ITunes Library Pointing to Time Machine Backup

I got a message this morning that iTunes couldn't sync any audio files to my iPhone because the files were in an unsupported format. When I investigated, I found that my iTunes music library was pointing to files within my TimeMachine Backup (a sparse bundle image, or something like that) for the actual audio files.
I do use a LaCie d2 Network drive to store both my media folder and my Time Machine backup... still, I have no idea how iTunes ended up pointing to content that was part of my Time Machine backup.
Luckily, I was able to restore my music library from a backup I had done yesterday, and everything seems to be fine now. Still, it's a bit scary... I have no idea what happened.

Okay, thats weird.
Try to consolidate your media.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH990
also, in the iTunes music folder, go inside to manually check if the songs are there.

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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.

IPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup

As of yesterday I am unable to open iPhoto and get the message ‘The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another library.’
This may have come about because I recently loaded some irreplaceable pictures on iPhoto and was trying to check that they had been backed up on my external (OneTouch 4) hard drive. I opened the hard drive and double-clicked on various files from the latest back-up. I wasn’t able to identify the photos for certain but assumed that they had been backed up OK. Anyway, I guess this procedure has given me the problem with iPhoto! I should also mention that, several months ago, I put a copy of the iPhoto application on my external hard drive thinking (no doubt wrongly) that it would enable me to view backed up photos. I have never used it but it is still there.
Doing a search for the latest photos shows that my photo library in general appears to be intact on my iMac (the path is -home folder-pictures-iPhoto library-originals-2010-event-individual photo) and each photo can be opened in Preview. But how do I get them back on iPhoto, please?

I have no idea -you tell us nothing except for the error
certainly selecting the correct library is critical - it is possible that that is your problem - it also is possible that something else is the problem - pointing to the correct library can not create any problems so do it
As to keeping all of your photos together - do nothing and iPhoto will do that - the only way anything else can happen is if you mess with the iPhoto library or create multiple libraries - iPhoto always uses the same library until you direct it to change
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

The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library.

I recently tried to look up my pictures on my time machine back up on an external hard drive. As soon as I try to open it I get the following message.
"The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library."
I have tried holding down the option key but still couldn't few the photos.
I want to know if there is anyway I can actually view these photos. I have over 85gbs of photos on the hard drive. I have tried googling and looking at pervious forums with the same problem but nothing is working.
Please help!

Select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu. Search for "Restore items backed up with Time Machine."

IPhoto won't open. Says CAUTIONThe iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library.

I tries to verify that my photos were being backed up on Time Machine to an external harddrive, because I would like to delete my Camera Roll on my iPhone. I was not able to view any photos in my backed up photo library, after entering Time machine. Now, I can't even open iPhoto on my iMac with the pop up box warning me that the library is a Time machine backup....which it shouldn't be, because I'm openning iPhoto on my Mac...NOT the external HD.
What happened, and how do I access my photos?

It sounds like you went into the Time Machine hard drive, found a library and "dragged" it to your Pictures folder or wherever on your hard drive. That's not the way to do it.
Go to your Pictures folder and enter Time Machine via the TM menu in the menu bar:
Then follow the instructions in this screenshot:
OT

Cannot restore iphoto library correctly from time machine backup

Hi all,
Yesterday I had to reinstall my mac with no particular reason. Suddenly the startup screen with the "circle" went on indefinitely for 10+ minutes before shutting down the system. Yes, the power cord was plugged in. No, I didn't manage to start it in safe mode...
I thought it wouldn't be a big deal since I regularly back up my mac on an external drive by Time Machine. So I reinstalled and restored the system.
I could log in fine, but here's the catch:
1) only 3 iPhoto events out of 30 are restored
2) for all other events I seem to have the thumbnails but not the original or modified files
3) trying to browse into the Pictures folder shows that:
- the iPhoto library file does not appear with the usual icon
- if I examine the package, for all events that don't show up in iPhoto, the event hierarchy (e.g. 2008/eventxyz) exists but the folders are empty in both the "Original" and "Modified" hierarchies
- same if I click on the same file in ANY of the 4 backups I have on the time machine disk
By the way TM restored the system to MacOSX 10.5.2 even if I'm sure I had a later version. In fact, I can't open iTunes either because it says the library has been created with a later version of iTunes. But what really worries me is that I can't even find the .JPG original files.
Can somebody please help? I relied on Time Machine and there's 6 years of memories there...
Thank you

I have the same symptom, but as the result of an external hard drive failure. My Time Machine backups from June 2009 - August 2009 contain the iPhoto library. When I restore the iPhoto library (pick any random backup date) I can see the thumbnails or a blank dashed outline of the old photos. When I click on the thumbnail I can get the metadata (photo location, photo date, etc...) but the photos are gone. When I am in iPhoto the lower left corner of the interface shows the library size is 42Gb, but the restored library package is only about 3Gb. My guess is the difference in file size is equal to the size of the original (and modified) files that didnt get backed up. None of my iPhoto library packages in Time Machine are larger than 3Gb.
I brought my backup drive to the folks at the Genius Bar. They were perplexed. They suggested I bring in my Mac Mini so they could look at the console. I took a look at the console at home and searched for "Time Machine" and found nothing out of the ordinary.
Not sure why Time Machine would appear to run so smoothly yet selectively not back up my original photos. I can restore everything else from my Time Machine backup to my new external drive just fine.

Can't access library folder on Time Machine Backup

I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible...
1) I have wiped my hard drive and completed a clean install of Mavericks. I did this due to persistant problems with disc permissions that I could not eliminate.
2) I did not want to take a chance on introducing problems with migrating a profile from my Time Machine backup so instead of using Migration Assistant, I used Finder to browse the Time Machine backup I made prior to reformatting my drive to simply copy all my necessary data files back onto the drive in my newly created profile.
3) I've reinstalled the majority of programs I use and everything is looking good (no disk permission problems when I've checked using Disk Utility).
4) Mail is working just find with all my accounts having been restored using my Apple ID.
Here's the problem....
I forgot that some of my mail had been stored on my local hard drive. I beleive this mail should be in my user/library/mail folder of my time machine backup. However, I cannot access my User/Library folder in Time Machine. I've tried opening my current (new) User/Library folder in Finder and then selecting "Browse Other Backup Discs" from the Time Machine icon and, although this opens the Time Machine backups, I cannot do any time travel...in other words, although there are many stacks of folders shown in the backup, I cannot move into the past from the present.
Any suggestions on how I can get this Mail folder out of the Time Machine user/library? I know there is some stuff there that I'm going to have to get to.
Thanks!

It woked to get me into my current User/Library of my "new" profile but I cannot move back in time into the actual backups despite the timeline increments on the right side of the screen in Time Machine showing they're are backups for the past several months. I'm stuck on this moment so to speak.
Got to hit the sack...head is swimming. Thanks for the suggestions Barney. Let me know if you think of any others.

Where do I find the Library in a Time Machine backup after Lion installation?

Where do I find the Library in a Time Machine backp after Lion installation?

You can access the backups of another computer by holding down the option key and selecting "Browse other Time Machine disks" from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. As for getting to the Library folder, you would have to use something like the free application "Tinker Tool" (not "Tinker Tool System") to make hidden files visible in the Finder, then enter Time Machine.

~/Library folder in Time Machine backups

Dear readers,
I have run into a somewhat weird problem with the ~/Library folder in my Lion Time Machine Backups.
I have made the folder visible for my normal user through Terminal and I can see it sitting in my user just fine.
However, if I want to manually copy Mail and Mail Downloads from my Lion Time Machine backup I cannot seem to make the ~/Library folder visible in my TM Backup.
I have tried to directly link to the hidden folder, but this doesn't work either.
Anyone who has the solution to this one?
Help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Thank you for your fast reply;
Does this also work in Backups that have not been linked to a fresh install yet, ergo: The Time Machine disk is seen by Lion as a normal external HDD.
Say for example I wish to manually place files back due to a corrupted user, I will still not be able to see the /Library folder in my Time machine backup...

Recovering "iTunes Music" folder from Time Machine Backup (Permissions Err)

OK, long story, but stay with me.... could be an interesting one here.
So I move to a SSD hard drive in my 24" iMac. New Intel SSD drive is only 160GB, so I'm only using it for the OS, Applications, etc... all of my data is on an external FW800 disk (Western Digital MyBook). I've already relocated my Home Directory to the external drive and that seems to be working great for all my pictures, docs, movies, etc, except for iTunes.
My iTunes library comes up, but I can't locate any of the songs. I checked the preferences and it's pointed to the correct location on the external disk. So, I was trying to do the relocation, but it would appear that the MUSIC folder does not have all the data i copied into it. When I try to open the "iTunes Music" folder I get this error... "The folder "iTunes Music" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see it's content". I've checked my Time Machine drive which obviously has all the music files on it (the space is taken up), but I can't get to them to recover.
Any clue how I can get this permissions error resolved so I can get my music? I have (3) backups of the same directory... all the same story, no permissions. I even created the same user account name when I rebuilt Snow Leopard on the SSD.

I don't think you understand. I need to get my music from Time machine where it is backed up. How do i find it in time machine and how do i transfer it to a seperate HD?

How to merge existing itunes library with another time machine volume?

hi all,
i am 2 macs, an iMac and a MacBook - both running Snow Leopard 10.6.3 and both running itunes 9.
is possible to merge the itunes library on the MacBook onto the iMac via my MacBook's Time Machine volume? i do not have my MacBook with me at this moment cos' i have sent it for diagnostic and repair. i have the latest itunes library backups on my MacBook's Time Machine.
hope to hear some valuable pointers. Thank you!

mook73 wrote:
is possible to merge the itunes library on the MacBook onto the iMac via my MacBook's Time Machine volume?
i have never attempted such an operation, so no step-by-step guide !
you will be able to restore the other Mac's library to the iMac. go here and follow the instructions: http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/17.html. restore whatever you need to a temporary location, i.e. the desktop.
if you only want the media files, just restore the iTunes music folder. when restored, use +add to library+ from the file menu or just drag the folder you restored to the +automatically add to iTunes+ folder inside the iTunes folder.
if you also want playlists, playcounts, and ratings, you should restore the entire iTunes folder.
take a look @ PowerTunes. this app should enable you to merge the two libraries.
good luck !
JGG

Restoring a single iPhoto library from multiple Time Machine backups

My daughter traveled for six months in SE Asia with her MacBook Air with the Lion OS. She routinely deleted all iPhoto 11 content after backing up with Time Machine on a 1 TB external drive as the drive on her Mac reached capacity. My question: how can she create a single, complete iPhoto library on an external drive from these multiple backups?

Your daughter will have to restore the iPhoto Libraries by going back in time on Time Machine and extracting the different libraries at the points in time before they got erased.
iPhoto does not have a feature to merge these libraries. So she could either export the images from each library and then reimport those into one selected library or use the iPhoto Library Manager application to extract photos from one library and to import them into another. Using iPhoto Library Manager she could preserve keywords and captions, but this software is not free.
Next time your daughter should simply create her iPhoto Library on her external volume, so that she has enough space to collect all pictures in one library.
Regards
Léonie

Iphoto library missing from Time Machine backup

I recently backed up my Mac Mini (Mac OS X v10.7.5) to a Seacoast 1TB external hard drive with the Time Machine feature. I wanted to double check a few key files to ensure they were backed up. Upon searching I was able to discover all my files transfered over EXCEPT my iphoto library or rather I might be looking for it in the wrong place. I made sure iphoto was closed during the back up. I currently have about 17,000 photos and I would like them preserved above all else. Can anyone provide some suggestions?

Have a look at
 > System Preferences... > Time Machine
Click the padlock (bottom left) if its not open, and enter an Admin password.
Next, click the 'Options...' button (bottom right)
Is iPhoto listed in the window? If so, it means it's been excluded from the backup.
To include it, highlight it in the window, click the -minus button and hit 'Save'.
In the menu bar, click the TM icon and choose 'Back up now' from the menu to start the backup.

How can I access ~/library on my time machine backup?

I recently re-installed OSX Lion and made sure i'd backed everything up before I did a clean install and did not want to transfer my old archive across. I need to access my user library on Time Machine so that I can restore my Transmit favourites and Little Snapper image database.
I've tried following the process here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3633972?start=0&tstart=0 but I get "The folder can't be found" (see screenshot) and now i'm at a complete as to what to do.
Any suggestions?

Last but not least, navigate the TM disk within the Finder, (do not enter TM).
When you are on the date you are looking for, navigate the directory structure until you reach the Users folder.
Open Terminal and type
cd
and a space, drag and drop your user name folder inside the Terminal window. That completes the cd command for you. Hit return.
You are now into your user folder inside the TM disk. Type
cd Library
open .
please note the dot after open. Last command opens a Finder window of the Library folder inside TM disk.
Now you are ready to get what you need.

ITunes Library Pointing to Time Machine Backup

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