Restore individual photos using Time Machine

[JSchwage]

Hi all. This is my first time using Time Machine and I've got a question I can't seem to figure out the answer to (yes, I searched). Is there a way to restore individual photos from my Photos library using Time Machine? Based on my searches it seems iPhoto use to allow you to do this by clicking Enter Time Machine while iPhotos was open, but when you do this with the new Photos app, it just opens up a Finder window. The only thing photos-related that I seem to be able to restore from a backup is the entire library. If I accidentally permanently delete a photo I want to restore, I want to be able to browse individual photos using Time Machine instead of needing to restore the entire library.

I'm running Monterey currently on a Mac mini as a local iCloud backup "server". Is this just a Monterey issue perhaps? Am I missing something here?

 

[NoBoMac]

Just a guess here, based on the Monterey comment: guessing Time Machine is using an APFS formatted partition, so can see that can't do individual pictures as APFS TM is a bunch of snapshots vs a HFS+ "filesystem" of files and hard links that make for a traversable copy in older versions of TM.

Also, newer versions of Photos have been burying changes/deltas in database files. Metadata, edits, etc. Also have original vs edited copy of the file, so trying to get the "picture" is pretty much only a partial "success" when retrieved from backup without using Photos.

So, yeah, in this day and age, probably will need to restore a copy of the library to a different location or name and use the Option key when invoking or using Open in Finder on the restored .photoslibrary file to get to the restored library and photo(s).

 

[JSchwage]

Just a guess here, based on the Monterey comment: guessing Time Machine is using an APFS formatted partition, so can see that can't do individual pictures as APFS TM is a bunch of snapshots vs a HFS+ "filesystem" of files and hard links that make for a traversable copy in older versions of TM.

Also, newer versions of Photos have been burying changes/deltas in database files. Metadata, edits, etc. Also have original vs edited copy of the file, so trying to get the "picture" is pretty much only a partial "success" when retrieved from backup without using Photos.

So, yeah, in this day and age, probably will need to restore a copy of the library to a different location or name and use the Option key when invoking or using Open in Finder on the restored .photoslibrary file to get to the restored library and photo(s).

I appreciate the insight. This definitely makes sense. Still sucks, but I understand the technical limitation. The Time Machine backups are honestly more of a last resort in case something gets permanently deleted.

 

[NoBoMac]

An option is to make a copy/copies on external drive(s) occasionally. Can skip the Time Machine restore step and have more than one copy should the Mac and or TM have catastrophic failure. This is what I sorta do. Main library is on an external SSD and quarterly I use the rsync command to copy deltas to four other external drives. If I took and processed a bunch of important photos, I'll do the rsync immediately after I'm done.

 

[RhetTbull]

I don't know of a way to restore a single photo from Time Machine so can't help with the immediate problem. But as NoBoMac said, I do recommend having a copy of your photos outside the Photos ecosystem on an external drive. I'm the author of a free open source tool, osxphotos, that can be used to perform incremental backups (exports) of your Photos library. It is very customizable and can export all the metadata as sidecar files or write it to the exported files using exiftool, another excellent free open source app. I use this to regularly backup my Photos library to an external drive. By default, osxphotos will not delete a photo that was previously exported but subsequently deleted in Photos giving you a backup that could be used in your situation. It does have a `--cleanup` option that can delete photos that have been deleted in case you want only a current snapshot.

 

[MacCheetah3]

It’s not a quick and easy method, especially in terms of browsing but...

1. In the Finder, go to your user’s (home) folder, then the Pictures folder.
2. Right-click on iPhoto Library and choose Show Package Contents.
3. Open the Masters folder or use the Originals folder alias.
*** Alternatively:
1. Finder -> Go menu
2. Go to Folder...
3. Input the path ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters and press Enter/Return

4. Launch Time Machine.
5. Locate and restore the photo file.
6. Drag the file to another folder (e.g., Desktop, Downloads, Documents).
7. Use Photos import function.

 

[JSchwage]

It’s not a quick and easy method, especially in terms of browsing but...

1. In the Finder, go to your user’s (home) folder, then the Pictures folder.
2. Right-click on iPhoto Library and choose Show Package Contents.
3. Open the Masters folder or use the Originals folder alias.
*** Alternatively:
1. Finder -> Go menu
2. Go to Folder...
3. Input the path ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters and press Enter/Return

4. Launch Time Machine.
5. Locate and restore the photo file.
6. Drag the file to another folder (e.g., Desktop, Downloads, Documents).
7. Use Photos import function.

NICE! I don't know why I hadn't thought of trying that but this appears to work flawlessly (the show package contents method)!