Time Machine backup of shared iPhoto library

Hi,
I created a shared iPhoto library as suggsetd at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US, ,and I use TM.
When I eneter TM, I can't see the shared volume, instaed I can see under "Macnitsh HD/Users/Shared" somthing called a "photolibarary.sparseimage" that seem to be the same size as my iPhoto library.
Is my Iphoto libarary backedup?
Why can't I see the photos inside as I would if it would be in the Pictures libarary?
If I need, how do I restore it?
Thanks,
S

A Time Machine back up is not readable from the FInder. It works in increments. So the first runis the whole object being abcked up, thereafter only the changes are recorded. So, to access the back up you need to restore. This produces the original plus all the changes since.
You have put your Library on a Disk Image. You need to restore the disk image and mount it to view the contents of the Library.

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Restore time machine backups folder or iPhoto library to get album data?

Simply said, can I use Data Rescue or Disk Drill to restore old Time Machine backups instead of just the entire glob of files? I'm specifically looking for an iPhoto backup with albums and metadata, instead of just restoring the photos themselves. See below for more details.
I am an amateur or hobbyist photographer. Recently I noted that I have over 70,000 photos in iPhoto and it was really dragging. Kept telling myself to clean it up but never found the time. The other day, it said this version needs to be upgraded. Clicked ok, and when done, all my photos were gone. I have the iPhoto Library on an external and I could see that "it" was still there (almost 700gb) so I went to work trying to find a solution. Went through all of the rebuilding options with no luck and then got my stupid, "I got this" hat on. I said, no problem, I have Time Machine and I'll just restore the iPhoto Library from a few days ago when I know it was working fine. Deleted that "corrupted" library first, went to Time Machine and didn't realize that TM, at the VERY same time, must've run out of room and reset itself - it only had a brand new backup with the now-empty iPhoto Library in it. Luckily, I found all of my photos and have them safe on an external. I've also decided to backup to a cloud site (should've done a long time ago!!) and I'm researching which photo-management software will be best to catalog my pix going forward (likely Lightroom) as the Apple peeps said iPhoto isn't really built to handle that type of load.
I know I can just re-import my found photos but have I lost all of my album and event data forever? When I go to the iPhoto Library and Show Package Contents, it looks like all that data is still there. Will that just "reset" once I bring back my photos? Otherwise, I have run both Data Rescue and Disk Drill and can see all of the files - either those deleted from the external, or the deleted files that were being backed up by TM on my other external TM disk. However, the reconstructed files don't seem to include an "iPhoto Library" or a backups.backupdb by name and I'm afraid if I do all the work to restore either of those, I'm stuck in the same situation I have now - all of the photos but no album data. Went through these posts extensively and tried all of Pondini's recommendations too.
In the end, do I chalk this up as a learning experience and spend 2-3 days recreating albums and organizing my photos? Or, is there a way that I can get all that organizational data back - from the iPhoto package contents, restoring from the external, or restoring an old TM backup?

What I would do is restore the older version to a different location. Then first try the following on it:
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
2 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.
If that doesn't do the trick continue with
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.

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

How do I view the photos ? I backed up with iPhoto closed as is recommended , when I enter time machine and click on iPhoto library is calculates there is 11gb so photos are there when I click on view using iPhoto nothing happens ????

how do I view the photos ? I backed up with iPhoto closed as recommended but when I enter the Time Machine and click on iPhoto library it calculates there is 11gb in there so files must be present but when i click on open with iPhoto nothing happens ? any help welcome please !!??

The external hard drive must connect to your Mac using a USB or FireWire connection.
Note that the hard drive must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to work correctly with the iPhoto Library and be backed up to the Time Capsule and with the backups of your Mac.
We are really talking about iPhoto uses here, so you should post in the iPhoto Support area for more details about this. The link is just below.
iPhoto for Mac

TS3161 how to use time machine to reconstitute old iPhoto library

In moving photos in other files to the Pictures Folder, I somehow changed the iPhoto Library. How do I use Time Machine to put the iPhoto Library back in the right place with the picture data for iPhoto prior the the additions to the Picture folder.

Open Home/Folder/Pictures/iPhoto
Click the Time Machine icon in the toolbar and enter...
Go back in time and click restore...

I just moved iPhoto (9.6) library to EHD from my MBP. I had been running time machine backups. With the library now on an EHD, will time machine run a seamless backup next time i connect (if i allow TM to see other drives)?

I have MBP 2012 running Yosemite and iPhoto 9.6. I run Time machine backups daily.
I just moved iPhoto library to EHD and removed the iPhoto library on MBP. I have enabled external drives to be accessed on TM. The next time i run a TM backup with the EHD connected, will TM run a seamless backup or will it not like the fact that a backup is now spread across two devices where it used to be on only one?

By default EHDs are excluded for TM backups - you have to go to the TM preferences ==> options and remove them from the excluded list
And you need two disks connected -one for your iPhoto library and one for the TM backup - TM will backup all hard drives that ar not excluded - you do not need multiple TM backup disks
LN

Where is time machine backup of applications and library?

I have had regular time machine backups of my system for the past year. I have recently wiped my system and have done a fresh reinstall of OSX 10.8.
I now need to restore some applications and application settings but the Macintosh HD/Applications and Macintosh HD/Library only appear in the very first backup from a year ago. No other backup contains anything except for the "user" and "shared" folders.
Nothing on the iMac internal disk was excluded from Time Machine. Username and password are the same in the new install.
All my hair has fallen out and I am rolling around on the floor in agony.
Any ideas?

It's possible for those folders to be excluded without anything showing in the Time Machine preference pane.
Triple-click the line below to select it:
defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine SkipSystemFiles
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste (command-V) into the Terminal window. Post the line(s) of output that appear below what you entered.

Time Machine not backing up "iPhoto Library" file

I have run some utilities to make sure that my Time Machine backups are working and noticed that my "~/Pictures/iPhoto Library" file is not there in the backups. In the console I see this (paths cleaned up):
Feb 3 07:27:20 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Starting standard backup
Feb 3 07:27:20 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Backing up to: /Volumes/MacPro Backup/Backups.backupdb
Feb 3 07:27:23 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Node requires deep traversal:/{home folder}/Pictures/iPhoto Library reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonMissedReservation|
Feb 3 07:27:49 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 70.30 GB requested (including padding), 522.31 GB available
Feb 3 07:27:58 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Copied 384 files (15.9 MB) from volume MacPro.
Feb 3 07:28:50 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Copied 2261 files (109.1 MB) from volume Storage.
Feb 3 07:28:51 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.47 GB requested (including padding), 522.21 GB available
Feb 3 07:28:54 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Copied 9 files (1.7 MB) from volume MacPro.
Feb 3 07:28:57 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Copied 11 files (1.7 MB) from volume Storage.
Feb 3 07:28:58 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Starting post-backup thinning
Feb 3 07:28:58 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Feb 3 07:28:58 macpro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[77655]: Backup completed successfully.
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Notes: This machine is running Mac OS X server and I do not have my home directory on my system drive. It could be a permissions problem, but I have tried fixing that (see below)
Since this problem started I have tried:
- Erasing my Time Machine disk and letting it do a full backup
- Holding down option-command while opening iPhoto and having it do all possible rebuilding steps
- Using Terminal to make sure permissions of the main file and package contents are set to same setup as my other computers that are working

I moved it to my system drive, was able to open it up fine with iPhoto ('09 BTW) and then ran Time Machine. Same thing happened, though this time it didn't say "needs deep traversal" like it did before.
As far as exclusions go, I double checked my "Do not back up" list and nothing in there that has to do with Pictures or iPhoto. Also, found and ran this command:
sudo mdfind "comapple_backupexcludeItem = 'com.apple.backupd'"
which output:
/{home}/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml
/{home}/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml
/{home}/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates
/{home}/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries/Previous iTunes Libraries/Previous iTunes Libraries/iTunes Library 2008-10-04.xml
/{home}/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache
So that probably isn't it. It is weird that out of the 1.5 TB of data Time Machine backs up, it is only this file (folder)

Time machine backups and the iTunes library

hello
if i download music from iTunes, i get a message always asking if i would like to back my purchases up to cds.
shouldn't my time machine backup already be taking care of that?
thanks
Wade

There are no tools available to partition a network drive. Only if you break warranty and remove the drive .. plug it into the computer can you partition it.
Nor is moving itunes library a great idea. It has no backup whatsoever.. it is still designed as a target for Time Machine.
See Pondini about mixing data and backups.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

Time Machine backup iTunes and iPhoto as well?

Does time machine also backup from iTunes and iPhoto libraries?
Meaning that I don't need to separately backup those two?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Time Machine makes a backup of every file which is in your Mac hard drive, including your iPhoto and iTunes library (unless you have excluded them from the backup, which is not usual). However, you are free to make a second backup of them if you want.

How will Time Machine react? Moving iPhoto Library from one HDD to another

Hi,
I had to move my iPhoto library from one external drive to another. The iPhoto library was backed up via time machine.
Is there a way that I can "teach" Time Machine that the iPhoto-Backup from the old hard drive now belongs to the new drive???
Greetings from Austria!
EDIT:
I haven't made a backup since moving the iphoto library. But now I wonder, maybe: Will time machine automatically recognize that the iphoto library just has been moved? And that it's not a "new" library?

If you have any problems with the library in the new account you might have to download and run BatChmod on the library to reset the ownership and permissions to the new account owner for all of the files in the library. User the settings shown in the screenshot below:
Click to view full size
For Owner use the owner name for that account. If the account uses a different Group then use it also. You can find the group name by seleting a file in your other account and typing Control+i to bring up the Info window. The ownership and group will be shown near the bottom.
OT

Unable to configure Time Machine backups to shared volume on network

I've been unable to coax Time Machine (TM) into using a networked shared volume that SuperDuper! accesses without a hitch.
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Any ideas?
Thanks,
Andreas

Adapting the instruction in this post worked for us. I connected to the Mini via ssh and entered the commands to enable the external HD. It then showed up as a TM backup location on both of our computers, and the progress meters for the initial backup are ticking away.
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Time Machine Backup to Shared Firewire Drive Not Working

Hello
I know this may have been posted before, but I am looking for a simple troubleshooting / diagnostic process I can follow to resolve my issue:
I have a Imac running Lepoard with all possible software updates. A WD Studio 500GB drive is attached via Firewire 800. The drive has the latest firmware etc. I also have a 15" powerbook G4 (last model) running leopard. All Macs are connected to the a Netgear DG834N router, via ethernet cables.
The Imac and Firewire connected external drive works normally with time machine.
I have shared the external drive on the Imac and given all 'built in' groups read/write permissions.
I can mount the external drive on the powerbook and see the files that are backed up by the Imac, I can traverse the folder tree within the folders contrained in the backup. Double clicking on these folders invokes the 'star trek' style time machine window.
When trying to backup the powerbook, I could see the external drive as a time machine target disk.
The backup failed twice. Having checked the disk a sparse image was created. I tried again a number of times without success - I deleted the sparse image and tried to start again.
This time I could not find the disk in the selection in time machine, a reboot of everything revealed the disk, but when selecting the 'use for backup' button in time machine on the powerbook nothing happens.
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

You have a pretty simple problem: time machine does not allow you to backup two computers to the same hard drive or partitioin. the way to fix this is to repartition you WD drive into two partitions, one for each computer. if you already have other data (not from time machine), make three partitons: one for iMac, one for PowerBook, and one for Other. do not put any data other than time machine data on the iMac and PowerBook partitons, always put it in other. you can partiton a disk easily with disk utility, but wait:
_CAUTION: THIS WILL CAUSE YOU TO LOOSE ALL THE DATA ALREADY ON THE EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!_
to avoid this, first use disk utility to make a disk image of the external hard drive, and save it on your internal drive. if the image won't fit (your internal drive doesn't have enough capacity, then you can either erase all the data on already on the hard drive with the reformat, or buy another disk to use for the PowerBook) then, when the disk is partitioned correctly, mount the disk image and copy all the files on it back to the correct* partition of the external hard drive. *if the files on the external hard drive came from the iMac, then put them on the iMac partiton of the drive. if they came from the powerbook, put them in that partition, and if it is not from time machine, put it in othe
Hope you followed all that!
nate

Time Machine wont back up iPhoto Library on External Hard Drive

I have tried and tried, but I cannot get Time Machine to successfully back up my iPhoto Library on an external hard drive. I found out the hard way that TM was not backing up iPhoto. Sometime TM would work and other times it would not. I realize now that the times it worked was the times I had iPhoto open. The times it did not was when iPhoto was closed.
I have checked the troubleshooting steps, repaired disks ,etc - but still nothing. Anyone have any suggestions?

I bought a new MacBook Pro in late august this year, and since then I`ve had some serious problems backing up my iPhoto library. I have searched severals forums in both english and norwegian, with no luck. But today, I found this... http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4116
Thank you so much, Pondini. You made my day
Kind regards, Erlend.

I have never activated time machine and my entire iPhoto library is missing. How can I restore the library from the last back up??

I am using a MacBook Pro version 10.7.5.
Ive just noticed my entire iPhoto library is missing except for tonights last sync.
I have never activated Time Machine. I am worried if i activate it now, i would have no chance of retrieving my iPhoto library.
Can i restore the iPhoto library from the laptops memory? Or have i clicked the wrong thing while syncing, with no chance of seeing my life again?

I was distracted at the time and have forgotten but I thought it was something like "are you sure you would like to replace all photos on this divise for the ones in your iPhoto library" I was confident as both the comp and my phone have been together for years now.
Im questioning wether the iPhoto program had its own problem before tonights sync. Syncing photos is something i would do regularly without problems, but I've had about a six month break.
Luckily i have made some folders and copied photos out of the iPhoto program. iPhoto was my default photo program and had so many photos from my travelling.
Also I remembered Facebook syncs photos privately, I trying to go way back in time to see if there are any i can save there.
I respect your honesty, if you believe there is no way i can get the program back to normal just say so.

Time Machine backup of shared iPhoto library

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