iPhoto, iMovie, Final Cut Pro Backups

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iPhoto, iMovie, Final Cut Pro Backups

If i make changes to a photo in iPhoto, or changes to a clip in the time line in iMovie or Final Cut Pro, does time machine just make changes in the individual photo or clip in those packages or does it backup the whle package even though only a single change was made? If the whole package, do you have any suggestions on how to run sensible backups with these programs, so I don't run out of space on my backup hard drive. I have over 7,500 photos and over a hundred movies. I am constantly adding minor information changes to my photos and making minor edits to my movies.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Nov 22, 2012 1:03 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

Community+ 2024

Level 10

159,176 points

Nov 22, 2012 1:23 PM in response to lburech

iPhoto will only backup the images that have changed since the last backup. Keep in mind that if your image is 10 MB, then 10 MB of data will be backed up.

Things in iPhoto will not be backed up until after you have quit iPhoto, even though Time Machine may be backing up other data in other applications.

I do not know how iMovie or Final Cut Pro work as far as Tme Machine backups. Might be a good idea to post in those forums to let the experts there answer. Couldn't hurt to get some input from the iPhoto guys as well, as they answer Time Machine questions frequently.

iMovie Final Cut Pro X iPhoto

If you are not already doing so, you would probably want to consider making separate backups of each library on a regular basis on another hard drive.

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Answer 2

lburech Author

Level 1

17 points

Nov 22, 2012 8:53 PM in response to Bob Timmons

I am still a bit confused. If I foolishly delete and trash a photo that I later want to restore, don't I have to restore the entire iPhoto library?

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Answer 3

Nov 23, 2012 6:22 AM in response to lburech

Earlier versions of the Mac operating system allowed a user to go into the iPhoto backups, select and restore an individual photo.

Unfortunately, that all changed a few years aglo. Now you must restore the entire library.

See the pink box in this document from Time Machine expert Pondini for all the gory details:

http://pondini.org/TM/15.html

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