mari-method
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: photos in iPhoto earlier today but can't recover, even from time machine

I was looking at pictures in iPhoto today, some of which were from the last year of my dad's life (2013).  iPhoto threw an error and crashed. When I restarted, it said there was a database error, and prompted me to rebuild (which I did).   Then, I noticed all the pics from 2013 were missing.

 

I followed instructions here to recover "orphans": iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library - Apple Support  and it did not work. So, I followed the steps to totally rebuilt - it did not recover the pics.

 

Then, I copied my iPhoto library to an external harddrive, deleted iPhoto Library from Pictures directory, and restored a time-machine backup of iPhoto Library from last week.

 

I reopened iPhoto using the newly restored iPhoto Library. Pictures still missing.  I repeated the steps found: iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library - Apple Support.  Pics STILL missing.

 

Someone please help me recover this very important pics.  They most definitely are on the time machine backups. I can't figure out why they are not getting restored into iPhoto.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), null

Posted on Jun 21, 2015 9:35 PM

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mari-method

Q: photos in iPhoto earlier today but can't recover, even from time machine

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  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 21, 2015 9:41 PM in response to mari-method
    Level 10 (106,988 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 21, 2015 9:41 PM in response to mari-method

    Are only the photos from 2013 missing or all older photos from before 2013?

     

    After the crash iPhoto may have opened a different iPhoto Library because it could no longer access the library.  DO you have any external drives connected, where iPhoto could have used a library on a backup drive instead of your regular library?

     

    Try to launch iPhoto while holding down the alt/options key to brig up the library chooser panel. Do you see more than one library?

  • by mari-method,

    mari-method mari-method Jun 21, 2015 10:29 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 21, 2015 10:29 PM in response to léonie

    Thanks, I do see 2 libraries:  the one in my pictures directory (which is DEFAULT) and the one on my external hard drive. 

     

    So, I ejected my external hard drive, and started iPhoto by clicking on the iPhoto Library in my pictures directory.  Pics still missing.

     

    It is only a section of photos from 2013 that are missing. Older photos are still there, as are more recent photos.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 21, 2015 10:37 PM in response to mari-method
    Level 10 (106,988 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 21, 2015 10:37 PM in response to mari-method

    Your events may have become merged, so you do not see the events in the correct order.

    Have you searched with a smart album with a date rule, like this?   File > New Smart Album

    Screen Shot 2015-06-22 at 07.35.19.png

  • by mari-method,

    mari-method mari-method Jun 22, 2015 8:34 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 22, 2015 8:34 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks, Leonie,  I had not tried that. I just tried it, though, and it does not find my missing pictures.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 22, 2015 10:28 AM in response to mari-method
    Level 10 (106,988 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 22, 2015 10:28 AM in response to mari-method

    Then, I copied my iPhoto library to an external harddrive, deleted iPhoto Library from Pictures directory, and restored a time-machine backup of iPhoto Library from last week.

     

    I reopened iPhoto using the newly restored iPhoto Library. Pictures still missing.  I repeated the steps found: iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library - Apple Support.  Pics STILL missing.

    Do you have a Time Machine backup of your iPhoto Library from earlier?  Can you back in time to 2013?

  • by mari-method,

    mari-method mari-method Jun 22, 2015 11:07 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 22, 2015 11:07 AM in response to léonie

    Yes, but I already chose one from April 2015 - and I've hardly uploaded any pictures this year.  Somehow, my database is messed up. Is there somewhere this is stored so that I could delete and then rebuild it?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 22, 2015 2:57 PM in response to mari-method
    Level 10 (106,988 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 22, 2015 2:57 PM in response to mari-method
    Yes, but I already chose one from April 2015

    If the photos have been deleted from the library during the last year, you will probably find them if you go back to a time right after you imported them.

     

    and I've hardly uploaded any pictures this year.  Somehow, my database is messed up. Is there somewhere this is stored so that I could delete and then rebuild it?

    In your original post you said that you already tried to repair and to rebuild the library.

     

    When was the last time, that you saw the missing photos in the library?

  • by mari-method,

    mari-method mari-method Jun 22, 2015 6:26 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 22, 2015 6:26 PM in response to léonie

    The pictures, which are now missing, were there yesterday when I was first browsing iPhoto.  I even uploaded 1 of them to facebook. It was not until after iPhoto crashed that the pictures went missing:

    I was looking at pictures in iPhoto today, some of which were from the last year of my dad's life (2013).  iPhoto threw an error and crashed. When I restarted, it said there was a database error, and prompted me to rebuild (which I did).   Then, I noticed all the pics from 2013 were missing.

     

    So, realistically, they should be on my most recent time machine backup done before starting iPhoto yesterday. 

     

    Yes, I did "rebuild' the database. But, maybe the database is the problem.

     

    Is this the type of issue that apple care can help with?  I really want to recover this pictures.  They were there YESTERDAY and I I have time machine backups.