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ninaasks Author

Level 1

4 points

I'm trying to restore an old Photos library from Time Machine but I get the following notification and can't proceed, help

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to restore an old Photos library to my mac from Time Machine on my external drive but I get the following notification and can't proceed:

"The library “Photos Library Old” is in a Time Machine backup. Open the original library."

I don't have the original library, only the one on the external drive backup I'm trying to restore. This is a different library to the one I'm using currently on my mac, and I don't want to replace my current one. I just want to get access to the old one. I tried the "Repair" option but again, I end up with the "The library “Photos Library Old” is in a Time Machine backup. Open the original library."

Any ideas how to fix it?

Thank you

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Jan 27, 2022 7:41 AM

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,897 points

Posted on Jan 27, 2022 9:13 AM

You first have to restore the library (get it off the time machine drive)

You cannot open a library stored on a volume used for time machine. Restore it to your pictures folder if you have enough space or another external drive (formatted APFS or MacOS extended) if you don't.

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I'm trying to restore an old Photos library from Time Machine but I get the following notification and can't proceed, help

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