Time Machine backup missing bits of iPhoto library

I just noticed that the size of my iPhoto '09 library as seen in the Latest directory on the backup drive is a little smaller than the current size of my iPhoto library. The backup is up to date. I made sure by running Time Machine manually.
After some exploring I found whole directories within the iPhoto package structure that are just missing on the backup drive. For example, iPhoto Library / Modified / 2009 / Sep 26, 2009 is missing. I can't understand why. TM has run plenty of times since those photos were imported into iPhoto. I found other directories missing, too.
What's up with this? At this point I no longer trust Time Machine. If it's not backing up these directories what else is it not backing up?

Move/backup/move back/backup did not fix the problem. TM still didn't backup the missing directories.
I was finally able to convince TM to do the right thing by following the procedure described here:
http://www.nzmac.com/quick-tips/time-machine/how-do-i-reset-time-machine.html
This isn't a solution because I still don't know what caused TM to think that it backed up something that it didn't back up. But the article was suggested by a friend of mine in IT who also owns a few Macs. After following the procedure and running TM again I can see all of the previously missing files backed up on the ext drive. I also used BackupLoupe (http://www.soma-zone.com/BackupLoupe/) to browse the files that were actually copied by the last backup. I see that TM copied the directories that I knew were missing and two other directories that I did not know were missing.
At this point I think my TM backup is complete. But now I'm on the lookout for a better backup solution. Until I find it I'll need to periodically compare backup sizes to make sure that TM keeps doing its job.

Similar Messages

Time Machine backup failure on 60Gb iPhoto Library on second partition

I had 1 partition on my Macbook Pro (2010). I have several users on the mac and I use fast switching for them. All users use same iPhoto Library and iTunes Media - they are situation in a separate folder in my partition root. My Time Capsule was setup to backup everything and it actually did it well.
Sometime ago I started to find a solution to avoid file permission problem - when different users add files/photos, they have permission to delete/change for them only. This caused some unwanted behavior. I read a lot of forums and basically the most appropriate solution is to create a separate partition on the same HDD and remove checkbox on it to support "Owner".
So I did it - created new partition. Then I moved iTunes and iPhoto to new partition and then I started backup again. Unfortunately, it failed. It took me 2 days to understand that it actually fails on iPhoto Library - all other staff works ok. But as soon as I allow to backup iPhoto Library, it starts backing up and shows some progress, but when 1-2 Gb (or sometimes 100-500 MB) complete it shows that "Backup failed - ... this might be temporary problem..".
I did not manage to resolve this - so I removed partition and reverted everything back by copying iTunes library and iPhoto library to external drive and then back after removing second partition. When I enabled backing up, everything worked great again - no problem.
So here is the question - why backup failed on iPhoto library when it was on second partition? Are the any ideas?

Move/backup/move back/backup did not fix the problem. TM still didn't backup the missing directories.
I was finally able to convince TM to do the right thing by following the procedure described here:
http://www.nzmac.com/quick-tips/time-machine/how-do-i-reset-time-machine.html
This isn't a solution because I still don't know what caused TM to think that it backed up something that it didn't back up. But the article was suggested by a friend of mine in IT who also owns a few Macs. After following the procedure and running TM again I can see all of the previously missing files backed up on the ext drive. I also used BackupLoupe (http://www.soma-zone.com/BackupLoupe/) to browse the files that were actually copied by the last backup. I see that TM copied the directories that I knew were missing and two other directories that I did not know were missing.
At this point I think my TM backup is complete. But now I'm on the lookout for a better backup solution. Until I find it I'll need to periodically compare backup sizes to make sure that TM keeps doing its job.

Can you restore a slideshow in iPhoto using Time Machine without restoring the entire iPhoto library?

Can you restore a slideshow in iPhoto using Time Machine without restoring the entire iPhoto library?

Afraid not.
Regards
TD

Time Machine Backup Missing?

I have been searching for lost photos for a couple of years, and have a new MBP and want to try to finally reaarange my digital life. I had stopped time machine from making backups because I was hoping I would not overwrite the backups that may have contained the missing photos, since time machine as it marches along eventually overwrites older backups to make room for newer ones.
So this issues has two main parts. First, I have all the missing "phtos" in its own iphoto library. Thus I can see about 900 or so thumbnails, but of course no photos to go with the thumbnails. I had hoped I could at least recover the thumbnails, but when I look in all my drives I don't see a folder associated with the thumbs - only partial thumbs that appear to be from face recognition attempts.
My next goal was to try to restore a backup from the time machine to the brand new MBP in the hopes that the photos may be in the backup. When I navigate to my time capsule, I can see saprsebundles there, but when I try to restore from time machine several I can't select which point in time to back up from. When I look at my time machine preferences on my current mchine (running 10.6.8), it shows latest backups failed, but not because it was turned off but because it says it doesn't recognize the username or password. I have updated the firmeware, and when I go into the time capsule through airport utility it shows everything operating fine, and I can access time capsule with no problem. When I click on time machine it says no backup can be found and asks if I want to setup time capsule. Now I'm stuck because I certainly don't want to accidentally erase any backups that may exist.
So how do I get to these time machine backups to see if indeed the lost photos are lurking anywhere? And can these thumbs somehow be found so I can at least save them? I know they won't be of much quality but at least I can see something when viewing them in iphoto.

Not sure why you say "at least three" unless the Time Capsule is set up to Secure shared disks with accounts (per the Disks window of Airport Utility). In that case, there may be multiple accounts on the TC; each one must log on with its name and password, and will see only what belongs to that particular account:
If you backed-up with one account for a while, then changed to another, each would have a sparse bundle for the same Mac.
Othewise, there should be one sparse bundle per Mac.
Should be only one sparsebundle, but I probably copied things in the past - this is almost 3 years that I'm still coming back and hoping to find these photos on a backup somehow. When I open Airport Utility I don't even see a menu bar like your image shows, and when I go to the menu itself all options including disk are greyed out.
Here is my finder window with the sparsebundles:
they all seem to have the same data in them.
They'll all have the same folder structure, but the contents should be the same as the Mac that made them.
But if the backups are made at different times you would think the files would be different. If I have photos taken every month, shouldn't the backups from say February have additional files than the backups from January?
The big question is are there some earlier backups lurking somewhere - I thought I had read that TM keeps earlier backups even though it may not display them.
If you don't see them via the Finder, either there's nothing else there, or there's some sort of corruption or damage.
So essentially it would seem that any backups from 2009 are gone if the earliest backup from the sparsebundle is dated 2010?
Since I see these backups through finder, would the display other tm backups display something different if I could get it to work?
Nothing extra, unless there's damage that can be fixed.
The sparsebundles seem to mount and open through finder, but nothing works through tm itself.
Have you tried the things in my previous post?
The things in the previous post seemed to apply if I couldn't mount a sparsebundle - I must be missing what to do when TM itself will not start from the dock or menu bar. I did reselect it as drive option and then turned off backups again.

How do I repair a damaged time machine backup drive/remove pictures from library on locked/failing external drive

I have a WD 1TB external hard drive that I use as my time machine backup drive as well as to store a number of things including my iphoto library (due to its size of about 85 GB) as well as documents. I began using the WD 1TB external drive with my 2007 13" MacBook and when I purchased a brand new 13" MacBook Pro in 2013 I used the WD to transfer what I wanted to the new laptop. My new MacBook Pro is running OSX 10.8.4 (2.9 GHz Interl Core i7 with 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3) (not the retina display). The WD 1TB product # is WDBACX001... and it's only about one year old so I'm super bummed that it's failing and trying to take my life with it It has only ever been used with my two MacBooks, never with a PC.
The external WD was working fine until this week when I noticed that it wasn't appearing on my desktop. I rebooted, unplugged and replugged the WD drive in each USB portal, and still nothing. I ran Disk Utility to verify and repair the disk, which did force it to show up on the desktop again, though it made everything painfully slow. After running the repair function Disk Utility told me that the drive couldn't be repaired, and that I should backup whatever is on it and restore the WD drive. I managed to pull off most of the documents before it decided to freeze up my laptop (I had a couple of folders with a few documents each left), but I wasn't able to move the iphoto library over before the drive disappeared again. I got it back by running the repair option in disk utility, with the same message that the WD drive is failing and to back it up, and tried to move the iphoto library. It told me it would take 180+ days, and kept going up. I left it up anyway for about a day to see if it would change, and instead it gave an error message, and moved nothing. I can't open the library in iPhoto- it tells me it's on a locked disk. I checked the permissions and it's set to Read & write by me (the admin user) but then under that it says read only for "everyone." I can't get into the library to pull out my pictures, which I cannot afford to lose.
I would appreciate any help or advice on how to crack into my iphoto library on this failing drive to remove the pictures. I read a lot about DiskWarrior but I also read that it won't work on newer macs (anything after June of 2012 supposedly), so I'm wondering if that's true or not, and if not is that a good program to use?
I can't afford to take it to a professional right now, so any help or advice would be so greatly appreciated! Also if anyone then could suggest the best way to back up in two places (digitally and perhaps a better brand of external drive) it would be amazing.
If you need more info let me know!

If you're very lucky, you might be able to salvage the drive mechanism, and the data, by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

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.

Using Time Machine to back up an iphoto library located on an external hard drive.

I'd like to back up my primary iphoto library that currently exists on an external Simpletech hard-drive. I have a separate WD Passport external hard drive also attached to my iMAC. When I turn on Time Machine, it only seems to allow me to choose one of the two hard-drives to receive the back-up, and automatically excludes the Simpletech where my iphoto library is located from the back-up. Am I missing something?

This is normal. If you wish to back up your Hard Drive with the iPhoto library follow these steps:
Open the time maching preferences in system prferences,
Click options,
Choose the hard drive with your iPhoto library,
Click the - button to remove it frok the list. T
Time machine will now back up all the information on this disk as well as that on your hard drive in the computer to your Time Maching Hard Drive.
Hope this helps!!!

HT4927 Using Time Machine but can't find iphoto library anywhere for replacement

I'm having issues with a few wierd duplicate iphoto Events so I thought I would use my Time Machine for the 1st time and just restor the Library ONLY (not all of iphoto, just the library) to sometime last month and go from there. BUT....................
Nothing I have seems to match any useful info I can find on this forum. My iMac is OSX 10.8.2/iphoto 11 vs9.4.2 (everything is latest-updated)
I go into Time Machine, pick a date from early last month, and I see....."All My Files/ Desktop/Applications/Documents" then in Devices are
my external drives. Thats it. Where is the "iphoto library"? I feel like I'm missing something. When I look up the subject in this forum under Time Machine, it says to open Finder 1st (why I don't know), then open Time Machine (of course) but the sample picuture of Apples Website of Time Machine doesn't look like my Time Machine as I've just described.
Even in FINDER I see All My Files/Desktop/Applications/Documents: nothing that says "iphoto Library" (I can find "iPhoto" in Applications, but the application is fine, it's just the messed up 4 or 5 events I want to fix by going back to my library from last month, which was fine).
I assume that I need to:
1-close iphoto (done)
2-open Time machine and pick my date (done)
3- here is my problem (i think): I don't see a "iphoto library" to click on and then click on something that says "replace". I've never had to use time machine so I don't know what it will look like.
Please help,

By default the iPhoto library is in your pictures folder
you choose the one you want from a "finder looking display" and click restore (there is no "repalce")
althought the Mac is great and easy to use, every software program does have a learning curve and it is worth reading the instructions - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
LN

Complex problem - Time Machine backup missing "Applications" directory

OK - I have a 2 or 3 year old iMac - Intel 1.83 mh / 4gb memory OS 10.5.7. System has been working fine and time machine seems to have been backing up fine. Today, we had a strange problem with the HD, probably some weird hit - it wouldn't boot, and I tried multiple times. I finally booted from the CD and used the disc utility to try and examine/repair the disk - no luck. I got an error message. I then went back to the CD and restored the entire system from Time Machine. The restore seem to work fine. The system re-booted OK --- EXCEPT --- there were no apps - and I mean zip. Aside from the finder, there was no Terminal app, couldn't find any apps in spotlight, and I couldn't see the app directory anywhere on Time Machine. I believe all of my data was restored OK. It's difficult for me to tell if somehow the apps were all deleted from time machine or they're there and just not visible.
Anyway, I then restored the OS (10.5) from my CD, and it has restored the basic apps that come with it - mail, terminal, disk utility etc. However, I still can't see the apps on Time Machine.
This is somewhat disconcerning since I had assumed that I could do a complete system restore with time machine.
I'm open to any advice you might have.
Signed - frustrated with Time Machine

BaNzOmBiE wrote:
I also noticed that on the time capsule there are more recent backups that I was not offered to restore by the mac os x boot disk.
Maybe not. Did you do a full restore, by booting from your Leopard Install disc, and selecting Utilities then +*Restore from Backups+* from the menubar? If so, the list of backups you saw was not shown in your local time zone: it's in *U.S. Pacific Time,* (because you only specify your language when booting from the Leopard Install disc, not your local time zone).
If you selected the last backup shown, then you got the last one, even if the date & time didn't seem right.
I don't know what to do.
Shall I start the recovery process from scratch using the same backup (and wait 13 more hours..)? Or maybe try to manually copy the applications directory on the restored mac and see what happens.
Are you sure it's not there? I know that sounds silly, but be sure you're signed-on as an Admin user, check the top level of your internal HD, and other places. What happens if you click the Apple icon in your Menubar, then +System Preferences?+ It may be some sort of permissions problem -- if the restore utility can't restore something, it will fail, not just skip things.
If all else fails, your best bet might be to do an Archive and Install, preserving users and settings, per the *Archive & Install* section of the Glenn Carter - Restoring Your Entire System / Time Machine *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Then use the normal Time Machine app to restore the other apps.

Older Time Machine backups missing

I recently upgraded my hard disk, and restored from my TM backup. After the subsequent full backup, and the (apparently) normal glitchy next few days (backups failing or preparing for ever)things seemed back to normal. However, I went to find some accidentally deleted Mail notes and discovered that no backups seem to be available from before the date of my full restore. As no new sparsebundle has been created is there any chance that my older backups are still in there somewhere, in a form where I might be able to access them?

Download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Navigate to that full backup after the restore.
That should show exactly which backups it deleted to make room for more. If you're unsure of what you see, copy and post the messages here (be sure to get them all, as sometimes they overflow the small window).

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. ?

Time Machine backup of external iPhoto library shows recent photos only as outline, no image. Any suggestions?

The Time Machine backup of my external iPhoto library shows all pictures 'now' but previous backups show the most recent pictures only as box outlines, some with a curled corner. How can I see all pictures to make sure TM has them? And if I would need to restore photos from TM can I do this one picture at a time or only the whole library? If I upgrade to iPhoto 11, a more recent OS, or both, do the answers to any of these questions change?
Many thanks!

You can not use the iPhoto library while it is a TM backup - you must restore it to use it - and you must restore it all
:LN

IPhoto destroyed time machine backups

I updated iPhoto today and it refused to start up after (spinning wheel). I trashed the preferences and it still would not reboot. In fact the whole library disappeared. I went to time machine, and there was no iphoto library in any recent back up. I rebooted and then reinstalled the system to the last backup. I photo is now last photo 2009. Also time machine is last back up from 2009. All the other back ups disappeared. I KNOW that I chose the May 24 backup and there are docs from that date on my restore. What the heck happened to my pictures and recent backups?

Hi, no, they didn't drop anything from TM bacxkups, though I personanally consider it untrustworthy & useless when push comes to shove.
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imagine what he hasn't covered! And has done an amazing job I might add!

Iphoto images on time machine backup

Hi All
Can someone tell me where to fine my photos on my time machine backup, I import using iphoto and if I 'get info' on an image from within iphoto it shows, 'Users/MacBook/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2009/Centre Parcs April 2009', however if I try to find this on my backup it just shows the 'root folder'(iphoto) icon and I'm unable to open it any further into the sub directories, what am I doing wrong?

See the pink box in #15 of [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Avoid using the Finder or Terminal on your TM backups; if you inadvertently change, move, or delete anything there, it can corrupt them, perhaps beyond repair.

Restore iPhoto from Time Machine Backup - Manually

Hi, my harddrive broke, I chose to start from scratch rather than do a complete restore from Time Machine. When I manually go to the Time Machine drive and copy my iPhoto library over from my user file, it copies all 14GB of it over. However when I open iPhoto - the app opens with a grey screen and the big greyscale clock meter rotating around. Stays like that for hours and no pictures.
Any ideas on what could be wrong and how to fix it?

I find a folder called "Old Masters".
You are victim of a bug in iPhoto 9.6 that happens when there's an interruption of the conversion process. I don't think you can restore the library at this stage. But check to make sure the Master's alias is truly an alias see where it takes you. If it's to the Old Masters folder delete the alias and rename the Old Masters folder to Masters. Then use the free, demo version of iPhoto Library Manager to rebuild the library as described below. It's a long shot but worth a try particularly if the Masters folder is really an alias pointing to the Old Masters folder.
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.>Click on the Add Library button,
2 - select the library you want to add from those in the selection window.
3 - make sure that in the rebuild window the checkbox "Scavange orphaned photos" is checked.
4 - now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
5 - in the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed. Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
If the iPLM rebuild doesn't work what is left now is to move the Masters folder to the desktop, create a new library and import the image files from that Old Masters folder. You'll have to separate them after import into the groupings that suit you meeds.

Time Machine backup missing bits of iPhoto library

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