A few weeks ago, I wrote about my travails with backing up my obscenely huge iPhoto library. It turns out that although Apple promises to "[take] care of everything else. Automatically. In the background." the truth is that Time Machine won't always back up an iPhoto library if it's open. In fact, it won't back up my iPhoto library ever if it's open. Is it backing up yours? I don't know. You should check.
I promised to get back to you when Apple got back to me. They did finally call me last week, and said, well, to solve the
problem, simply close iPhoto and then do a backup. Well, Time Machine is supposed to backup on its own. That's the whole point. What's the point of automating backups if I have to choose them manually? The guy from Apple offered to walk me through starting a new iPhoto library (oh yeah, that's really helpful, thanks).
Maybe I'm naive, but I was pretty amazed that the guy didn't say, "Oh yes, this is a serious problem. We have our technicians working on it and as soon as they have a solution we'll get back to you."
No, he made it sound like I was being a whiner. And that it was my fault that Time Machine wasn't working as advertised. That there was something wrong with my iPhoto library. Give me a break.
But I got a few notes from people saying they had relied on Time Machine for backing up iPhoto and then lost their photos because of it. So, help me get the word out: Time Machine is not reliable about backing up iPhoto. Be sure to check your backups, do them manually, and spread the word so that no-one loses precious files.
Friday, May 1, 2009
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Open iPhoto and then open your Time Machine backups. You'll see all the backed up data from the iPhoto interface. Select the restore option and wait as all your images are imported into your newly installed iPhoto app/
ReplyDeleteWell done - HUGE thanks, this has been driving me up the wall for ages. Shame apple cannot treat it seriously, but at least I know what to do now.
ReplyDeleteI thought perhaps that maybe time machine simply does not backup open documents (and an iphoto library being treated like one) but just tested and see this is not the case.
Thanks again
I have just lost nearly a year's worth of pictures! I thought I had safely backed up a couple of days ago and was not concerned when I accidentally deleted my iphoto library in an attempt to make space. Now when I enter Time Machine to restore it, the iphoto library in every back up shows last modified March 3 09! I must have had the ap open every time it backed up since then - and had no idea that it wasn't backing up my photos! ARGH!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so sorry, that's terrible. Really I think it's awful that they promise to back your stuff up "automatically, in the background" and then require you to do something special to back up. I almost always have iPhoto open as well, and manually close it when I do a backup. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteMy iphoto is also driving me crazy it will not back up my library it only did it once the very first time any suggestions?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Yes! Close iPhoto and then have TimeMachine do the backup.
ReplyDeleteWhat about backing up to an external drive? Can I move my entire iPhoto library (25gb approx) over to an external drive? If so, how do I do it. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI'm having a problem backing up my iphoto library to an external hard drive also. I hasn't backed up any of my pictures since I first got it in April. What do I have to do so that it will update iphoto every time I do a time machine backup?
ReplyDeleteIs iPhoto closed when you connect the external drive? That seems to be the clincher.
ReplyDeleteWow, is it really possible that I've had iPhoto open EVERY SINGLE time that Time Machine has done a backup? Good grief, that things kicks off every single hour. Surely I had iPhoto closed a time or two in the last month.
ReplyDeleteI'm pissed! I lost probably a full week's worth of organizing well over 4,000 photos!!
That is so wrong. If TimeMachine can warn you that you haven't backed up at all in 10 days, why can't it tell you that you haven't backed up your *iPhoto Library* in 10 days and that you should close iPhoto the next time you run a backup to ensure that it doesn't get left out in the cold.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I find it downright deceptive that Apple/TimeMachine promises to do automatic, full backups in the background, but the reality is very different.
I'm not at all sure giving Apple feedback is useful, but it's something:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphoto.html
kind regards,
Liz
Also see this new blog post on the subject. Thanks, Bill.
ReplyDeleteI tried restoring my iPhoto library from Time Machine today. It seems to have imported all the photos but when I click on iPhoto it doesn't find the photo library and asks me to choose one. When I go to pictures the iPhoto Library is whited out and I can't select it. Can anyone help me with this? Ron
ReplyDeleteTo be more specific. On Time Machine the iPhoto library contains 16.7GB of info. When I restore the file, the iPhoto library on my hard drive, after import, has nothing in it. What am I missing here?
ReplyDeleteBacked up files with Time Machine, reformatted drive, restored from backup, opened iPhoto and lost just one days work. Fortunately, I had kept a copy of the files on the camera and did not yet delete. However, lost organizing time none the less. And yes, iPhoto was open during the last backup.
ReplyDelete