iPhoto import catastrophe.

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Needing to free up some space on my iPhone I imported my camera roll to iPhoto and selected to delete following the import. This is my usual way of working since there there is no easy way to delete several hundred photos from the phone. iPhoto deleted the images from my phone after the 'import' and I though no more about it.

Three weeks later I've just gone into iPhoto to retrieve recent photos (including irreplaceable ones of my son's graduation and of my new-born nephew) but there is no sign of my last import. I have TM backups since the date of the import but no trace on those either. I'm presuming these are now lost forever.

Anyone else come across this?
 

IWT


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Sawday,

This is a disaster and I'm really sorry this has happened.

Obviously you will have tried the following just in case they were imported elsewhere:

Finder > Recents

Finder > Search > kind:jpeg > arrange by date

Mac HD > Users > YourName > Pictures (this should show the iPhoto Library as well as any other images)

Lastly, and I know this is of zero use now, but for the future: there is a way of mass-deleting all or selected hundreds of photos from your iPhone after import:

Use Image Capture. Attach iPhone via USB > Click on iPhone icon > let it populate > select all the images you want to delete (Cmd A, or Cmd + Click for individual photos or Cmd + Shift for start & end photos) > Right Click > Delete

(Image Capture can be used to Import as well, of course; but as you normally Import directly to iPhoto, you could disconnect. Confirm Import in place, then use Image Capture in the way mentioned).

Good luck.

Ian
 
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Sawday,

This is a disaster and I'm really sorry this has happened.

Obviously you will have tried the following just in case they were imported elsewhere:

Finder > Recents

Finder > Search > kind:jpeg > arrange by date

Mac HD > Users > YourName > Pictures (this should show the iPhoto Library as well as any other images)

Lastly, and I know this is of zero use now, but for the future: there is a way of mass-deleting all or selected hundreds of photos from your iPhone after import:

Use Image Capture. Attach iPhone via USB > Click on iPhone icon > let it populate > select all the images you want to delete (Cmd A, or Cmd + Click for individual photos or Cmd + Shift for start & end photos) > Right Click > Delete

(Image Capture can be used to Import as well, of course; but as you normally Import directly to iPhoto, you could disconnect. Confirm Import in place, then use Image Capture in the way mentioned).

Good luck.

Ian

Thanks Ian. Tried these but no sign, but I'll remember the Image Capture route. In the sort term I have various foreign trips coming up so I'll be using me trusty, though slightly (!) larger Nikon DSLR.

- - - Updated - - -

Sue, thanks for the reply but as I needed the space I deleted 'Recently Deleted' immediately after the supposed download.
 
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Snookered seems to be the appropriate word.

Last resort would be if you'd done back up of your phone including the pix.
 
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Are you using iPhoto, or Photos?
 
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Snookered seems to be the appropriate word.

Last resort would be if you'd done back up of your phone including the pix.

Yes I did a back p via iTunes, but as soon as i went back into iTunes it immediately did another backup overwriting the original. Very clever of Apple to prevent you ever restoring from from such a back up!
 
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iPhoto at that time. Although earlier this week I tried the same method to delete a few hundred photos from my wife's iPhone and iPhoto refused to delete them. I selected that option but photos where not deleted so we reverted to that horrible iPhoto replacement known as Photos which worked but very slowly!
 
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Yes I did a back p via iTunes, but as soon as i went back into iTunes it immediately did another backup overwriting the original. Very clever of Apple to prevent you ever restoring from from such a back up!
If you attempt to recover from a backup, it should give you the option to select the backup date you want to restore from? See here, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204184#iTunes, and look at #5. [FONT=&quot]Look at the date and size of each backup and pick the most relevant.[/FONT]
 
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If you attempt to recover from a backup, it should give you the option to select the backup date you want to restore from? See here, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204184#iTunes, and look at #5. [FONT="]Look at the date and size of each backup and pick the most relevant.[/FONT]

That's what I expected to happen, but I don't get that option - only to restore the last back up! I do have another idea - to restore the Application Support/MobileSync backups from TM and then try a restore. I just need to ensure that itunes doesn't do another backup immediately I plug in my iPhone.
 

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Sawday

To prevent automatic syncing:

With nothing attached, Open iTunes > Preferences > Devices

This will list all devices with current backups.

Check Box "Prevent iPods, iPads, iPhones etc from syncing automatically". Then Click OK.

Then when you attach your iPhone, nothing should happen. You are now in control!

Ian
 
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Thanks for that tip Ian. Fingers crossed now...
 
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Success! My 'lost' photos are back.

It took a while but for the record here's the story... Following Ian's tip I ensured that the automatic backup was turned off. I then restored the Application Support/MobileSync backups from TM and attempted a restore. This took several goes as it repeatedly told me that there was insufficient room on the phone for the restore. I deleted as much as I could and retried. In the end I had to delete almost all my installed apps, all music, saved maps, etc and the few recent photos. Eventually the restore worked and my images were back on my phone.

Then more fun as neither Photos (I decided to give iPhotos a miss) nor Image Capture could see the photos. A Google search revealed that I needed to disconnect the USB cable and re-attach. Finally success and my photos are now safely backed up to several places. All I have to do now is to reinstall the deleted apps.

Phew!
 
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So pleased for you, and well done Ian.

If you sync automatically with Photostream you can delete images in Camera Roll whenever you like.
 

IWT


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That's fantastic news, Sawday. I have to say that when I read your first post, I thought all was lost.

And, you have provided us (me certainly) with the tip to restore the Application Support/MobileSync backups from Time Machine. That wouldn't have occurred to me at all.

Ian
 

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