iphoto imported my videos as images when I moved them to a folder

Question

iphoto imported my videos as images when I moved them to a folder

So I was trying to do a backup of my pictures in iPhoto into an USB, I copied and then pasted all my pictures and videos into a folder on my desktop. I deleted all my pictures from iPhoto and now that I was looking for a video on the folder that is on my desktop, all the videos were converted to images.

Can someone tell what happen? Can I fix this and make those pictures into videos again?

I have the MacOS Mojave Version 10.14.2

Please HELP!

MacBook Air (2018 or later)

Posted on Jan 24, 2019 11:44 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,621 points

Jan 24, 2019 11:51 AM in response to linafromdothan

Are you using iPhoto or Photos? When you copy and paste a video from Photos 4.0 into folder, you are just saving a preview JPG. There is no way to turn this preview JPG back into video. You should have use "File > Export" to save your photos and videos.

Do you have a Time Machine backup from the time, before you deleted your photos and videos?

Then restore your Photos Library from this backup.

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Answer 2

Jan 24, 2019 12:26 PM in response to léonie

I did it on January 13, but of the five thousand something photos and videos I had there are only a thousand and something on the Recently deleted album. Don't know what happened to the rest... Is there like a trash file for Photo?

Im going to try and see what I can recover with the software.

Thank you very much!

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Answer 3

Jan 24, 2019 11:56 AM in response to léonie

I had no idea it worked like that... I have no backup.

I guess I just lost all my videos of 5 years.

:(

Thank you

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,621 points

Jan 24, 2019 12:21 PM in response to linafromdothan

How long ago has it been, when you deleted the photos and videos from your Photos Library?

You have checked the Recently Deleted album, if they are still there? You can recover item from recently Deleted for thirty days, if you do not empty it prematurely.

If you did not use your Mac a lot after deleting the videos, you could try data recovery software, like Disk Drill. But such software is expensive. Use the trial mode to see, what can be recovered before you pay for the software.

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iphoto imported my videos as images when I moved them to a folder

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