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How do you restore a Photos library from Time Machine, and are the albums in the backup?

By Kayabyte · Last updated 3 November 2026

Short answer: use Time Machine’s Restore on the library, without replacing today’s one, and open the restored copy in Photos with Option held down. On the Macs we checked, the backup leaves out the library’s database folder but keeps its change journals. When we restored a real backup, Photos rebuilt the albums, folders, captions, keywords and favourites from those journals by itself, for free. Originals that stayed only in iCloud are not in the backup.

What Time Machine really keeps

This surprised us, and most guides don’t mention it. On a real Mac with macOS 27.2 and in a test Mac with macOS 26.6.2 and a real backup:

Folder inside the library In the backup?
originals Yes
resources, including resources/journals Yes
private, internal, scopes Yes
database No, excluded
external No, excluded

So if you look inside a backed-up library, there is no Photos.sqlite. That doesn’t mean your albums are gone. The journals hold album titles and members, folders, keywords, captions, favourites, hidden status and dates, and they were updated within seconds of a change in our test.

To check your own Mac, run this in Terminal (the path is the default one):

tmutil isexcluded "$HOME/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/database"

We haven’t checked older macOS versions, so their backups may differ.

Check for originals first

With Optimize Mac Storage on, Photos keeps originals in iCloud and smaller copies on the Mac, and only what is on the Mac can be in a backup. On a real library using it, we found no original at all in the originals folder: all 7 items had only a smaller copy, and the video had only a still picture. If you were using Optimize Mac Storage when the backup was made, expect smaller copies. If your iCloud Photos still holds the photos, iCloud is the better source for the originals.

Steps: restore without losing today’s library

Apple says restored items return to their original location. If that’s where today’s library is, be careful: Apple’s page doesn’t say what happens when an item with the same name is already there, so clear the way first.

  1. Quit Photos. To be careful about iCloud, turn off Wi-Fi as well until you’ve looked at the result.
  2. In Finder, move today’s Photos Library out of your Pictures folder into another folder on the same disk, so nothing in Pictures has its name.
  3. Open your Pictures folder and open Time Machine (it’s in the Other folder, or use Spotlight).
  4. Go back to a date when the albums were right.
  5. Select Photos Library and click Restore. If macOS still asks about an item with that name, do not replace anything: cancel and check where today’s library is.
  6. Hold Option, open Photos, click Other Library and pick the restored copy.

Don’t drag the library out of the backup disk in Finder: a reply on Apple’s forums says Apple doesn’t recommend that, and to use Restore. Our test used the Terminal version of the same thing, tmutil restore, with a new destination, so we did not run these Finder steps ourselves.

What we saw

With a real backup on macOS 26.6.2, Photos rebuilt the database in under a minute on a small test library of 13 items. A large library will take longer. 6 albums, 3 folders, captions, keywords, favourites and hidden items were back, and so were changes made shortly before the backup. Results can differ: some people on Apple’s forums report empty albums after a restore.

People names: our test libraries had no named people, so we can’t tell you whether they return.

iCloud: Apple says that when you switch to another library, Photos turns off iCloud Photos and Shared Albums. People on Apple’s forums report old albums disappearing again once the library reconnects to iCloud. Look through the restored library, and save what you need, before you make it your System Photo Library.

An older backup date: on an APFS backup disk, open the date in Time Machine first.

Getting what you need into today’s library

Photos has no plain merge command. Apple warns that with the System Photo Library setting and iCloud Photos, libraries can merge and “can’t be unmerged”, so don’t use that for this. Export from the restored library and import into today’s (albums will not come along), or use PowerPhotos, a paid app that merges libraries and keeps albums. See the comparison.

Where AlbumRescue adds something

If you want albums back inside Photos, the restore above does that for free, and AlbumRescue can’t: it never writes into Photos. It adds something in these cases:

Limits: People names are not read from journals. Originals that are not in the backup can’t be saved. Only the latest backups on an APFS disk are found directly, so open older dates in Time Machine first. Edits are not exported.

Steps with AlbumRescue

  1. Open AlbumRescue and turn on Full Disk Access, which Time Machine backups need. It is only used to read.
  2. Connect the backup disk. Click the library from Time Machine, then click Scan.
  3. Open Compare and pick today’s library to see what is missing there.
  4. Choose Export to save folders. The first 10 photos are free, so you can check the files.

The scan, lists, comparison and 10 saved photos are free. The full export is USD 34 once, for 2 Macs.

Download AlbumRescue and scan for free. macOS 15 or later.

Questions

Does Time Machine back up the Photos library? Yes, but not all of it. On the Macs we checked, originals and change journals are included, while the database and external folders are excluded. Apple says Time Machine backs up the files on your Mac, and its page doesn’t go into this detail.

Will my albums come back after a Time Machine restore? In our tests they did: Photos rebuilt albums, folders, captions, keywords and favourites from the journals. Some people report otherwise, so check before you delete anything.

How do I open a Photos library from a Time Machine backup without restoring it? We would not try to open it in place, since Photos needs to write its rebuilt database. Restore it to a new place first, or read it where it is with AlbumRescue.

Why is there no Photos.sqlite in my Time Machine backup? On the Macs we checked the database folder is excluded from backups. Photos rebuilds it from the journals after a restore.

Can I restore a single photo or album from Time Machine? You can select files inside the library’s originals folder, but they have unclear names, and an album isn’t a file. For one album, restore the library next to today’s and export from it.

Does a backup include photos kept in iCloud with Optimize Mac Storage? No. Only what was on the Mac can be in the backup, which may be smaller copies.

Apple, Mac, macOS, iCloud and Time Machine are trademarks of Apple Inc. AlbumRescue is made by Kayabyte and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.