Lost Photos . Restoring from Time Machine didn't work. HELP!

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Lost Photos . Restoring from Time Machine didn't work. HELP!

Here's what happened. I pray someone can help. I've lost precious childhood photos.

1. I made a folder with a few albums inside.

2. I was going through my photos and moving appropriate ones into the albums.

3. With maybe 10-15 photos I would get the big, black exclamation point when I double-clicked on the photo to see a larger version of it.

4. Researched how I could fix this problem.

5. Tried all the iPhoto Repair Library (command/option open iPhoto) options. Didn't fix the exclamation point problem.

6. Downloaded iPhoto Library Manager. Started to run "Restore Library" but noticed it looked like the program froze, so I canceled it.

7. Went back to iPhoto and realized I had lost at least half my photos! PANICKED!

8. Decided to use Time Machine and my back-up hard drive to restore the iPhoto Library.

9. Started TM, but again it appeared like it wasn't working, so I cancelled it again.

10. Went back to iPhoto and noticed my photos were back but the exclamation point problems was still there.

11. Since TM appeared to work, I ran it about two hours after which time a window popped up saying something like "Can't continue operation. Only option was to click "Ok."

12. Opened iPhoto, and I'm back to missing half my photos (all of which appear to be from 2009 and earlier).

Majorly stressed out right now. Please can anyone help me?

Running OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 and iPhoto 9.6.1

Thank you!

macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Apr 6, 2015 6:31 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 6, 2015 9:39 AM in response to michael1475

Did you do all this via the iPhoto interface, or did you use the finder?

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Answer 2

Old Toad

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207,445 points

Apr 6, 2015 9:50 AM in response to michael1475

Try this:

Starting over from scratch with new library

Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:

1. Open the library package like this.

2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.

3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.

This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.

Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

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Answer 3

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 10:01 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Hey Keith. Thanks for offering to help.

I did all the work within iPhoto. For some reason I can't find my iPhoto library.

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Answer 4

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 10:10 AM in response to Old Toad

OT,

Thanks for helping! I'll give your suggestion a try and get right back to you.

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Answer 5

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 10:25 AM in response to michael1475

Didn't work. It imported thousands of OS icons, no photos. But I never found the "Masters" folder because I can't find my iPhoto library. I control/clicked on the iPhoto application icon, not the iPhoto Library icon. I think that's why it didn't work.

I did a spotlight search for the library but all that it finds is iPhoto Library Manager application.

When I hold down the option key then open iPhoto, it asks if I want to open from an Aperture library (which never contained the photos I'm missing) and a default library created when I started but then cancelled a library rebuild using the iPhoto Library Manager application.

I think I've really screwed this up and all my kids' photos are gone.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

207,445 points

Apr 6, 2015 10:47 AM in response to michael1475

Didn't work. It imported thousands of OS icons, no photos.

Sounds like you imported the iPhoto application instead of the Masters folder in the library.

Download and run Find Any File to search for a file with "AlbumData.xml" in the file name. This is a file common to all versions of iPhoto libraries.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages. If there's a library hiding somewhere on your hard drive FAF will find it.

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Answer 7

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 11:44 AM in response to Old Toad

It's found 6 files so far, but it's not done searching.

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Answer 8

Old Toad

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Apr 6, 2015 11:55 AM in response to michael1475

Post a screenshot of the results window when it's done. Mine looks like this with my many test libraries:

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Answer 9

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Old Toad

To attach a screenshot, do I simply drag and drop?

To be in the safe side, I had Find Any File search "on all disks." So this may take awhile. Sorry.

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Answer 10

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 2:44 PM in response to michael1475

It's searched over 4 million files and still found 6 hits. Do you think it's safe to assume all there are are 6 matches or should I let it continue to search?

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Answer 11

notcloudy

Level 4

1,252 points

Apr 6, 2015 3:18 PM in response to michael1475

Did you try and restore from time machine by entering the time machine interface?

Hope this is not another - Apple Drop -- but I have restored individual pictures from time machine by opening up IPHOTO on the desktop - positioning it at the events window - and then using the "Enter Time Machine" Option - and then gone back in time looking for the picture I wanted.

You may find that a better way to reload some pictures. Keep in mind Time machine is an incremental backup - so if you are trying to restore the entire library at a point in time - it may take a while.

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Answer 12

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 3:44 PM in response to notcloudy

Hi notcloudy,

Thanks for offering to help. I did try to install while in the Time Machine interface. It ran for about two hours then a window came up and said something like "Can't continue operation," and my only option was to click "ok." Then, unknown to me right away, Time Machine started to run a backup. Once I saw this happening, I stopped it. But then I noticed on my external hard drive that my previous backup (the good one) was gone (but still appears when I open TM.

I fear I messed something up really bad and my kids' photos are gone.

Has anyone tried the software Data Rescue 4? It's a $100, so I only want to use it if there's a decent chance it will work. Or should I continue to try to find the photos by looking through my hard drive?

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Answer 13

michael1475 Author

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Apr 6, 2015 4:43 PM in response to Old Toad

Hope this helps! I'm about to find the nearest tall building!

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Answer 14

notcloudy

Level 4

1,252 points

Apr 6, 2015 6:26 PM in response to michael1475

Did you just import your pictures into IPHOTO (so both the original and any mods were in IPHOTO?)

You could try again with the Time machine interface -- but remember to stop automatic backup first.

When you rebuild an Iphoto library, the entire library is backed up to time machine. Same when you move folders around.

Did you have IPHOTO open when you went into time machine? that will let you see if the pictures you are looking for are in library on that date.

Note" Both E-Mail and Iphoto can have individual items restored from time machine - if you have the app open when you go into same. If you have multiple IPHOTO libraries, simply have the one you want to restore from open.

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Answer 15

Old Toad

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Apr 7, 2015 8:44 AM in response to michael1475

That tells us that you have 3 libraries on your HD, all on the Desktop.

I'd go back into Time Machine and restore a library about a week before this problem started. Then test to see if you're getting the exclamation mark. If so try the First Aid and then iPLM repairs. That way you should be able to recover some of your pictures without the icons from the iPhoto application in the library.

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