
When I got computer back, home folder name was different that my original one. However, as I said, I manage to restore from TM almost everything, including all my video clips, but iPhoto library. When I try now to restore iPhoto library, I get message "Not sufficient privileges ..." and nothing happens. Computer name is same. Then I created new account with home folder name same as was before, tried to restore iPhoto library from TM and all of sudden, it was working and computer was copying all pictures. However, after he finished copying, iPhoto library stayed empty (iPhoto library icon changed and now looks like empty blank document), i tried in finder to find some image, just in case TM copied it somewhere else, but there was nothing.
Thats why I could not open iPhoto with option key because iPhoto library is just empty.
As you wrote, it looks like changing home folder name in the current account is not a good option.
I am thinking of deleting my account with wrong home name folder with option 'save home folder' just to keep all data that I have recovered already and leave an account with my original home folder name and try to copy pictures folder again, but now I am not sure that will work as it doesn't work now. ?

HT4927 I have tried to restore my iPhoto library from Time Machine. It starts then I get an No permissions error. What do I do?

I have tried to restore my iPhoto library from Time Machine. It starts then I get an 'No permissions' error. What do I do?

See #E9 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Restore an iPhoto Library in Lion

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