iPhoto '09: Time Machine backs up entire upgraded library

[netnothing]

Watch out in Time Machine after you install and upgrade your iPhoto '09 library. My Time Machine just did a fresh backup of it....all 40GB of it!

Basically it gave me the same Node require deep traversal on just the iPhoto Library....so I'm guessing it had something to do with the upgrade.

-Kevin

 

[netnothing]

Looking at my logs, I can't tell if this happened on the next backup after starting and upgrading the iPhoto library. From the looks of it, it looks like after I got done doing a bunch of Faces and Places adjustments, that TM didn't trust it's backups and backed it all up again.

I did however, after this backup, go back into iPhoto, make more Faces and Places changes, and forced another backup. This time it did not backup the entire library.

Just a bit of caution for those out there.

I'm wiping my TM backups of my iPhoto and starting fresh.

-Kevin

 

[emt1]

Well duh. It's an entirely new version with a new library format and tons of new features. Of course it's going to have to backup the whole library.

 

[netnothing]

Well duh. It's an entirely new version with a new library format and tons of new features. Of course it's going to have to backup the whole library.

Uh.....why would it have to backup the photos themselves? That's what is shocking to me. I can understand the library files, cache files, etc....but why did it need to backup all 40GB of my library? Is it because it's in it's special Package format?

For example, when iTunes get updated....it doesn't have to backup all my songs.

-Kevin

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Uh.....why would it have to backup the photos themselves? That's what is shocking to me. I can understand the library files, cache files, etc....but why did it need to backup all 40GB of my library? Is it because it's in it's special Package format?

For example, when iTunes get updated....it doesn't have to backup all my songs.

-Kevin

Nah, this is a pretty big "duh" moment. It backed it all up on account of the entire package being redone. Remember, whenever you move/change/alter/anything a file time machine will back it up.

 

[netnothing]

Nah, this is a pretty big "duh" moment. It backed it all up on account of the entire package being redone. Remember, whenever you move/change/alter/anything a file time machine will back it up.

Right, but the package is basically just a bunch of files....dumbed down for the masses.

So for example, just using iPhoto on a regular basis, while the db files and maybe even individual photos might have changed, TM is smart enough (because Apple made it that way) to only backup the changes.

What I'm guessing, the more I think about it is.....Apple programmed TM to interact with iPhoto in a special way. In that you can invoke TM from within iPhoto itself. I'm guessing that because of this, TM needed a full backup to get in sync...even though technically the actual image files in the iPhoto library (package) did not change.

-Kevin

 

[boer]

Nah, this is a pretty big "duh" moment. It backed it all up on account of the entire package being redone. Remember, whenever you move/change/alter/anything a file time machine will back it up.

"The package" is just a folder full of files just like the iTunes library. iPhoto library just appers as "a package" on the graphical user interface of Mac OS. There is nothing inherent to this folder that would require it being fully backed up when upgrading iPhoto software.

Sounds like Apple went with a quick and dirty solution here.

 

[netnothing]

"The package" is just a folder full of files just like the iTunes library. iPhoto library just appers as "a package" on the graphical user interface of Mac OS. There is nothing inherent to this folder that would require it being fully backed up when upgrading iPhoto software.

Sounds like Apple went with a quick and dirty solution here.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Are others having their whole library backed up?

-Kevin

 

[JW008]

I don't have iLife '09, yet, but I've noticed with Time Machine that while it might say that it's backing up 40GB, some of the older files are (apparently) written over, which means that it might only be taking up an additional 15GB of space on the external hard drive.

I'm not saying that this is definitively the case with iPhoto '09 and I can definitely see it (at the very least) taking up a good percentage of that backup, but I'd be interested if what I'm saying is the case.

 

[netnothing]

I don't have iLife '09, yet, but I've noticed with Time Machine that while it might say that it's backing up 40GB, some of the older files are (apparently) written over, which means that it might only be taking up an additional 15GB of space on the external hard drive.

I'm not saying that this is definitively the case with iPhoto '09 and I can definitely see it (at the very least) taking up a good percentage of that backup, but I'd be interested if what I'm saying is the case.

In my case, it was actually 40GB of space taken up. I saw the overall drive space go down by 40GB.

I ended up just deleting all backups of my iPhoto library in TM, and performing the backup once...to get TM up to date.

-Kevin

 

[JW008]

In my case, it was actually 40GB of space taken up. I saw the overall drive space go down by 40GB.

I ended up just deleting all backups of my iPhoto library in TM, and performing the backup once...to get TM up to date.

-Kevin

Hmmm...that's good to know before I upgrade later in the week.

 

[MaskingTape]

It might change some EXIF data on the pictures somewhere and that might be the reason.... I'm grasping at straws here lol.

 

[trip1ex]

Yeah your photos aren't treated like files in Finder. You can't edit photos by going into Finder and messing with them unless you want corruption in your Iphoto library. And that's probably why the whole thing was backed up again.

 

[ChrisA]

Uh.....why would it have to backup the photos themselves? That's what is shocking to me. I can understand the library files, cache files, etc....but why did it need to backup all 40GB of my library? Is it because it's in it's special Package format?

For example, when iTunes get updated....it doesn't have to backup all my songs.

-Kevin

I think what may have happened is the name of the containing folder changed. If you have 100 files in a folder called "A" and changed the foldder's name to "B" then TM thinks the flder "A" is gone, deleted and that there is a new folder called "B". It's not as smart as you'd like it to be.

 

[netnothing]

I think what may have happened is the name of the containing folder changed. If you have 100 files in a folder called "A" and changed the foldder's name to "B" then TM thinks the flder "A" is gone, deleted and that there is a new folder called "B". It's not as smart as you'd like it to be.

Folder names within the iPhoto Library package did not change. I was able to verify this by checking the backup I made.

I think it's due to the way TM handles the iPhoto Library that it needed to get it in sync.

-Kevin

 

[martinmartin]

I'm running into this same 'problem.'

Upgraded to iLife09 yesterday, played with Faces in iPhoto and Image Stabilization in iMovie and then noticed Time Machine was backing up 35GB!

I'm trying to figure out what to delete... should I delete the following file and then just let Time Machine do its thing to get me up to date??

HD > Users > My Name > Pictures > 'iPhoto Library'

It's strange - if I navigate to yesterday in Time Machine and click on the iPhoto Library file, the Preview on the right says 16kb on Disk. But if i double click the same file iPhoto Library, it says 26GB??

Any suggestions? I just want to have my current setup backed up without taking up unnecessary space on my backup drive.

Cheers.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I'm running into this same 'problem.'

Upgraded to iLife09 yesterday, played with Faces in iPhoto and Image Stabilization in iMovie and then noticed Time Machine was backing up 35GB!

I'm trying to figure out what to delete... should I delete the following file and then just let Time Machine do its thing to get me up to date??

HD > Users > My Name > Pictures > 'iPhoto Library'

It's strange - if I navigate to yesterday in Time Machine and click on the iPhoto Library file, the Preview on the right says 16kb on Disk. But if i double click the same file iPhoto Library, it says 26GB??

Any suggestions? I just want to have my current setup backed up without taking up unnecessary space on my backup drive.

Cheers.

Do not delete iPhoto library! It is not taking up 16kb, that back up of it is. Just let Time machine back up that 35GB. There is no "unnecessary space" being taken up.

 

[netnothing]

I'm running into this same 'problem.'

Upgraded to iLife09 yesterday, played with Faces in iPhoto and Image Stabilization in iMovie and then noticed Time Machine was backing up 35GB!

I'm trying to figure out what to delete... should I delete the following file and then just let Time Machine do its thing to get me up to date??

HD > Users > My Name > Pictures > 'iPhoto Library'

It's strange - if I navigate to yesterday in Time Machine and click on the iPhoto Library file, the Preview on the right says 16kb on Disk. But if i double click the same file iPhoto Library, it says 35GB??

Any suggestions? I just want to have my current setup backed up without taking up unnecessary space on my backup drive.

Cheers.

First....I closed iPhoto and made a manual backup of the iPhoto library just in case....I recommend doing the same.

Then I went into Enter Time Machine to get into the space interface.....go to where my iPhoto Library was, select the iPhoto Library in the Time Machine interface and choose the gear menu and select Delete All Backups of iPhoto Library.

This will delete ANY and ALL backups of the iPhoto library that TM has ever done. It should ask for your password.

I then clicked cancel (in the lower left) to exit the TM interface.

You should notice that a smaller finder window is on your screen working to delete all those backups.....you should wait until it's done.

Then once it's done.....with iPhoto still closed (because I think TM is smart enough not to backup the entire thing if iPhoto is open), force a backup. You should see TM now backing up all 35GB of your iPhoto Library.

Once it's done, you know can move forward and it will keep changes. You now have just one initial set of the 35GB of data.

NOTE that if you delete all backups in TM.....you are essentially losing all data that TM has backed up relating to iPhoto. You won't for example be able to go back 3 months ago and get a picture you deleted. You are starting from scratch for your backups....which is what I wanted to do.

-Kevin

 

[netnothing]

Do not delete iPhoto library! It is not taking up 16kb, that back up of it is. Just let Time machine back up that 35GB. There is no "unnecessary space" being taken up.

Actually there is. If TM backed up my initial 40GB library....then it's taking up 40GB of space on my TM volume.

Now, iPhoto '09 made a change where TM wants to backup the entire library again. This will result in another 40GB of space taken up.

This is what I was seeing....suddenly my TM free space dropped by 40GB.

-Kevin

 

[martinmartin]

Do not delete iPhoto library! It is not taking up 16kb, that back up of it is. Just let Time machine back up that 35GB. There is no "unnecessary space" being taken up.

I'm not so sure about this - my Time Machine external drive went from about 110GB free space to 79GB free space after it backed up my 'new iLife' files...(by the way, now that the backup is complete, when I click on iPhoto library in Time Machine, it says 26GB, not 16kb...)

So it's almost as if there are 2 separate 25-35GB files on the Time Machine backup when I only want 1...

I think the other person is correct in that my iPhoto Library from, say, 3 days ago might be 26GB and the new backup added another 26GB...That's why we might have to delete and start over if we don't want to 'double dip' into HD space.

EDIT: And if my iPhoto Library folder was/is 26GB, I bet the other 9GB (from the 35GB Backup) come from iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand, etc files that are 'new' as a result of the iLife 09 upgrade.

 

[martinmartin]

First....I closed iPhoto and made a manual backup of the iPhoto library just in case....I recommend doing the same.

Then I went into Enter Time Machine to get into the space interface.....go to where my iPhoto Library was, select the iPhoto Library in the Time Machine interface and choose the gear menu and select Delete All Backups of iPhoto Library.

This will delete ANY and ALL backups of the iPhoto library that TM has ever done. It should ask for your password.

I then clicked cancel (in the lower left) to exit the TM interface.

You should notice that a smaller finder window is on your screen working to delete all those backups.....you should wait until it's done.

Then once it's done.....with iPhoto still closed (because I think TM is smart enough not to backup the entire thing if iPhoto is open), force a backup. You should see TM now backing up all 35GB of your iPhoto Library.

Once it's done, you know can move forward and it will keep changes. You now have just one initial set of the 35GB of data.

NOTE that if you delete all backups in TM.....you are essentially losing all data that TM has backed up relating to iPhoto. You won't for example be able to go back 3 months ago and get a picture you deleted. You are starting from scratch for your backups....which is what I wanted to do.

-Kevin

I think you are right and I think this is what I'm going to do...

Thanks for the detailed post.

 

[netnothing]

I think you are right and I think this is what I'm going to do...

Thanks for the detailed post.

Your welcome. It worked fine for me. Just remember to be out of iPhoto when you do the initial backup. I *think* TM will skip it if it's open.....at least that what I think was happening to me. As long as you can say....yes, I'm fine with my iPhoto library and I don't need any old backups....then you should be good to go.

I did something similar with my iTunes library. I had all 22+GB backed up with TM when iTunes 8 came out with the new coverart view. After realizing how few albums had cover art in my library, I spent a few days updating my entire library. Well of course, that backed up all the files again. So I just went into TM, deleted all backups, because I knew I didn't need them, and it automatically picked up the entire library again on the next backup.

-Kevin

 

[mrkgoo]

Maybe faces and places are actually tagging the images (metadata) causing a huge backup. This is disconcerting, considering I have 70GB of iPhoto library. Oh well. I knew that 500GB time machine drive would come in handy.

 

[netnothing]

Maybe faces and places are actually tagging the images (metadata) causing a huge backup. This is disconcerting, considering I have 70GB of iPhoto library. Oh well. I knew that 500GB time machine drive would come in handy.

Don't think Faces/Places is doing anything to the actual photos themselves. And the .db files aren't that large.

I think because Apple specially programmed TM to interact directly with iPhoto (much like how it directly interacts with Mail), that this is causing TM to backup the entire library.

-Kevin

 

[Fitchley]

Brace yourselves for another "duh" moment, I'm new to all this. Should I burn all my pictures to a DVD, and then remove them off the hard drive before I install Ilife 09? Also, if I do that, can I open them later if needed in the new Iphoto 09? Seriously, I'm that green.