TimeMachine restore and the photo library

Question

jelger Author

Level 1

6 points

TimeMachine restore and the photo library

I have the following problem:

- Reinstalled my system from scrap;

- dragged the user folders back to the newly made accounts;

- and copied the photos library from the time machine backup to his now dedicated hard drive in my mac.

Okay, all the photos are accounted for but then:

- No previews (for some reason apple decided it not worth to back up), > solved by rotating the photos back and forth to trigger a regeneration of the preview:

- Faces, only 37 are left from the like 350 faces in the original library ( where did they go?)

- Custom location data originally added in aperture, which were also present in the pre restore photos app are for most of the photos missing.

- Most of the albums are also missing.

- And all my edits I do not now.

Can any one tell me how to prevent this disaster in the future (got 51000 pictures to go through again)

Where does apple store all the data, if not in the library file itself?

- Which system directories need to be backed up separately? (Also to send these to my 'Backblaze' web backup of my system)

Does anyone already have an airtight backup solution / strategy for the photos app because mine has failed me in a very unexpected manner 😟.

Best regards,

Jelger

Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), null

Posted on Jun 16, 2015 12:31 AM

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Answer 1

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Jun 16, 2015 2:38 AM in response to jelger

Apple does not recommend using drag & drop to copy files & folders from Time Machine backups to your startup drive. Instead, you should use Time Machine's restore option, for example as explained in the Photos help topic Restore a Photos library from a Time Machine backup.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,723 points

Jun 16, 2015 3:20 AM in response to jelger

- Reinstalled my system from scrap;

After you reinstall the system use the Setup Assistant to restore your home folder and other documents and data rom the Time Machine backup.

Using the Setup Assistant right after the newly installed system starts up again will ensure that all ownerships and permissions will be correctly restored, because you do not need create a new user account. If you first set up a new user user account and then start to restore your documents and data from the backup devices, you may encounter permission and ownership problems.

To restore from Time Machine use only the Time Machine interface, for all documents and data, not only for your iPhoto Library as R C-R pointed out, see: Mac Basics: Time Machine

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Answer 3

jelger Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 16, 2015 2:32 PM in response to léonie

yes you are right of cours, the library needed repair after putting it back, should have been my wake up call 😟

time me machine is already spoiled in again so done is done.

but the library is installed on a no owner ship drive and the whole family inserts photos from there own account.

and I would like to backup the library also to my web backup. Because one backup is no backup.

that is why it is necessary to now which extra folders and files need to be secured.

does anyone has that information availabl?

best regard, Jelger

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Answer 4

Jun 16, 2015 3:29 PM in response to jelger

I've had similar issues!

I did an additional backup on a new disk as well as having my old Time Machine backups. Apple then did a wipe down whilst doing a battery replace for me.

Upon restoring from backup all of my previews had disappeared. All of the images seem ok when you open them, but only black or white rectangles where the previews should be.

I'm currently rotating all 18,000 of them one way then the other to get them to appear as per the OP (thanks for that tip, it hadn't occurred to me).

I attempted to try and find my Aperture/iPhoto Libraries in my Time Machine backups (going back over a year) but these do not appear in my backups, yet I've not excluded anything from my backups.

Kind of irritated. But so long as the rotating fixes things, I'm hopeful everything will come out in the wash.

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Answer 5

Susan A.

Level 1

5 points

Aug 29, 2015 3:33 PM in response to léonie

Hi léonie,

Your answer: "Using the Setup Assistant right after the newly installed system starts up again will ensure that all ownerships and permissions will be correctly restored, because you do not need create a new user account. If you first set up a new user user account and then start to restore your documents and data from the backup devices, you may encounter permission and ownership problems."

is very helpful to me.

The Genius bar just did a fresh install of my OS on my MacBook Pro to resolve my crashing issues. I came home and restored from my Time Capsule. The assistant asked for my email, password and asked for a name for my identity. I didn't realize it was setting up a whole new user account to do a restore.

Now that the restore is done, I've found that the files on my desktop are not there, photos in iPhoto are missing, no songs in iTunes. I turned on iCloud so email, iCal etc are okay. I'll probably discover more problems are the minutes tick by. Good news, majority of work files are there.

Any advice on how can I restore again but the "right way" and preserve the clean OS that's been installed? I would be most grateful.

I found this article to be too general Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support

Small words, short sentences would be great. I'm very frazzled and not at my cognitive best.

p.s. I have not turned Time Machine back on yet so it will not overwrite any of my original back ups.

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Answer 6

Nov 12, 2015 3:20 PM in response to Dancing Jay

Yes, was pleased to find the rotating solution (after a new hard drive put in and used Setup Assistant and it happened nonetheless), until I tried to do my wife's bigger library and Photo quit half way through rotating. and again trying to rotate back. Now have half blanks, quarter previews with right rotation and quarter with wrong. A mess! I can't ever remember using Migration assistant software on mac and having no problems. Also email settings screwed up with POP mail there prior to new drive, now not...

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Answer 7

RayNL

Level 1

4 points

Apr 13, 2016 2:21 AM in response to Dancing Jay

I hit the same problems when migrating from Yosemite 10.10.5 on one machine to Yosemite 10.10.5 on another identical Macbook Pro.

That should just work.

Thanks for the tip.

I selected ALL photos in the "All photos" screen (all photos, Apple A).

Then image rotate counter clockwise (Apple R).

Then image rotate clockwise (command Apple R)

That way you can do thousands of photos in bulk..... Saves a lot of time.

I also experienced a screwed up mail account. Had to go to the old mac.

Use User Groups and the KeyChain to retrieve old settings, and then manually add on the new Mac.

This is very poor, and does not give me confidence in Time Machine.

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Answer 8

cseebacs

Level 1

4 points

Nov 16, 2016 3:11 PM in response to jelger

Hello all,

I just did a full restore from a Time Machine backup (I installed new hard drive) and ran into EXACTLY the same problem: most albums missing, almost all the "people" work is gone, etc. But I did it following Apple's restore instructions and the iCloud.com albums are there (also on my other devices). Not sure if I should wait until it downloads the albums, faces, etc from the iCloud library or what to do (or disconnect it from internet before it deletes the albums from other devices)?!?!?! Please help anyone!

MacOS Sierra 10.12.1

Photos 2.0 (451.20.9)

Thanks, Christian

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