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Introducing Photos Backup Anywhere: A Simple Backup Solution for Your Photos

gerdemb said:
Beta 2.0 Now Available – New Feature: Restore backups

I've released version 2.0 for beta testing. This update introduces a major new feature: the ability to restore backups directly into the Photos library, preserving as much original meta data as possible. This includes:
  • Non-destructive edits to photos and videos
  • Albums
  • Live Photos
  • Portrait photos
  • Slo-mo and Cinematic videos
  • Burst photos
  • Adjustments to the date or location made inside the Photos app
  • Favorites and Hidden items
Additionally, the backup engine’s database layer has been completely rewritten to improve reliability, especially when storing backups on a NAS or other network-mounted locations.

You can download the beta here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/TcDH3ccO

Upgrade Notes
  • If you use an existing 1.x backup, the first time you run 2.0, it will perform a one-time migration. This migration won’t affect your 1.x backup.
  • You can downgrade back to the released 1.x version at any time. The two versions work in parallel.
Please share any feedback or issues you run into. I’m especially interested in results from real-world restores and backup behavior with different storage setups.

Looking forward to your feedback!

— Ben
Click to expand...
Looks like a great app, but can someone clarify a key point for me please:

My initial understanding is that the folder structure of the back up is YYYY/MM/DD, but the above says that beta 2.0 supports Albums. How does this work?

I have c92,000 photos and videos going back to the 1880s. Many of these are scans or photos of photos done at various times, and the date info in the metadata bears no relation to the date the original photo was taken. In Photos I have an album and folder structure which is based on the dates the original photo was taken. I maintain an independent folder based backup of the Photos lib, with structure corresponding to the Photos albums based on original dates.

If this app preserves the Photos app album and folder structure it could replace my manual backup which would be great.

Thanks for any input.
 
I have a strange GUI issue that occurs randomly. The 'Backup Completed' text is upside down!

Screenshot 2025-11-24 at 11.14.36.png
 
Hi there,

I've just tried out 'PBA', and it looks like it'll do exactly what I've been needing. However, it's showing signs of problems, and it looks like I'm not alone with them. I have sent you an email too, but found the group, and thought I'd chime in a bit.

The app that's currently in the App Store (V2.2.0) has only partially completed the backup. It looks like it crashed, although I didn't notice at first, the icon just disappeared. Relaunching it left my library only about 50% backed up, despite showing 'Completed'.

I've tried deleting the 'db' folder, which kicked it off again, but it still didn't backup everything (it's about 400MB shy of what's expected).

I'm now trying the Beta version (V2.2.1), which has started again with a higher count, although not the number of items in the library, it might be allowing for the ones that have already been downloaded perhaps?

I'm on a Mac Mini M1, and the library is 'Optimized', and I also have a mixed 'Personal/Shared setup. The backup is on an external HDD formatted MacOS Extended.

Just a comment as food for thought: although I like the app, it's simplicity and what it does, but a backup needs to be reliable, and the app needs to be trusted that's managing that backup. This is especially important for something like a personally valuable lifetime of photos.

Of course I do have alternative backups of my original photos, but I was looking for something like this that gave me the speed of operating the Photos Library from my internal SSD, but the security of all the files on a local drive too.

Finally, I notice you haven't responded to the last few posts here. Are you still actively supporting this app?

Cheers, and thank you so far.
Andy
 
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Curious about something as well. The FAQ says this:

Can I share a backup between different devices (i.e., can I back up to the same destination from different Macs)?​


No. The backups are tied to the Mac that made them because the app uses a unique identifier tied to the specific Mac's library.
Click to expand...

But what does this mean? If I switch to a new MacBook or if I do a clean install, I will need to do a backup from scratch?

Also, the website claims that hidden albums are synced as well. However, I don't see any of my hidden photos in the backup. Are they placed in a different directory?
 
How does this handle preserving NON exif timestamp files ? and which timestamps are preserved after copying to or from other storage areas ? What are it's limitations in terms of metadata and timestamps ?
 
posttoast said:
Curious about something as well. The FAQ says this:



But what does this mean? If I switch to a new MacBook or if I do a clean install, I will need to do a backup from scratch?

Also, the website claims that hidden albums are synced as well. However, I don't see any of my hidden photos in the backup. Are they placed in a different directory?
Click to expand...
I have moved to new Macs twice and have always been able to continue using the same backup. IIRC what this as referring to was syncing 2 Macs simultaneously to the same backup folder. That is what won't work.
 
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