User profile for user: jrember
jrember Author
User level: Level 1
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Restoring specific photos using Time Machine

Is there a way to restore specific photos rather than an entire Photos library using Time Machine? Sometime in the past 6 months I was deleting photos and it seems I deleted a hundred or so photos from January 2012 when I only intended to delete a few. I know the names of the missing photos but can't seem to get into my backed-up Photos library to select just a few photos to restore. I would rather not restore the entire library because I spent a lot of time deleting photos from my library and don't want to have to redo that. Thanks for any advice.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 21, 2020 2:41 PM

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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
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Posted on Dec 21, 2020 2:47 PM

No, it's the entire library or nothing. You can restore the library to another volume and use the paid versions of PowerPhotos to copy the photos you need and either edits and metadata to your current working library.


Or, open the restore library, export the original photos you need to a folder and then import them into your working library. You will lose all edits and metadata.


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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
212,982 points

Dec 21, 2020 2:47 PM in response to jrember

No, it's the entire library or nothing. You can restore the library to another volume and use the paid versions of PowerPhotos to copy the photos you need and either edits and metadata to your current working library.


Or, open the restore library, export the original photos you need to a folder and then import them into your working library. You will lose all edits and metadata.


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User profile for user: jrember
jrember Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Dec 21, 2020 2:54 PM in response to Old Toad

So helpful, thank you very much! Just to make sure I understand: Once I've done this, I will have 2 "volumes," my current Photos volume and the Restored volume. Once I get the photos I need out of the Restored volume, then I can go back to my current Photos volume and import those photos. Correct?

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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
212,982 points

Dec 22, 2020 8:44 AM in response to jrember

Yes, you'll have two copies of your Photos library, the original in your Pictures folder and the restored copy located wherever you decided to restore to. After getting the photos out of the restored library that you need you can delete it.

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Restoring specific photos using Time Machine

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