How can i restore an iphoto library without using time machine

I somehow created a new iphoto library and my old one was deleted and wasn't saved using time machine. Is there any way i can get my old library back. Please help!!!

The dock icon always enters the last IPHOTO library opened - so all may not be lost ..
Look in Macintosh HD/Users/*your name on your mac/Pictures
iPhoto Library is the default - if you have another iPhoto library with some extension that may be the new one -- so simply click on iPhoto to reset the dock icon.
If you use time machine - and the Iphoto library is empty - Enter time machine while in this folder and back up through time until you find the last one with pictures.

Similar Messages

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

How do i restore to earlier date without using time machine

I logged in to my Mac a couple of days ago and it said it was restore to some weird date. It does not appear anything changed, but now when I am trying to download a Sims game (don't judge me lol) it won't download saying there is no Internet connection even though there is. Is there anyone to restore the system to a date that I know it was working properly without using time machine? I never bought an external drive so my time machine is not set up. Thanks.

If you don't keep a backup, you can't restore your machine to any state except the state in which you received it, brand new, with none of your own stuff on it. That makes a pretty convincing argument for backing up, doesn't it?

HT4927 How do I restore my iPhoto library from a time machine back up of a macbook pro to an iMac?

My Macbook Pro is in a coma, but luckily I backed up on the 20th May. I managed to get my itunes library back on my new iMac; but cannot figure out how to do the same with iPhoto. Any ideas out there?
Thanks in advance!

Again - this is not the way to do this and generally does not work - you must use TimeMachine as designed - instructions link again http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Note especially
Restoring data from Time Machine backups
With Time Machine you can go "back in time" to restore files, versions of files, or your entire system. Make sure your backup drive is connected and mounted (if not, Time Machine will alert you that "Your Time Machine backup disk can't be found."
If prompted, enter an administrator name and password to proceed with the restore.
Restoring specific files or folders
Choose Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu and the restore interface appears. You can literally see your windows as they appeared "back in time."
You can use the timeline on the right side of the window to reach a certain point back in time (the timeline shows the times of all backups on your backup drive). If you don’t know exactly when you deleted or changed a file, you can use the back arrow to let Time Machine automatically travel through time to show you when that folder last changed.
Note: Dates in pink indicate the data resides on your Time Machine backup device. Dates in white indicate the data resides on your Mac. In OS X Mountain Lion and Lion, portable Macs have the feature of local snapshots. See thisarticle for details.
You can also perform a Spotlight search in the Time Machine Finder Window search field to find a file. Simply type the Spotlight search field and use the back arrow to have Time Machine search through your backups to find what you are looking for.
Before you restore a file, you can also use Quick Look to preview a file to make sure its the one you want. Highlight the file and press the Space Bar to bring up a quick look.
To restore, select the file/folder and click the "Restore" button. The file will automatically be copied to the desktop or appropriate folder. If the file you are restoring has another file in the same location with the same name, you will be prompted to choose which file to keep or keep both.
Restoring your entire system from a backup
If you are restoring a backup made by a Mac to the same Mac
With your backup drive connected, start up your Mac from the Recovery system (Command-R at startup) or Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc. Then use the "Restore From Time Machine Backup" utility.
Note: If "You can't restore this backup because it was created by a different model of Mac" appears when restoring a backup that was made on a different Mac, follow the onscreen instructions.
If you are restoring a backup made by one Mac to a completely different Mac
Important: If the backup you are about to restore is from a completely different Mac, use the Migration Assistant to transfer data from the backup, as described in the next section.
Migrating a Time Machine backup to a new Mac
When you buy a new Mac, you can transfer all of your applications, files, settings, and other information from a Time Machine backup you've already made.
You will be asked if you want to transfer files when you start up your new Mac for the first time. Or, you can use theMigration Assistant (located in Applications/Utilities).
After Migration Assistant completes the transfer and you select your existing Time Machine backup drive, you will be prompted with "Inherit Backup History". Once selected you will be able to continue to use your existing Time Machine backup on your new Mac.
And again for detailed TM answers go to the Time Machine forum
LN

How do i import an iPhoto library from a time machine backup?

how do i import an iPhoto library from a time machine backup? I did a back up and i formatted my machine. How do i get iphoto to be the same?

This screenshot shows how to restore a library from Time Machine.
There is NO importing necessary. One should never import one library into another. Just restore it to your Pictures folder and launch iPhoto.
OT

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.

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 do I retrieve my iphoto library from the Time Machine back-up drive, when the original iphoto library was on a separate external hard drive that has crashed?

I recently backed up my iMAC and Simpletech external hard-drive to a 1 TB WD Passport external hard drive, using Time Machine's back-up utility. Today, I tried to access my iphoto library from the back-up drive, but received a message saying "the iPhoto library is a Time Machine back up, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPHoto with options key held down to choose another library." Since my Simpletech died on me, what other iPhoto library is it expecting me to access? I know approximately 169 GB were backed up, and my iPhoto library is roughly 54 GB.
Angie in Charlotte

Thanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner.

How do I open my iPhoto library in the time machine to make sure it's there?

When I click on iphoto library in the time machine it tells me the size of the file and nothing else. I want to make sure my photos are really thre. Is there another place to open this?

Try this discussion > https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5501845?tstart=0

How can I restore my EQ settings from a Time Machine backup?

I recently reinstalled Mavericks, and restored my user account from a Time Machine backup. In doing so I appeared to have 'lost' my personal EQ settings in iTunes, of which I had perfected quite a few to suit various headphones and speakers I've found myself using over the years.
I have a pre-reinstallation copy of the com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist file (found in /Users/username/Library/Preferences) that I believe contains my EQ settings; opening it in Textedit I can see references to the EQ settings I created.
Having tried restoring this particular file from Time Machine and restarting and finding iTunes doesn't recognise the [old] custom com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist file, does anyone know a way I can re-import my old EQ settings, or do I have to try and manually create them again? (gah)
Thanks for any light you can shed on this!

Enter your Time Machine backup (via the TM icon in the menu bar) and find this file
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist
and hit Restore.
It didn't reflect in iTunes immediately, but after a restart it appears to read the new (old) plist file. You should have your old EQ settings back.
Let me know if it worked for you...

HT4116 How do i get an iphoto library off my time machine back up and exported to a file of just photo images?

I have backed up my imac that died, but how do i get the photos that are in time machine on the back up disc exported to another mac i have that also has an iphoto librbary?

This should be of help in merging the libraries: Fat Cat Software - iPhoto Library Manager Help - Merging libraries
OT

How can I backup an external hard drive using Time Machine?

How can I backup an external hard drive connected to my MacBook Pro using Time Machine?

Attach drive, open Time Machine preferences, be sure external drive is not in the Exclude list.

How can I back up only selected files using Time Machine?

I'm a graphic designer, I use a number of Time Capsules to periodically back up my entire computer. But I also want to set up another Time Capsule (bus powered external hard drive) that will continually run as I work and only back up a single folder and all it's sub folders - in this case a folder called 'Client Files'.
QUESTION: How do I use Time Machine to back up only my 'Client Files' folder and all it's sub folders?

Frankly, this is probably not worth the time and trouble that it will take to set it up.
Time Machine backs up your entire Mac by default.
Time Machine Preferences / Options gives you the ability to Exclude items from backup, so to do what you want, you basically will have to Exclude everything else on the Mac from being backed up. That is going to be quite a task depending on where your Client Files folder resides and you have your Finder files set up.
It will not be that difficult to Exclude major folders..... things like Applicatons, Pictures, Music, Documents, etc.....but to get to the point where you want may not be that easy.
Take a look at things by opening Time Machine Preferences, then click on Options
Since you will be adding items to be Excluded, you would need to click the + button at the bottom of the window and then navigate to find the general folder that you want to Exclude.
Unfortunately, you cannot simply tell Time Machine to only back up the items that you want.....you have to tell Time Machine what NOT to back up.....which is going to be most of your Mac.
And.....whatever you set up in Time Machine /Options to be Excluded will apply to all backups to all Time Capsules. You cannot specify what is Excluded on one Time Capsule and not another. It's all or nothing. Not what you want to do, I am sure.
Good luck

Help! How can I restore iTunes/iPhoto library from Time Capsule to new Mac?

Sorry to trouble you, because it looks like this should be an easy thing, but I can't find an answer anywhere...
I've got an 2008 MacBook Pro that suddenly began to suffer start up problems. Sometimes it boots to a black/grey screen and sometimes the screen/mouse freezes after only a few minutes of use.
I've borrowed my brother's Mac until I can find out how to get mine repaired, so I'd like to copy over my iTunes and iPhoto stuff from a Time Capsule (where I'm hoping it hasn't been damaged) to his Mac. I only want to copy the iTunes and iPhoto stuff, without filling up his computer with all my other junk.
Is there an easy way to do this? Thanks!

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 can I restore my iPhoto Library?

Somehow (not sure) when I call up iPhoto, it is asking me for "which Library I want to use" in a selection box - but there are no selections. When I go to "Other Libraries" which is a choice, I can't seem to bring up my former iPhoto Library. It wants me to set up a new library, but there is nothing in it. I know my photos are here, but I can't get access to them. HELP!
PS - I see the photos on my iPad2 in my Events and Albums

As Terence said your iPhoto Library folder is incomplete. To see if you have another complete iPhoto Library somewhere on your hard drive download and use Find Any File to search for "Library6.iPhoto". That's a file that exists in every iPhoto library.
FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible system folders. If there is another library on your hard drive FAF will find it.
OT

How can i restore an iphoto library without using time machine

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