Backing up Desktop items in Time Machine

Time Machine has been ignoring and not backing up my desktop items since last November. Can anyone explain why and how I can get it to back my desktop. Thanks

J G B wrote:
I just don't seem to have the "com.apple.TimeMachine.plist " file anywhere. is that possible?
Are you trying to search for it, or navigating via the Finder? (It's a system file, so won't show up with the default search.)
Open a Finder window. Select your hard drive name (probably +Macintosh HD+ ). There should be several folders at the "top" level, including Applications, Library, System, etc.
You want Library. Inside it is a Preferences folder containing com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

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Backing up Desktop Folders with Time Machine

Does Time Machine automatically back-up folders that I have added to my desktop (ie folders containing Movies and pictures) >>>

Time Machine backs up everything unless you tell it otherwise.
Keeping files on the desktop may not be the best place for them--you're better off putting them in your documents folder and creating a shortcut to them under "Places" in the Finder sidebar.
~Lyssa

I have three computers backing up onto the same Time Machine. The Hard drive of one has now failed, and I'd like to restore certain items (principally photographs) to one of the other two computers. How can I do this?

I have three computers backing up onto the same Time Machine. The Hard drive of one has now failed, and I'd like to restore certain items (principally photographs) to one of the other two computers. How can I do this?

"You can also browse the original backup disk for past backups by using "Browse other Time Machine Disks"--to see this choice, hold the Option key then click the Time Machine menu in the Finder (to see the menu, "Show Time Machine status in the menu bar" must be selected in Time Machine preferences."
Mac 101: Time Machine

I just bought and backed up my computer and time machine with a "Seagate BackUp Plus for Mac". Now my time machine is empty. Panicked. can anyone help?

I just bought and backed up my computer and time machine with a "Seagate BackUp Plus for Mac". Now my time machine is empty. Panicked. can anyone help?

Lets start over...
Please restart the network.. shut down everything..
Restart in order.. modem.. router.. if different to TC.. or TC.. client devices.. wait 2min between each startup.
If the TC does not show up on the computer, in finder.. then we need more info.. what OS are you running?
Does the TC show up in Airport utility? Are you running wireless or ethernet?
If you still have issues.. plug the TC directly into the computer by ethernet.
Do a full factory reset of the TC.. and see if it now shows up.
Please tell us exactly what model TC it is and how old.. the A1xxx model number from the base will help if you don't know.
You take a screen shot of the TC opened in finder.
eg..
My TC is named Tardis4.. click on it.. and then open the data folder.. on this one called Tardisdata.
Then take a screen shot of it so we can see what the problem is.. screenshot.. with area selection.. control + shift + 4 .. the picture goes into the desktop.. and then you click the picture icon in the posting web page controls and select the picture.

How to show invisible items in Time Machine Backups?

Dear All,
How can I show invisble items on //Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb ?
I've backed //Lion/Users/User/Library , but when i checked the backed folder, i could not find it.
Any help!!!
Regards,
Abdelaal,

Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app) and paste this command
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder
To turn invisible files off again, use
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE; killall Finder

Can i retrieve items from time machine into mavericks

Dear people
I am looking to install mavericks but don't want to do a clean install, ( i will if it messes my machine up though ).
If i install mavericks i take it that;
A: all the apple apps will still work.
B: if it is messed up then i wil be able to retrieve items from time machine back up.
C: is it worth doing a seperate back up to a hard drive other than by time machine.
D: i previously installed my last software via a clean install, as the upgrade to mountain lion messed up my emails
is it better to do a clean install or are the problems with email boxes etc not relevant in this up date.
Thank you

All the Apple apps will still work- that's a very positive, hopeful statement. Probably they will.
You should be able to retrieve something from your TIme Machine backup. Yes.
A duplicate backup: it depends on how criticially important your data is, and how paranoid you are. One backup is good enough for me.
I am a fan of the clean install. However, I did not do one this time with Mavericks. Lazy. But it works fine.
I would suggest that you restart in safe mode, though, before running the installer. I couldn't get the installer to work until I did.
Regarding a clean install vs. an update install, I think you are asking the wrong question. My opinion is that the vast majority of problems that people have with their Macs are due to:
crapware. I will elaborate on this if you want more. If not, stop reading now.
Crapware = unneeded "haxies", "cleaners", "optimizers", "defragmenters", antivirus software, and GUI modifiers. These are usually poorly written, typically ports from the Microsoft world. They are unnecessary and usually cause problems. They can be impossible to uninstall. They are popular with recent converts from the Microsoft world. I avoid them. My mac almost never, ever has any kind of problem, and I use it a lot, and not just for word processing and checking my email. I do audio recording and editing and some video editing too.
So I do not think the problems people report are due to the OS itself. People want to blame the OS, but I think it's unreasonable for Apple to be able to control and supervise every software developer on the planet.
I would suggest: if you have crapware on your computer, do a clean install, and then don't reinstall the crapware. Just my 2 cents.
If you don't have crapware, the Mavericks upgrade will probably work fine.
a good backup, Time Machine or otherwise, is always a good idea, especially when installing a new OS.

I am trying to download lion with the thumb drive how do i back up my files is time machine good enough or must i transfer everything to my hard drive

I am trying to download lion with the thumb drive how do i back up my files is time machine good enough or must i transfer everything to my hard drive

A erase of the drive or boot partition is not always necessary.
Flashing question mark at boot could be a easy fix, sometimes it's the firmware that simply forgot what bootable volume to boot from.
Try holding the Option key down while booting the machine, a choice of bootable options appears, select your OS X and boot up.
When you get in, head to System Preferences > Startup disk and set it again new. This will tell the firmware what to boot from. Test it to see.
Now if you don't have a selection of bootable options, it could be that the drive is dead, or OS X is erased or corrupted so it can't boot.
You'll have to run through this list of fixes to see what's going on, if you need a hardware fix or what, I've also included links if you can't fix it and need to recover your data etc.
(If it's not remmebering your boot selection then also run through the list to reset things.)
Step by Step to fix your Mac

How do I access my back up files from the time machine if my computer was stolen?

Hi, how do I access my back up files from the time machine if my mac book pro was stolen? I have a mac book air and mac too. But not sure how I can get back all the files from the stolen computer from my time capsule

On the Mac Book Air or other Mac that you have, use Migration Assistant to transfer files from the Time Machine backups of the Mac that was taken.
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

Thanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner.

Difficulty scanning slides on my Epson V600 running Lion, Adobe Photoshop CS6, and can no longer use the Epson scan application or the plug in for Photoshop. Should I revert back to leopard in my time machine to finish scanning my family slides?

I am running Lion 10.7.5, Adobe Photoshop CS6, scanning slides on my Epson V600 and can no longer use the scan application or the plug in for Photoshop. Should I revert back to leopard in my time machine to finish scanning my family slides?
In 10.7 there is not a twain that works with Photoshop for importing with all the options needed to scan transparencies. I noticed that when I was scanning in October 2012 I was still using CS6 so somehow I was managing to be able to use all the scan features.
They sell 2nd party software (VieScan and Silverscript)which I found to be just mimially OK and very hard to use.
I just want to scan like I used to.
Can I use time machine to go back to an earlier operating sysytem LEOPARD, and then do my scans and then save the photos and them go back to the LION system?
I spent 7 hours trying crazy solutions - downloading Windows CS2 Photoshop and then using a program so I could run it on the apple. Then I couldn't figure out how to put a plug in for the scanner in the stupid windows Photoshop program. Googgling the computer like a mad woman trying to ask questions. I am not giving up...
Please help if you can...
Thanks...

I assume you've tried using Image Capture. Give VueScan a try.
http://www.hamrick.com

I have backed up my disk using Time Machine. Now I want to delete the backed-up files from my hard drive. But when I do and reconnect the external hard drive, the files are also deleted on that. What do I do?

I have backed up my disk using Time Machine. I then deleted the back-up files from my MacBook hard drive.
I then reconnected my external hard drive and find the files I deleted from my hard drive are also deleted from
my external hard drive. Can someone tell my what what happened? I'm confused.

Hello,
Time Machine is not a good way to do that, when it eventually needs more room it deletes old Backups to make room.
If you really want to keep Files but remove them from the Internal Drive, then I'd get another external drive to copy or clone them to that is not used for TM.

I have not been able to back up for2 days. Time machine error message: /Volumes/Data/David's MacBook Air.sparsebundle" is already in use.

I have not been able to back up for2 days. Time machine error message: /Volumes/Data/David’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle” is already in use.
What now?
Macbook Air.
Was working fine for the past year until now.

See more like this on the right.. this is the most common error reported here since mountain lion came out..
Or read C12.. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Or just restart the whole network.. in right order from off.. modem.. router / TC.. clients 2min gap.

HT201250 Assume I back-up my computer using Time Machine and then decide to uninstall a certain application. If I later decide that I'd prefer to have that uninstalled application, can I simply restore it from back-up, or must I go through install proces

Assume I back-up my computer using Time Machine and then decide to uninstall a certain application. If I later decide that I'd prefer to have that uninstalled application on my computer, can I simply restore it from my back-up, or must I go through the entire install process again?

Nobody can help? :(

HT1338 I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine on my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. It was going fine when my 2 yo knocked the hard drive. Now TM said "failed" and the Mac refuses to recognize the external hard drive. Help please?

I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine and using my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. All was going well when my 2 yo knocked the disk leading to a "failure" by time machine (Latest Backup: Failed). Now the MacBook will not even recognize the hard drive. I have rebooted, tried all I can think of, but no acknowledgement of the drive. The drive itself makes noise and vibrates as if working, but nothing from the Mac. Please help or $100 down the drain... Thank you.

You may have already done these resets in the "tried all I can think of " portion of your post.....if not then here they are.....
PRAM
support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
SMC
support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
.....hopefully that is all that is required.....

Can selected items in time Machine be removed?

Is there any way to remove selected items from time machine backups?

Yes. See #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Backing up Desktop items in Time Machine

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