Time Machine & iPhoto Problems Since Sierra

April 1, 2017 8:52 AM

I recently upgraded my iMac to Sierra. I made a Time Machine backup of everything before I did so. Unfortunately, once I upgraded I found that iPhoto somehow lost the past 4-5 years of photos. Even worse, Time Machine no longer works. How can I recover my photos?

When I "Enter Time Machine" it shows me the usual stack of windows and the timeline along the right hand side. But none of the windows respond when you click on them. Same with the timeline and the arrow controls.

I can open the separate hard drive that Time Machine saves to and can see a list of backups. When I open the one for the backup before the upgrade, I can see the Pictures folder and there's a folder in that labeled iPhoto Library, but there's just an XML file in there called Album Data. Should I be looking somewhere else?

Specs: iMac (27" 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB RAM 1TB HD)

posted by jammy to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Apple has replaced iPhoto with the Photos app. In theory, when you upgrade your operating system your iPhoto library should get migrated to Photos. Have you looked in Photos to see if the pictures are there? I'm not sure if this will work or not -- it seems strange that if iPhoto still works it would be missing only certain years of photos. But worth a shot if you haven't tried it yet.
posted by thrungva at 10:05 AM on April 1, 2017

Response by poster: Yes, correct: iPhoto did get replaced by Photos.

So, to clarify: when I open the Photos app it only shows photos from 2012 and before. Nothing after 2012.
posted by jammy at 12:20 PM on April 1, 2017

I can see the Pictures folder and there's a folder in that labeled iPhoto Library, but there's just an XML file in there called Album Data. Should I be looking somewhere else?

Yes, if you switched to Photos from iPhoto your photos are in Pictures/Photos Library, not Pictures/iPhoto Library.

Do you have Photos Library in your Pictures folder? Try right-clicking on Photos Library and select Show Package Contents. This will display the contents of your Photos library as normal files and folders. Look inside the Masters folder - does it contain files newer than 2012?
posted by dweingart at 4:10 PM on April 1, 2017

Response by poster: Pictures > Photos Library > Show Package Contents > Masters = A single folder titled "2017" - containing a folder "03" with a half dozen photos (recently taken and transferred from a phone). Nothing else, unfortunately.
posted by jammy at 10:26 AM on April 2, 2017

Response by poster: Problem resolved - at least insofar as I found my photos. Discovered a folder in Pictures titled "untitled folder" and inside found a file titled "iPhoto Library", dated the same day I did the backup and upgrade. Used Show Package Contents to open it up and voilà: inside a folder titled "Originals" I found folders from 2000 through 2017 - all my photos.

I'm mystified as to how the library file ended up where it did. Still, yay!

I have not tried opening this iPhoto Library file in Photos. Not sure if I want to use that program any more, given this whole experience.

Time Machine is still non-functional. So I will need to set up a new backup routine.
posted by jammy at 8:28 AM on April 3, 2017