Restore iMessage Conversations from TM Backup

Question

Level 1

78 points

Restore iMessage Conversations from TM Backup

I did a clean install of El Capitan with everything backed up on Time Machine. I have been trying to copy the messages archive folder from the Time Machine backup to the OS, but they don't appear once I start Messages back up.

I've tried copying and pasting .plist files and going to crazy locations, logging out and back in of Messages, searching the community as well as online, but nothing seems to be solving this. There has to be a way to load all the archived conversations back into Messages, I'd love to know why Apple complicated such a matter, just like them ruining "Transferring Purchases" from a Device in iTunes now too do to "App Thinning". Seems like with time everything is getting worse.. Would also like to get them back onto the iPhone after they're back in the OS, but that's probably a long shot so one step at a time.

Any help on getting my conversations back up into Messages app would be greatly appreciated!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Oct 21, 2015 1:46 PM

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Answer 1

NY Andrew Author

Level 1

78 points

Feb 1, 2016 7:00 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph guess what, it worked! I called Apple (which wouldn't have been any help at all I knew more than the rep), but when I opened up Messages all the sudden I saw a bunch more conversations in there! I realized that pictures were missing though, so I went to the ~/Library/Messages/Attachments folder on my Time Machine Backup and copied the folder back to the same location on the iMac and that seemed to bring back most of the pictures as well. I bet I had it working before I even posted here but wouldn't have known because I didn't RESTART the computer which seemed to put everything back in its place. Just signing out of the computer and the Messages application wasn't enough I guess. Either way THANK YOU for your help Ralph I greatly appreciate it. Just have an issue of now new conversations from my iPhone aren't in the Messages application I guess because I now have an old database file in there so not sure how to get the new conversations in the archive folder to appear back in there...

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Answer 2

Mar 10, 2017 10:47 AM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

I believe I have a very similar problem with a slightly different scenario. I had an SSD drive that was acting erratically. I was able to copy my entire Users folder to another drive before the SSD drive finally decided to no longer mount.

I "repaired" permissions through get info for my particular user folder Users/zimboden and ensured that all enclosing folders/files were given the same permissions. This fixed all other app issues that appeared immediately after rebooting with the recovered Users folder.

I should forewarn that I use the "unsupported" feature where I option-click on a user and point that user to a user folder on a separate drive. I've been doing this for years without problem.

Everything is working. All apps are happy. All my data is there and so are all my archived messages.

However the Messages app still does not see them.

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Answer 3

Oct 23, 2015 1:43 PM in response to NY Andrew

Hi,

The Archive folder in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages AND the items in ~/Library/Messages (the chat.db items).

The first seems to store them and the second helps the app link them altogether.

This did seem to be a change in Yosemite as previous to this you just had to have the Archive Contents.

I have not tried this as I have not tried a Fresh Install.

My Mac User account has migrated across from another computer and pre-dates Leopard on a G4 as well as Lion through to El Capitan on this iMac.

9:43 p.m. Friday; October 23, 2015

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 4

Oct 28, 2015 2:50 PM in response to NY Andrew

Hi,

As I have said I have not found a simple way and have been reluctant to do fresh Install and rebuild everything as I have no actual need to.

I am not sure there is anything else I can suggest.

9:50 pm Wednesday; October 28, 2015

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 5

Oct 29, 2015 2:37 PM in response to NY Andrew

Hi,

That is good to hear.

The trouble now is that it seems impossible to merge old and new items into one database for this.

It seems to stem from the fact iMessages only syncs from the time an Apple ID and iPhone Number are linked.

No Older iMessages are gathered up so to speak.

9:37 pm Thursday; October 29, 2015

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 6

Jan 28, 2017 11:36 AM in response to SailNC

You're Welcome.

7:36 pm Saturday; January 28, 2017

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 10.x and an iPad (2)

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Answer 7

Mar 10, 2017 11:00 AM in response to zacfromportland

Hi,

So ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive is there.

I presume that ~/Library/Messages and the chat.db items and the Attachments folder are there.

I doubt Messages has done a summary run (only done at Updates and Upgrades) or the Alias of the Attachments (First location) is linked to the Attachments folder for the same reason.

You might have some luck if you download and install a Combo version of the OS version you are up to and make it do the Update/Summary process this way.

Gone are the days in iChat when you could move .ichat files around to any Archive folder that was in use and have iChat "See" them all.

7:00 pm Friday; March 10, 2017

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 10.x and an iPad (2)

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Answer 8

NY Andrew Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 27, 2015 9:13 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thank you for your response Ralph, however, it did not work. Getting to the point now where I'm probably gonna end up corrupting the current chat conversations with all this replacing of files, but nothing has been working. There HAS to be a way to make this work.

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Answer 9

SailNC

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2017 12:18 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph, thanks for this tip!

I just encountered the same problem, when migrating all my stuff to a new MBPro (and at the same time, moving to Sierra).

Your solution worked perfectly. As Andrew said, below, it took a reboot before I could see that it worked.

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