Are previous Time Machine backup dates accessible?

Restoring to Snow Leopard OS, after fumbled Mavericks upgrade attempt. Unfortunately, Time Machine restored with the kinked Mavericks config. I thought I could go farther back (pre-Mavericks attempt) and restore from there, but now I can't see any of my prior TM dates to use. TM is treating the restoration as a "new computer" and shows only post-restoration backups. Can I get back to my prior TM backups?

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I performed a time machine backup without plugging my labtop into a power source. My computer died and all the settings were changed, ie the clock and date were changed back to 2001. So I tried to restore my computer using a previous time machine backup.

I performed a time machine backup without plugging my labtop into a power source. My computer died and all the settings were changed, ie the clock and date were changed back to 2001. So I tried to restore my computer using a previous time machine backup. (which I now know was wrong). However, when time machine tried to restore it said there was not enough room to do a backup. It seems that it did a half backup because some essential files such as system profiler are now missing. Can I undo this restore...? What can I do to fix this

You need to do a full system restore, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14.
If that sends a message, please note the exact wording.

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work. Help?

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work.
^^ that's the main problem. Here's the full history.
I bought a new 13" i5 MBP, early 2011 edition. I had an old white Macbook 2.14 ghz core2duo on Snow Leopard. I attempted to port over my time machine backup, but encountered problems in that my User was inaccessible from the new computer after the import finished, and I had to go in and change the root password, etc, and for some reason or another, I couldn't install any programs at all from that administrator's account. By "couldn't" I mean I could install them, but upon installation they would never boot. So, I took it to the apple store and did a clean install from the most up to date Lion OSX. Then, I created a brand new admin account, instead of trying to import the old one, and things seemed great. Then, I just imported my old files from the TM backup, but not any system settings, permissions, or user data. Just my Docs, pics, vids, apps, and itunes stuff.
Here's where things get weird again. I imported this stuff under the name "old", but all of these folders have a red negative sign on them, marking them as restricted. So, from my main admin account, I cannot even peruse these folders. Since I didn't import user data, I can't sign in to the "old" account to change permissions. I already tried to change the permissions from system preferences, but that didn't change anything. And now, for whatever reason, of all the apps that were imported then, MS Office is the only set of apps that does not work. When I click on it, it just says there was a problem and asks if I'd like to send a report to apple. I tried reinstalling it to no avail. I'm an English student, so i really need access to Word. Can anyone help? The Apple store is a major detour for me and would like to fix this issue myself.

Most likely you have Office 2004 which are PPC-only applications and will not work in Lion. Upgrade to Office 2011. Other alternatives are:
Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.)
Open Office (Office 2007-like suite compatible with OS X.)
NeoOffice (similar to Open Office.)
LibreOffice (a new direction for the Open Office suite.)

Lost login keychain; Lost previous time machine backups with Lion install

I downloaded Lion and it would not install on my 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 gb 1067 mhz ddr3 Mid-2009 Macbook Pro. I got the exclamation mark with hard disk irrepairable error. I took it to the local Apple store. They did a number of hardware tests and after several false calls saying it was ready (when I arrived to pick it up and tried to set up OS (select language etc) I got spinning beachball), I finally brought it home with Lion installed. All seems well, and I restored the data from Time Machine backup done under Snow Leopard. To my surprise, I find old versions of the login keychain - last updated 2010. I had 2 separate time machine backups going back six months, but when I tried to browse one for the newer keychains, I find that all previous Time Machine backups have been removed and all I have is the Time Machine backup from Lion install. So there are two related problems: one is that I lost keychain data and the other is that I can't restore from Time Machine backup since the only backups that seem to be there have restarted with Lion. Another factor, is that the technicians had to reset my user password in order to set up Lion and I subsequently changed it back to my own password. Any solutions to locating old time machine backups or restoring recent keychain entries?

How so I know...
Time machine preferences shows last known backup as NONE
NOTE: I found a section in the time machine prefs to use another backup file and all seems ok now
Thx

With a new Mac, can you join your previous Time Machine backups?

I'm sure this has been answered elsewhere, but my searches couldn't find a specific answer.
So here' the deal. I got a new rMBP to which I transferred data (via a Time Machine backup) from my old Macbook Air.
Am I correct that on the new computer there is no way to "rejoin" the previous backups and that a new Time Machine backup "thread" must be started?
Assuming that's the case, I'm guessing you also should delete the old TM backup files since they'll be useless).
Thanks.

*No, what I want is the ability to continue backing up to my existing Time Machine drive when I upgrade to a new computer.*
I think your scenario is possible with one single possible problem - the first time you plug the TM hard drive to the new computer it will want to copy the entire hard drive. If your TM can't hold the old computer's backup files and the entire contents of the new computer you have a small problem. But it it can then you wind up with two backups, one from each computer. However, when you need to restore from your TM files, my understanding is, you can pick from any computer's backup files. In other words, you don't lose anything. It just isn't as smooth as what you want. After a couple weeks have gone by and you are sure your computer is working fine and is stable, you can erase the folder containing the old computer's TM files because you've already developed a couple weeks of your new system.
If your TM drive isn't big enough to back up the new computer, I'm not sure what your options are other than to buy a new bigger hard drive, clone the TM files onto it and then do as I suggested above.
Remember, TM is a version 1 product and we've plenty of proof that Apple is listening to us. Use feedback to describe your scenario and how you want it to work. Version 2 may well incorporate some of your desires.

Time Machine Backup Not Accessible

Hello all,
Just had a computer die on me (HDD went bad) and took the oprotunity to upgrade, but my time machine backups are acting weird and I cannot get to my data. My setup is:
Dead computer: OS X 10.6.8
New computer: OS X 10.8.3 (maybe 10.8.5, reinstalled today and it took 4 freaking hours to d/l the OS. Sure miss those OS DVDs...)
TM backups: Going to the second HDD of OS X Server 10.7.5 over ethernet
Other cmoputer: OS X 10.8.4 (my laptop I used to try and view the TM backups)
First thing I did was use migration assistant on the new computer to move everything over from the old computers TM backup... and that did not go well. Files were missing, and the computer acted sluggish and displayed anomalies such as the menu bar at top vanishing until the desktop was clicked, and other weird little things. Thought: okay, must be the jump in OS versions. No problem, I'll do a fresh install.
So now I have decided to access the dead computers backup using TM from another computer. First problem: nobody has permissions to access the sparse bundle on the drive. Fixed that with the Admin account on the server, adding my u/n as having read/write access.
Now I can mount the sparse bundle, and I see all the folders are there, and some files. I do the "Browse other backup disks..." from my "other computer" on the network, and it gives me the option "Browse dead computer on ..." Click that and into space we go... and all I see are my files, on my local computer. Same thing happens when I use the server itself to try and view the sparse bundle.
I figure this is something weird with using the network and decide to try something else. I reformat another HDD connected to the server via FW800 as a case-sensitive drive, open up the sparse bundle, and copy the root folder onto the drive. Took a few hours, got one -50 error message (but it didn't stop the copy) and just tried to access it using "Browse dead computer on ..." and again, it shows me the local files. It doesn't display any of the TM backups from the dead computer.
What's going on here? Durring the OS install, I can pick the "restore system from TM" and it will find the TM server, I enter the u/n and p/w of the dead computer, and it prompts me to pick a TM backup I'd like to restore from. Likewise from migration assistant, it sees the TM backups just fine, and it "works" to an extent (in that it copies most of my files over. From what I recall, migration didn't prompt for a day to pick, it just copied probably the latest backup, which I bet wasn't complete due to the dead computer kicking the can for whatever reason. Moot point though). Is a OS version conflict preventing me from viewing a backup created with 10.6.8? Would a computer running SL be able to view the TM backup properly? (...I thought I tried this, can't recal now. But I can try at work again, I do have one last SL machine on the network).
Anyway, what other options do I have to view the data? At this point, I feel like I'm stuck rooting through the backups folder and hunting for files to copy over manually, which I know isn't prescribed practice.
Thanks for any input.

You can try a cloning program so that you'll have multiple backups which can help in a situation like this.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Commonly Used Backup Methods

After Mountain Lion update - problems synching contacts and accessing previous Time Machine backup

I have just set up a MacBoook Pro with a new SSD drive to replace the internal hard drive. I made sure I had a current Time Machine then connected the SSD drive externally and installed Mountain Lion. I installed the SSD drive into the computer. Before restoring applications from the Time Machine backup, I enabled the root user, logged on as that and deleted all other accounts as I have previously had issues with creating a new account from a backup and making that the 'home' user.
All went well except that a few seconds after I opened Contacts they all disappeared. They were replaced with two entries - one for Apple and one with the name of the home account.
I tried to retrieve Contacts from the Time Machine backup. I could see all the past dates but they were all red and inaccessible.
I looked at Contacts in my account at iCloud.com - they were the same 2 contacts as my local machine. I went through the installation process again but made sure that there was no connection to the Internet on completion. My contacts were intact. I exported them to a file and turned on the Internet. A few seconds later, my Contacts were gone..!
I imported from the backup I had made but, after a few seconds they were replaced with the two contacts from iCloud. Nothing I tried would allow me to add the contacts and have them synch to iCloud. I finally found a workaround:
1 disconnect from the Internet
2 import Contacts from the export file
3 select all contacts (ctrl-A) and drag them to the 'on my mac' account in Contacts
4 connect the Internet and watch all the contacts disappear from the iCloud account
5 select all contacts from the 'on my mac' account adn drag them to the iCloud account.
6 watch them synch to iCloud
I still don't understand the problem - perhaps someone can enlighten me - but here's the workaround if someone is having the same problem.
And I still can't access the Time Machine backup that I used to setup the MacBook Pro. Looking at the files within the Time Machine the backup. it looks as though it is probably a permissions issue but I don't see why as the account I am using is the same name as the one used to create the backup. Any guidance would be appreciated.
Jeff

I think you went about this the wrong way. ok....
Could you please try this... (1) Open Address Book - keep it as the main window. (2) Enter Time Machine from the icon in the menu bar... do you have that icon? If not, Open System Preferences, Click Time Machine, put a check mark in Show Time Machine in Menu bar. Close System Preferences. Go back to your addressbook. Make it the primary application open. Now go to the icon in the menu bar that represents TimeMachine and click Enter Timemachine. You should see your stuff...
if you dont...
I would also try...
Open system preferenes. go to the icloud tab. sign out. then sign in.
jdxxs wrote:
I have just set up a MacBoook Pro with a new SSD drive to replace the internal hard drive. I made sure I had a current Time Machine then connected the SSD drive externally and installed Mountain Lion. I installed the SSD drive into the computer. Before restoring applications from the Time Machine backup, I enabled the root user, logged on as that and deleted all other accounts as I have previously had issues with creating a new account from a backup and making that the 'home' user.
All went well except that a few seconds after I opened Contacts they all disappeared. They were replaced with two entries - one for Apple and one with the name of the home account.
I tried to retrieve Contacts from the Time Machine backup. I could see all the past dates but they were all red and inaccessible.
I looked at Contacts in my account at iCloud.com - they were the same 2 contacts as my local machine. I went through the installation process again but made sure that there was no connection to the Internet on completion. My contacts were intact. I exported them to a file and turned on the Internet. A few seconds later, my Contacts were gone..!
I imported from the backup I had made but, after a few seconds they were replaced with the two contacts from iCloud. Nothing I tried would allow me to add the contacts and have them synch to iCloud. I finally found a workaround:
1 disconnect from the Internet
2 import Contacts from the export file
3 select all contacts (ctrl-A) and drag them to the 'on my mac' account in Contacts
4 connect the Internet and watch all the contacts disappear from the iCloud account
5 select all contacts from the 'on my mac' account adn drag them to the iCloud account.
6 watch them synch to iCloud
I still don't understand the problem - perhaps someone can enlighten me - but here's the workaround if someone is having the same problem.
And I still can't access the Time Machine backup that I used to setup the MacBook Pro. Looking at the files within the Time Machine the backup. it looks as though it is probably a permissions issue but I don't see why as the account I am using is the same name as the one used to create the backup. Any guidance would be appreciated.
Jeff

Linking previous Time Machine Backup to a new Mac OS X Reinstall

Hi guys,
Several recurring problems prompted me to reinstall Mac OS X Leopard 10.5. Beforehand, I had made a copy/clone of my entire Macintosh HD onto an external hard drive. After the reinstallation, I selectively copied specific folders back to my fresh installation.
On my previous installation, I have had Time Machine running for several months. Trouble is, when I connect the external hard drive which holds the Time Machine backups, the Mac does not recognize it.
I wish to have my new reinstalled Mac back up to this same Time Machine backup. I have copied all of my documents and applications back onto my new installation. I wish to browse previous backups of the files I had made.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe if I choose my old Time Machine hard drive as my Time Machine backup disk in my new installation, Time Machine simply starts an entirely new backup and ignores the old Time Machine backups made from my previous installation.
I would appreciate any help you guys could provide.
Many thanks.

I had that problem and a more challenging one as well - don't feel bad, mine was caused by the Apple geniuses at my local Apple store doing the same backup and reinstall OS thing.
One thing to be sure of - go to the "SHARING" pane in System Preferences, and be sure that there is a name for your computer in the appropriate box - AND that the name is the same one you were using before your re-install. Mine had been changed, and when I fixed that, TM recognized the TimeCapsule drive. However - another more difficult problem persists. Here's a message I posted on another thread dealing with the "other" problem: TM won't show the backups made prior to my reinstall (except under special circumstances, noted in the message).
have an almost identical problem. yesterday I picked up my MacBookPro from the Geniuses at my local Apple retail store. In order to fix a problem with QuickTime, they ported all my files to a backup disk, reformatted my HD, installed a clean copy of OS X 10.5, upgraded it to the current version, then copied my files back to my computer's HD. They messed up my password; somehow made many of my applications vanish (I've mostly fixed those problems now) AND I can no longer access the backup files saved prior to their "help".
One wrinkle - I can see all of the backups in the TimeMachine window if I am at the level of my hard drive, OR clicked on the applications folder. If I select any other subfolders, the pre-"help" backup files gray out and cannot be used. If I move to a pre-"help" backup file while at the HD level, all but the applications folder are grayed out and non-responsive to clicks
I ran DiskUtility - repair permissions - and while it found a huge number of things to fix, this did nothing for my Time Machine problem.

How do I reinstall Lion after having to revert to previous Time Machine Backup of Snow Leopard?

After upgrading to Lion, had to revert to a Snow Leopard Time Machine backup in order to transition my Quicken data to a newer version of Quicken compatible with Lion. Now not sure how to get back my upgrade. Command-R during restart does not work, I'm sure because system is now running Snow Leopard. App Store does not show my purchase. Don't want to pay for Lion again. Don't want to restore Lion Time Machine Backup as I will lose my new Quicken Essentials version and data file.

If you are running Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later open App Store and sign in with the same Apple ID you used to purchase Lion. Click on Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should see an active Install button to the right of your original Lion purchase entry.

Can't see photos from previous Time Machine backup

Here is my issue:
I had two MacBook Pros (one old, one new).
I bought an external hard drive.
I backed up both the old and the new MacBook.
I wiped and sold my old MacBook.
I opened the backup of the old MacBook on the external hard drive in an effort to find my old photos.
On the external drive, I went to Backups.backupdb > Users > Pictures.
On the Pictures icon I see a red "caution" type icon.
I click on the folder and get a popup that says, "The folder pictures can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."
How do I access all my photos that are in this "locked" folder?
Thanks!!
Jim

You do not directly access Time Machine backups - you use Time Machine to restore them - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
For detailed TM questions the TM forum is a much better place to ask
LN

Manually tell new mac to use previous Time Machine backup

Hi There,
We have a Mac Mini server which we use as a Time Machine backup disk - and we have a new Macbook which I migrated from the previous one using Migration Assistent.
But after configuring Time Machine to use the server's backup drive, I didn't see or missed the options to "Use previous disk" or "Inherit backup history".
Is there a way to manually tell Time Machine to use the previous backuop - the Macbook was migrated so has the same username and files.
Any help would be much appreacited.
Cheers
Ben

The page had a lot of other stuff on it so here's what I did to inherit a backup:
Info from: http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html
Get ready:
Turn off Time Machine in: >System Preferences >Time Machine
Mount the Time Machine Backup Drive
If a network or Time Capsule, mount the network drive share
Open Terminal: /Utilities/Terminal.app
Paste the following (ignore $) but don’t hit enter
$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup
Make sure there’s a space after “inheritbackup “
If inheriting from a hard drive:
Open the drive and open /Backups.backupdb
Find the folder name of the backup you want to inherit
Drag the folder into terminal after “inheritbackup “ so the path looks like this:
$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Backups\Backups.backupdb/Computer\ Name
If inheriting from a Time Capsule or network drive:
Mount the drive
Find the .sparsebundle name of the backup you want to inherit
Drag the .sparsebundle into terminal after “inheritbackup “ like this:
$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Client\ Backups-1/Computer\ Name
Inherit the backups:
Ensure there's a space between "inheritbackup" and the path to your backup and hit enter
Enter your machine’s admin password
When finished you should see:
Claiming disk image for machine...
Ejecting disk image...
$
Quit Terminal
Turn on Time Machine in: >System Preferences >Time Machine
Trouble shooting:
If you see the following error: “Failed to attach disk image. (error 35)”
Then Time Machine wasn’t off or hadn’t shut down before you ran the command

Why can't I select previous Time Machine Backups?

I'm running 10.7.5 on a 2010 Macbook Pro and, as of a few hours ago, I can no longer select previous back ups in Time Machine in order to delete entire back ups or single files. Can someone help me here? My ext HD is full and I want to create some space on it since Time Machine doesn't seem to be doing it automatically.
Thanks!

Hey Anania!
I have an article for you that addresses this situation:
OS X Mountain Lion: If your Time Machine backup disk runs out of space
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11169
Thanks for coming to the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
Braden

Two Discs shown for wireless time machine backup., "Data" and "Extreme"

I have a new 1TB iMAC 24" connected to Time Capsule via ethernet and wireless, one MacBook connected to Time Capsule via ethernet, and another MacBook that uses wireless. The iMAC and the ethernet-connected MacBook backup just fine using Time Machine. When I try a wireless Time Machine backup from the wireless MacBook, the backup fails and I get the "unable to ... image ..." message (don't remember the exact wording). When I try to "Change Disc" in Time Capsule preferences, I see two discs, one labeled "Data" and the other labeled "Extreme." Which one should I choose?

Try a new post in the 10.5 Time Machine forum.
DALE

How to reset network settings but keep Time Machine backup data?

I am having problems connecting to the Internet through TC but works fine with Ethernet directly to the computer. I would like to wipe clean the network settings in Time Capsule but not lose the Time Machine backups. How to do this?
thanks
Ken

Just perform a "hard" reset on the Time Capsule (TC). This type of reset will not erase existing backups on the TC's internal drive.

HT203177 Can time machine backup data for newer OS?

I had upgraded my Macbook to OS X 10.7
Can I continue to backup data for Time Machine used to backup data for the same Macbook with previous version of OS?

Yes. Time Machine will continue to backup your system as it should.

Are previous Time Machine backup dates accessible?

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