Trying to find photos in iPhotos (time machine) before Mac crashed - on Time

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Level 1

8 points

Trying to find photos in iPhotos (time machine) before Mac crashed - on Time

In March our original Mac hard-drive crashed. We were running time machine - and as of today I still have files on time machine going back to March. We chose to buy a new Mac and did, When I started the new Mac up I started from Time machine to the few days before the crash, all the photos from "Photos" did not transfer over, although all other files, documents and stuff did. We had some photos from September '19 through February '20 in the "Photos" application that we are missing and want to recover.

I am trying to recover those photos from the oldest timeamchine backup I have. I have tried to use the directions for the iPhoto library upgrader (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202358) and that doesn't seem to work. When I open the "Photos" app from March 2020 in time machine I get a message that the version is too old.

I am not the most computer savvy - but can follow step by step directions.

We have the time machine file on a new external with the new Mac - and I also have it on the original external which is now with the old Mac that I put a new hard drive into. Both Macs are running the newest version of OS. macOS Catalina 10.15.6

Please help!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Oct 6, 2020 9:24 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

24,056 points

Oct 6, 2020 10:06 AM in response to SeanQ168

Hi - you don't want to restore your photos app, you need to restore your photos library. Hopefully it hasn't been deleted from the backup already.

What was the account username on the old mac. On my mac it is Tony - I can see it in finder here:

So now open (enter) time machine, go to the date you need, and browse to your user name - you should see it top left in time machine just as in the screenshot above.

Click on the username, then in the second column there should be a list of files and folders. There should be a Pictures folder. Click on it (Or double click if in list view and not column view), then in the third column you should be able to find your library. That is what you need to restore.

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Answer 2

Oct 6, 2020 2:37 PM in response to SeanQ168

You need to restore the library from time machine, and open it with the photos app already on your mac (not a restored photos app). If the shortcut to your user account is not there , you will need to follow the path as shown below.

Enter time machine.

Click on the "mybook" link which is showing (or whatever the name of your old mac was). Hopefully then you can follow the folders:

Macintosh HD (Or similar name)>Users>(your user name)>Pictures>Photos Library.photos library (or again, the filename of your old photos library)

As shown in the screenshot.

Restore the photo library from time machine as I described earler, but then open it with the CURRENT photos app, not a restored one.

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Answer 3

Oct 6, 2020 9:55 AM in response to TonyCollinet

PS, the library will probably need to be upgraded - but that should happen automatically, if the version on your old mac was not too old. If older than that, then there is an upgrade tool available.

You might be better off restoring it on your old mac if that is still running the same version of MacOS as it was before the crash.

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Answer 4

SeanQ168 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2020 10:55 AM in response to SeanQ168

I have now plugged in my old external HD - which was the first one I started from. I have been able to find the file its 12.1 GB. However when I try to open it I get the poop-up window below. As I have mentioned I have tried to download a file from this forum that fixes this issue and it doesn't seem to work - not sure if its an old posting or if I am doing something wrong.

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Answer 5

Oct 6, 2020 9:38 AM in response to SeanQ168

Go to your march backup in time machine before the crash.

Go to (your user)/pictures and find the "file" Photos Library.photoslibrary (Or whatever the name was of your main photos library)

Right click, and select "restore to..." and restore it to a location that has sufficient space. That should extract a copy of your whole library from that date.

Once there, you should be able to open it by holding down the option key while starting photos.

(Note - the location you restore it to should be formatted APFS or Macos Extended journaled, as described here:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201517 )

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Answer 6

SeanQ168 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2020 9:57 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Tony -

Thanks for quick response. I am getting lost on the second step: Go to (your user)/pictures and find the "file" Photos Library.photoslibrary (Or whatever the name was of your main photos library). I can not find MelissaQualy/Pictures - or the file. All that is showing is what was on my desktop for files.

When I clicked on the "applications" option - Photos was listed (the app). I have saved that to my new external drive.

When I followed the steps: "Right click, and select "restore to..." and restore it to a location that has sufficient space. That should extract a copy of your whole library from that date.

Once there, you should be able to open it by holding down the option key while starting photos."

I get the "problems report for photos" which states "check with developer t make sure Photos works with this version version of macOS"

Here is the problem details and system configuration:

Process: Photos [82140]

Path: /Volumes/VOLUME/Photos.app/Contents/MacOS/Photos

Identifier: com.apple.Photos

Version: 4.0 (3451.7.120)

Build Info: PhotoApp-3451007120000000~2

Code Type: X86-64 (Native)

Parent Process: ??? [1]

Responsible: Photos [82140]

User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2020-10-06 11:54:33.805 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.15.6 (19G2021)

Report Version: 12

Anonymous UUID: 0948AE8A-2150-A39A-3DF2-DC8D4A4FBD7A

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Answer 7

SeanQ168 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2020 10:28 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Tony,

MelissaQualy is the iMac computer name - however as in your photo above - when I click on Finder - I do not get the Mac name as the first in the list - I get "airdrop" and all the others in the same order on the left side. The same occurs when I open Time machine from the launch pad - I do not get the Mac name just "recent" "applications" "desktop" ect going down the list on the left.

However - I think I just had it say the Mac name MelissaQualy (at the top) - however I had to exit out of Time Machine to follow the directions you provided and now when I go back its not there. Ugh!

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

200,747 points

Oct 6, 2020 11:14 AM in response to SeanQ168

The crash log is showing, that you are trying to launch a restored Photos 4.0, but your system version is macOS 10.15.6 . That cannot work.

Process: Photos [82140]

Path: /Volumes/VOLUME/Photos.app/Contents/MacOS/Photos

Identifier: com.apple.Photos

Version: 4.0 (3451.7.120)

Build Info: PhotoApp-3451007120000000~2

Code Type: X86-64 (Native)

Parent Process: ??? [1]

Responsible: Photos [82140]

User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2020-10-06 11:54:33.805 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.15.6 (19G2021)

Report Version: 12

Anonymous UUID: 0948AE8A-2150-A39A-3DF2-DC8D4A4FBD7A

You need to run the version of Photos that is installed as a part of your system, not an older version of Photos from your backup.

Use the Photos.app, that is installed in the folder Applications. No other version of Photos will run on your system.

Try to launch Photos by opening the folder Applications on your Mac. Hold down the options key ⌥ while launching Photos. Release ⌥ when you are seeing the library chooser dialog. is Photos showing you any Photos lIbraries to select?

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Answer 9

Old Toad

Level 10

216,268 points

Oct 6, 2020 11:07 AM in response to SeanQ168

You will have to restore the entire library from within Time Machine:

Follow the directions for Restoring to another location.

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Trying to find photos in iPhotos (time machine) before Mac crashed - on Time

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