How do you pull individual photos from iPhoto backup via Time Machine on external drive?

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Level 1

9 points

How do you pull individual photos from iPhoto backup via Time Machine on external drive?

Hi all,

I would like to pull some old photos that I have backup up on a WD external hard drive.I currently have a MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014) running OS X Yosemite (has Photos app, not iPhoto).

Before I switched to this new MacBook air from the old MacBook, I used Time Machine to back up my MacBook. I did not restore that iPhoto library to the new MacBook Air and now I want to get some pictures from that library (which is only on the external drive). From what I can tell, the only place the photos live is in the iPhoto library backup on the drive.

I don't want to replace my current Photos library with the old iPhoto library from the drive--I only want to pull some of those old photos from the drive onto the MacBook Air. Is this possible? If not, is it possible to restore the entire old iPhoto library onto the MacBook Air without writing over the existing Photos library (so that the MacBook Air then has both the Photos library it currently has and the old iPhoto library as well)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as nothing I'm finding in a search really addressed this specific issue.

Thank you so much!

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 29, 2015 4:02 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Sep 29, 2015 5:07 PM in response to LMForge

you can restore the old library to a different location

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

LN

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Answer 2

LMForge Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 30, 2015 4:03 AM in response to LarryHN

Thanks for answering! I'm a little unsure what you're saying though. You're suggesting that I restore the entire iPhoto library to a different location, right? But what do you mean by that? What other location? And is that the only option--to restore the whole library? Or is it possible to view the individual image files and get some of them?

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Answer 3

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Sep 30, 2015 4:12 AM in response to LMForge

If you want only certain photos: use the "export" function in iPhoto.

If these are not in the iPhoto library anymore: open Finder, set to the Pictures folder, then click the Timemachine icon and select "enter time machine". Pick a date from before the date that you deleted the photos in question, the "restore" the library completely. Then export with iPhoto.

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Answer 4

LMForge Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 30, 2015 4:18 AM in response to Lexiepex

The entire old iPhoto library is on the hard drive--it was never on my new MacBook Air. I left it on the drive to save storage on the new laptop. I can't seem to get to the actual files on the drive (only the entire iPhoto library). So is the only option restoring the entire iPhoto library from the drive to the new MacBook Air? And if I do that, will it somehow save over/delete my existing new Photos library on the Air? I don't use iPhoto on the Air at all--only Photos app. It's two completely different collections of pictures, and I don't want to lose the new ones. I have already done a backup of the Photos library on iCloud and I did a whole Time Machine backup of everything from the Air as well.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

194,685 points

Sep 30, 2015 4:26 AM in response to LMForge

iPhoto '11 does not support to extract individual photos from a Time Machine backup.

That is why you need to restore the complete backup of the older library, like Larry recommended Restore it to a different folder or different drive, so you do not overwrite your current iPhoto Library. Then double click the restored library to extract the photos you need to restore.

See this support document: iPhoto '11: Restoring from Time Machine with iPhoto '11 (9.2 or later) and OS X Lion 10.7.2 (or later) - Apple Support

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Answer 6

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Sep 30, 2015 5:02 AM in response to LMForge

Restore the complete library on your mac. Make a selection and make that a separate library. Copy that one to the Air.

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Answer 7

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Sep 30, 2015 7:04 AM in response to LMForge

What other location? Any you want - as long as it is not the location of yoru current library so you do not overwrite the current one - different ocation means jsut that - not the same location, a different one

and no you can not restore an image - you must restore the library

LN

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