Backup contents not showing during Time Machine system restore

I just installed a new hard drive on my Macbook Pro so I'm trying to restore a backup of my old hard drive that was saved on a USB-connected external drive (model: LaCie Minimus). However, when I try to transfer the information during system setup, my backup is not showing as part of the external drive's contents. Only the backup information of two other computers are showing up, but not mine (my computer is called 'Hannah Mercader's Macbook Pro'):
However, if I plug the external drive into another laptop to view its contents, my computer's backup information is clearly in the external drive:
I am positive that I have been backing up my laptop properly using Time Machine. However, the last time that I did try backing up my laptop, it didn't work because my hard drive had failed in the middle of the process (hence the reason for needing to install a new hard drive). I've already tried to Repair the external drive using Disk Utility... everything seems OK but my backups still aren't showing when I try to set up my laptop.
Please help me to restore my last proper backup's contents!

Most likely, some folders were excluded from your backups as the result of a failed or aborted software installation.
Starting from a clean installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

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Time Machine System Restore Help

I need help with the following problem with Time Machine.
I am attempting to restore a OS 10.5.8 system on a G5 Tower.
When I startup the G5 Tower from the startup disks, I goto the RESTORE SYSTEM FROM BACKUP utility in the Utilities menu. From there the Time Machine system restore does nothing at all.
The TIME MACHINE back up is on a USB external drive. This is a backup of the G5 Tower time machine backups - not another system.
As a testing procedurre, I take the Time Machine external USB drive, plug it into my Mac Mini 1.83 Ghz, start up the mini from the startup disks, select the RESTORE SYSTEM FROM BACKUP utility, and TIME MACHINE goes through the prompts fine checking what date you want to restore from.
Does anybody have any experience with this problem - any info helps.
Thanks.

I have never heard of this - it does sound unsettling. I'm not sure how to fix it so that the G5 sees it, but you might try this:
-Boot your G5 while holding down T
-Hook the G5 up to the Mini with a FireWire cable
-Boot the Mini up from your Leopard DVD
-Select Restore from Backup from the menu
-Pick which backup you want restored
-When it asks you for a destination disk for the restore, choose the G5's disk

Mac enters a deep sleep during Time Machine full restore

I have the problem listed in the subject. Here is my configuration:
Mac Pro (early 2008), dual quad-core Xenon 2.8 GHz, 10 GBs of RAM, hard disks as follows:
Bay 1: 1 TB HD System, running OS X 10.6.2, ~500 gigs used, ~400 gigs free, small Bootcamp partition
Bay 2: 1.5 TB hard disk, used exclusively for backing up the drive in Bay 1
Bay 3: 1 TB spare drive, currently contains only OS X 10.6.2 plus some utilities. This drive is not backed up.
Bay 4: empty
OK, so now for what happened. Recently, I had an issue with my main drive (bay 1); rather than attempt to fix it, I decided to reformat the drive and restore from a Time Machine backup. I booted off the Snow Leopard DVD, chose the Restore option from the Utilities menu, and started the restore.
When I returned to the Mac after a couple of hours to see how things were going, the Mac was asleep and could not be woken up by moving the mouse, clicking its buttons, or hitting any key on the keyboard. The (wired) keyboard was totally inactive (no caps lock light, etc.). Pressing the Power button on the Mac Pro didn't do anything, nor could I connect to it from my MacBook Pro by means of screen or file sharing. The only thing I could do was to hold the power button in until the machine turned off completely. Restarting from the DVD worked fine.
I looked for answers on the web, and I found a couple of posts here. One of them suggested setting the sleep parameter to "Never" (if one still had a boot partition); I did that by booting from the disk in bay 3, not quite believing it would work since I was booting from the DVD to do the restore.
Once booted from the DVD, I tried the other answer I had found, and that is executing the command "pmset sleep 0" in the terminal before launching the restore. I got an error to the effect that the write operation failed (duh!), but I thought that maybe the parameter would be held in memory. I started the restore operation again and went to sleep.
Needless to say, the same thing happened again. The only way I was finally able to perform the restore was by sitting next to the machine and moving the mouse every few minutes to keep the system awake. This process took a little over two and a half hours (which is not bad considering the amount of data involved). The operation was successful, and I was able to boot from the restored drive. Everything is now back to normal. However, I am puzzled by the apparent necessity to babysit the Mac while it is restoring from a Time Machine backup.
This clearly did NOT happen with the Leopard (10.5) DVD. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the 10.5 DVD's system included a never sleep setting that Apple forgot to include on the 10.6 DVD.
Is anybody able to perform lengthy restores by booting from the Snow Leopard DVD? If so, how do they get around the sleep issue? Or doesn't it happen in the first place? I would also like to know what state my Mac is in when it stops in the middle of a restore operation; it is clearly not a normal sleep mode since I haven't actually found any way of waking it up.
Finally, I would love to be able to boot from my Bay 3 drive and launch a system restore operation from there since both the Time Machine drive and the target drive would be available. Is there any way at all that this can be done? Has anyone succeeded in using the Time Machine full restore from any location other than the OS DVD? This would obviously be interesting since one could continue to use the Mac while the restore operation is ongoing.
Thanks for any info anyone can provide.
Daniel

something is wrong with your system. changing energy saver settings while booted normally from an external should have taken care of this issue. I suggest you reset SMC
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
and you are right, using "pmset sleep 0" from terminal while booted from the DVD does not work. I think it was me who recommended that. that was very dumb of me. thanks for pointing that out. but it should not be necessary as i mentioned.
all that said, in response to your last question yes it is perfectly possible to run the installer and the restore utility while booted normally from another drive. beeing quite impatient (and having a mac pro with several internal bays ) this is the only way I ever install or restore. also, I don't use the DVD itself. I made a small partition on one of my internals and cloned the SL install DVD to that. it works much quicker from there.
anyway, to start the installer while booted normally from another drive run the following terminal command
sudo /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/CDIS/Mac OS X Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Mac OS X Installer
this will let you use the mac and do other things while the restore is going on.

ICloud Backup is not showing up when trying to restore?

(Obviously) I just updated to iOS 7. GOt through activation and everything. But when I was setting up through the phone and through iTunes, my iCloud backup does not show to restore from. I backed it up this morning at 9 AM and it only shows one from 1 PM. I checked my iCloud storage and the control panel and it's there, but not available apparently for a restore. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Is it possible that some of the clips were recorded in 60P? iMovie does not natively edit 60P.
There are several options.
You could convert it to 30P using an app like ClipWrap.
You can edit 60P in Final Cut Pro X.
Finally, although I haven't tried this myself, some have reported that they have hacked iMovie to be able to edit 60P. Here is a blog post, for example. http://ianperegian.com/My_FZ35_38_Webpage/Edit_1080_50p_and_burn_a_disk.html

Migration Assistant Mav.: not showing ML Time Machine backup

Hi Mac community,
my own MBP mid 2010:
clean install of Mavericks
connected FireWire 800 external hard disk with recent Time Machine backup done in Mountain Lion
started Migration Assistant, selected the Time Machine disk, and transferred all user data
everything worked absolutely PERFECTLY and now Mavericks runs smoothly with all my old user data
So I wanted to do the same thing with a relative's late 2009 iMac:
still in Mountain Lion, doing Time Machine backups to TWO different USB 2.0 hard disks
browsing the Time Machine disks manually to check whether all the files are there -- they are, including the (hidden) ~/Library folder
clean install worked fine, Mavericks runs OK
starting Migration Assistant in Mavericks ⇒ and - OH HORROR - the connected external Time Machine hard disk does not show up as a source - in fact, NOTHING shows up
So I copied over the data manually, for which I had to enable the root account (how else would one delete/replace a whole ~/Library folder??)
Then I tried to fix permissions manually (because other users could now read the files in the home folder).
All the old data (mails, contacts, calendars) is still there, but the whole thing doesn't really run smoothly; each time one logs into the account, keychain asks weird questions and dock icons pointing to programs show questions marks again. Later today, I'll try to fix permissions for the home folder as a whole (Recovery Boot ⇒ Terminal ⇒ resetpassword ⇒ Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs), but I'd rather do another clean install and somehow get Migration Assistant to offer me the Time Machine backup as a source for user data transfer - AS IT SHOULD in an OS that 'just works' ...
Anything I could do to convince Mavericks to use my old Time Machine backup??
This is a real nightmare for me ⇒ I f*cked up a relative's system -- really hope I can fix it again.
Cheers, folks!

sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

Time Machine system restore doesn't see my backups

I've searched around a bit, but I can't seem to find an answer...
My MacBook Pro started failing to boot (it tries to run fsck on boot and "exited with signal 8" or something comes up and it turns off).
At Google's advice, I reformatted, zero-ing out the drive data.
Now when I boot from my Leopard DVD and try to restore from Time Machine, I can't get it to recognze my backups. Disk Utility shows the drive is mounted, but it never comes up as an option.
Am I doing something wrong?
Does zero-ing out the data or just formatting at all cause it to forget which Time Machine backups are the right ones (I know I've had to do something in terminal to get Time Machine to recognize its backups again after sending my computer to Apple for repairs).
....or does anyone have any experience with restoring a system from Time Machine; will it take a long time for the backup drive to show up?

Okay, all was well with my restore, but unfortunately my internal drive just wasn't up for another year. I started getting the same error on boot and couldn't get anywhere.
I bought a new internal hard drive, faster than the one I had before.
I started the restore from Time Machine again, and once again I found that it would take about 3+ DAYS to finish. Obviously, it was not my internal hard drive that was causing the slowness with Time Machine.
Turns out it was my LaCie "Design by F.A. Porsche" hard drive, or rather, the Samsung drive inside works fine, but the LaCie enclosure was the problem.
Here's how I know:
Today I bought an "enclosure" to get a few files off of my old internal hard drive. I say "enclosure" in quotes, because it's really more of a dock that you plug drives into, much the way you would load a game cartridge into an old Nintendo. ...but this is beside the point.
I got the files I wanted (some movies purchased from iTunes that I had already begged to have restored to me the first time this happened).
Next, I was trying to copy my backups to a brand new drive that I bought to use for time machine (my new internal drive is not only faster, but of greater capacity, so I needed a bigger Time Machine drive). My new Time Machine drive has USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800. Yay FAST!
Unfortunately, when I booted to my TechTool Pro eDrive to run MacOS and move my Time Machine files to the new hard drive, I had the same issue. SLOW SLOW SLOW file copying.
So, having my fancy new internal drive dock, I decided to try something...
I managed to pop open the LaCie case, pull out the disk inside, and drop it in the dock. The difference between the xBench score before and after is dramatic to say the least. (see below for results)
It was the LaCie enclosure the whole time. Somehow, without actually failing completely, the enclosure was causing a slow-down somewhere.
So there you have it. Extremely slow Time Machine? Try taking out the drive and putting it in a new enclosure.
...and now the benchmarking results. Each line includes: Test, Score (in bold), Details
LaCie drive in LaCie enclosure:
          Sequential          1.40
Uncached Write          1.30 0.80 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Write          1.29 0.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          1.50 0.44 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          1.52 0.76 MB/sec [256K blocks]
          Random          4.40
                    Uncached Write          4.56 0.48 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Write          2.38 0.76 MB/sec [256K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          39.43 0.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          4.08 0.76 MB/sec [256K blocks]
LaCie Drive in docking stand:
          Sequential          36.16
                    Uncached Write          44.08 27.06 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Write          41.50 23.48 MB/sec [256K blocks]
                    Uncached Read 22.17 6.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          53.40 26.84 MB/sec [256K blocks]
          Random          24.00
                    Uncached Write          8.34 0.88 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Write          80.43 25.75 MB/sec [256K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          77.12 0.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          46.82 8.69 MB/sec [256K blocks]
For frame of reference, New Internal Drive:
          Sequential          65.80
                    Uncached Write          32.00 19.65 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Write          138.82 78.55 MB/sec [256K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          57.30 16.77 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          204.80 102.93 MB/sec [256K blocks]
          Random          21.84
                    Uncached Write          6.01 0.64 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Write          226.98 72.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          148.88 1.06 MB/sec [4K blocks]
                    Uncached Read          177.06 32.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
For frame of reference, New Time Machine drive:
Sequential     81.95
    Uncached Write     101.61 62.38 MB/sec [4K blocks]
    Uncached Write     95.68 54.14 MB/sec [256K blocks]
    Uncached Read     46.62 13.64 MB/sec [4K blocks]
    Uncached Read     141.50 71.12 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random     33.66
    Uncached Write     11.80 1.25 MB/sec [4K blocks]
    Uncached Write     100.81 32.27 MB/sec [256K blocks]
    Uncached Read     65.59 0.46 MB/sec [4K blocks]
    Uncached Read     111.90 20.76 MB/sec [256K blocks]

External drive not showing in Time Machine back ups

ok, I have several problems, the first one being the fact that my external drive, where I have all my data, is not mounting or sometimes it mounts but soon dissapears. I was not worried at the beginning since I thought, that is why I have time machine, I have all my files backed up. However, the external drive does not show in any of my back ups. It dissapears from Time Machine too so all my previous back ups from the external drive dissapeared too. I have all those backups before. Any ideas of what is wrong? I have 10.5.8

dakine2403 wrote:
Thanks a lot. I am sure I am doing somethign wrong but since the external hard drive can not be seen any more, I don't see it either in any one of my back ups. It does not show anywhere.
Also, my external drive gets detected sometimes, I run Repair Disk, it says it is fine, then it works for a while and then it stops working. I need to turn it off, then turn it back on and again it works for a while. I have run disk utility everyt time when the hard drive works and still says it is ok, then it stops working again after a while. Any ideas with either one of these problem ( or both)?
Try other ports and cables. If it has a separate power supply, try plugging-it in to a different outlet. Make sure all the connections are secure. Can you try it on another computer?
Your disk may be failing, or need a firmware update. Check with the maker's website, support and/or forums.

How to select external drive that is not showing in Time Machine

I have a WD My Cloud external drive. It shows in finder. However not in Tim Machine. How can I fix this so that it can be used for backups? Thanks.

A Networked drive will never show in Disk Utility. Only locally attached drives show in DU.
To my knowledge to use a Networked drive with Time Machine it has to be either a Apple Time Capsule or a external drive connected to an Apple Airport extreme router and formatted in the Mac OS X format or there are some other manufacturers that claim to have NAS boxes that are compatible with Time Machine.
Any other drive connected to some other router will never be available as a TM backup drive. First most routers can't format and or read and write to a drive formatted in the Mac OS X format (Some can but I don't know which router they are). Even if it the router can read and write to a drive formatted in the Mac format Time Machine more than likely won't see it as a valid backup drive.
You'll be better off conneting that drive directly to your Mac to use it as a TM backup drive.
It will be much faster connected directly to the computer then doing backups to it over your network.

How to backup contents of sparseimage with time machine?

Hello community,
since I'm using iPhoto from multiple user accounts on the same picture library I followed the usual hints to use a sparse image for the library to have the ability to disable the ownership on this volume. This works for iPhoto.
What is not working well is the backup of the noted sparse image. Time machine always backups the full (200 Gb) file an this slowes down my backups very much.
Is there any way to backup the contents of the sparse image itself instead of the image file? So I would exclude the image file from time machine and would like to add the contents, which are mounted somewhere to the time machine backup. Time machine currently does not backup the volume or I haven't found out where to find this backup.
Any ideas?
Best regards, exxi.

There is no way to have OS X do this. Time Machine will not back up mounted disk images or networked volumes, and only the data on locally attached drives. By default it will exclude external drives, but you can remove these from the exclude list to have them be backed up as well.
Instead of using a sparse image, try creating a sparse bundle image, which stores data in 8MB "bands" that can each be backed up independently. This was originally used for FileVault-protected home folders when Time Machine debuted in OS X 10.5, and should allow a disk image to be incrementally backed up. Only the bands that have been altered should be copied.
You can create this type of disk image in Disk Utility, just like the standard "sparse" image, and include details like encryption if desired.

Firewire issue--Backup drive not found w/Time Machine after imac sleeps

I've had a lot of problems with Time Machine on my G4 imac since starting to use it a month ago. I think I have isolated the problem:
Time Machine functions properly while the computer is in use, and it has no problem after a restart or shut down, but if the computer goes to sleep and then TM runs its hourly backup, I get an error that it cannot find the Backup Drive. Once this happens, TM will no longer work until I've deselected the drive in TM, unplugged it, plugged it in again, and reselected the drive as the backup Drive. Sometimes this requires a shut down or restart too.
Here's what I've tried:
1. connected the drive via USB--it operated without a problem
2. unplugged all devices from the computer, shut down, waited, 20 mins, restrted, plugged the external drive back in via Firewire--the problem persists as described above.
3. deleted the TimeMachine.plist file, restarted--problem persists.
I've read that the Firewire port can be reset with other procedures such as zapping the PRAM or updating the firmware. I've also read that new problems can arise after reseting the PRAM so I'm hesitant to do this. Can anyone shed some light on the PRAM option?
I cannot find where the firmware updates are located on the mac site. Could someone point me in the right direction? I've looked under downloads and after searching, came up with a long list, but nothing was labeled clearly. Each listing mentioned firmware in the header, but it seemed to always pertain to a certain issue (eg. superdrive, or installing appleworks). I could not tell what was the most recent firmware released for my machine, and I fear installing something retrograde that will create new problems.
If anyone has any thoughts on how to deal with the firewire problem, or if you think my issue with using a FW connected drive with Time Machine might be rooted with something else, please comment.
Thanks!
HM
Message was edited by: imaginary_forest

fzgy wrote:
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
That will erase it. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast). Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27. If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups.

My Macintosh HD drive is not showing in Time Machine just Boot Camp.

how do I add my Macintosh HD drive to Time Machine on OS X 10.7.5

System Preferences/Time Machine/Options - if your hard drive shows there, select it and use the - at the bottom.

Usb hard drive on extreme not showing in time machine

Hi
I have connected a usb hard drive to my extreme but can not see it in time machine. I can see it with finder.
Help please

Did you download the latest firmware for your Airport Extreme? When I first bought mine, Time Machine was not supported. A few weeks later a firmware update was released that allowed Time Machine support, and Time Machine worked fine for me after that.

Repair permissions Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit, ever since time machine system restore

Recently had to restore system 10.5.8 Leopard startup volume using Time machine. After many hours of migrating additional important databases that were recovered from failing startup drive, everything seemed to be back up and running smoothly on a new WD 1tb Black drive. Right before I run timemachine again to backup the new revised seemingly stable startup volume, I choose to repair disk permissions using disk utility. Repair permissions failed with this error, The underlying task reported faliure on exit. I tried using the OS X DVD to repair permissions, Diskwarrior, Onyx, none are able to reapair the disk permissions. Although everything seems perfect I would imagine that the system will fail eventually. It's strange that I had no problems repairing disk permissions in the past on this particular system that was the most recent backup. What should I do ?

Repair permissions always reports a bunch of stuff. Ignore it if it says it completed successfully.
Also note that is it usually a waste of time (except maybe after a system upgrade).

Where do I find the Time Machine System restore app on the install DVD?

I want to do a full system restore and I was wondering if I can run the program directly from the DVD instead of booting into the DVD. Both the targeted machine (a non-DVD target-disk connected computer over FireWire) and the backup disk (external HD) are not the startup-volume off the computer I want to do the restore with. So can I use that application directly and where to find it (weird thing, all the other helper-apps from the install DVD are in the hidden folder Applications, but not this one)?

You can restore from the original disc that came with your MBP as they are machine specific. If you want to restore your OSX with the same disc that came with hold C power on and push in the disc. 10.6 users - clean and polish the bottom of the 10.6 disk (no other) with a soft clean cloth and a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol. • Insert the disk and Hold c or option/alt key down and then boot the computer from the 10.6 installer disk. • Second screen, select your boot drive and simply install OS X again. • When you get into the machine, immediately Software Update (#10), reboot and repeat until clear. Important! Force eject a stuck disk - hold the trackpad or left wired mouse button down while booting, the hardware should force eject the disk, or use Startup Manager #3 and select the disk and then use the eject key on the keyboard. Then run all the software updates, there will be plenty. Be sure to back up first. If you are trying to do a remote install on a machine that came with a different disc, there more than likely be issues. You could do it with the Snow leopard retail disc, harder to find these days and becoming quite expennsive. ATB

Time machine icon does not rotate and back up icon on desktop does not show during backup session.

Time machine icon does not rotate and back up icon on desktop does not show during backup session since I installed Maverick. Why? How do I fix it?

That's the new look of it. No way to change it other than file a complaint with Apple. If ENOUGH people do thst they may "fix it".
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Backup contents not showing during Time Machine system restore

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