Is it possible to restore 25 photos from a time machine backup
March 21, 2016 7:27 PM Subscribe
So I've got a macbook air. There is NOT a ton of room left on it. But somehow a bunch (like 25-30) photos I took were deleted. I'm still not sure how. And I want to restore JUST those photos. But as I understand it, I need to restore the entire library. And I don't have enough room for TWO libraries on this computer. So is it possible to just go back, look for the photos I want, and restore JUST those? If so...how? Latest mac OSX.
In the drive that has the time machine backup there's a folder called something like "backups.backup". Opening that file reveals a list of all the available backup dates. Pick the latest (or whichever will have the files of interest) and you can navigate through the folders (probably in Users > blueberry > ...) and just pull out the relevant files.
In other words, you don't have to use the Time Machine software.
posted by GPF at 9:31 PM on March 21, 2016
In other words, you don't have to use the Time Machine software.
posted by GPF at 9:31 PM on March 21, 2016
GPF's right - but the trick is that Photos.app* uses what looks like a single file ("Photos Library.photoslibrary") to store all all your pics.
Luckily, it's not really a single large file. If you right-click on it and choose "Show Package Contents", it'll open up as a set of folders which you can navigate around to find your missing photos.
(*And, from memory, the last versions of iPhoto did the same thing?)
posted by Pinback at 10:34 PM on March 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Luckily, it's not really a single large file. If you right-click on it and choose "Show Package Contents", it'll open up as a set of folders which you can navigate around to find your missing photos.
(*And, from memory, the last versions of iPhoto did the same thing?)
posted by Pinback at 10:34 PM on March 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
If you're using Photos.app, you can also open that app and then launch Time Machine and go back in time until the deleted photos appear in the app. You can do the same in Mail.
posted by humboldt32 at 3:24 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by humboldt32 at 3:24 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
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In the new Photos app, there should be a “recently deleted” area that shows images that have been deleted in the last 30 days (after which they are actually deleted, I think). Can you look there?
Also, do you have a backup of the drive that might contain the images?
posted by blueberry at 7:31 PM on March 21, 2016