Broken Alias in Time Machine?

I'm trying to restore a file that was backed up last August via Time Machine. The file is a Pages document and indicates such when I find it in TM. However when I go to restore it it won't restore. If I double click on the file it just shows a blank document. I also tried to restore it by going directly in with Finder into the Time Capsle drive. Finder indicates it's a broken alias. Any ideas on what's going on? I noticed a large number of my older back-up files have the same characteristic, not just this one file. However there are some files that look just fine. I've done a Repair using Disk Utility on the Time Capsule and it came back with "no problems". Anyone have an idea of what's going on and how to fix?

Did you Repair Permissions and Repair Drive using Disk Utility on the Time Machine drive?
If all this fails, if you have a drive that is large enough you can do a Time Machine restore to that drive. Boot from the drive then do a search for the original files.

Similar Messages

Broken text in Time Machine

Hello,
I can't find on the forum my problem. When I enter Time Machine, all the text on the bottom of the screen (Cancel,Title,Restore) are broken. I've got only square with arrow in the center, instead of the normal text. I feel like it is a problem of police...
Someone knows maybe how to fix this ?
Thanks.

Ok here the story : I though that it was only a problem on time machine, but opening iPhoto did the same font display problem, then trying to find a solution on the net, I found a site, but all title and some link were displaying the same "square font" thing... I discover then that it was Hevetica Neue that had some problem displaying well.
But Helvetica Neue was properly install on the computer...
The solution is to clear your system cache with this command in terminal :
sudo atsutil databases -remove
Then restart imediatly your computer.
Try to open the apps on web pages where you had the problem : voilà ! the problem is gone.
Just to mention that before all that I did uninstall fontcase from my mac to have only one app. controlling fonts. I don't know if it help solving it, but it's FYI.
Have nice day everyone.

Server app on Mavericks broken on a Time Machine recovery

Have installed a replacement hard drive in my iMac and recovered from my most recent Time Machine backup.
Everything seems to have gone well except for the Server app, which is now unusable.
On starting Server I get my first error:
“An error occurred while updating your service data”
Click continue, spinning wheel in the dialogue box.
When connecting to server I get a second error; select “This machine”, log in with previous credentials (an admin user):
“Server requires administrator login
The user is not permitted to administer this server. Make this user an administrator on this server and try again”
The user account I am using IS an administrator on this computer.
I’ve tried a full recovery from the Time Machine backup twice now.
Any suggestions? My thoughts are it could be a Keychain issue, but I'm not sure.

From /var/log/server.log:
Dec 12 17:16:10 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 12 17:16:10 mac01.local servermgrd[1695]: [1695] error in getAndLockContext: open returned -1 (errno=1) file was /private/var/servermgrd//servermgr_config.lock
Dec 12 17:16:10 mac01.local servermgrd[1695]: [1695] error in getAndLockContext: open returned -1 (errno=1) file was /private/var/servermgrd//servermgr_certs.lock
Dec 12 17:16:10 mac01.local servermgrd[1695]: Exception in doCommand for module servermgr_info on thread 0x7ff4fa719bd0: *** setObjectForKey: object cannot be nil (key: identityCertificates)

How to repair a corrupt Time Machine Backup

I have been Googling & searching also here in the support community about how delicate Time Machine is. I think I've broken so many Time Machine "don'ts" that I NOW know what I did and where I need to do things differently. Moving forward.
I have a Time Machine backup on an external HD. I have also recently re-installed Mountain Lion and now need to restore my files from Time Machine.
This is where the problem starts. Time Machine won't restore, and when I (yes, I NOW know it's a no-no, please hold your foul comments) go into the Backups.backupdb folder manually, all the folders are now shortcuts, and they lead no where.
I have tried to no avail:
To repair permissions with Disk Utility
To repair the drive with DiskWarrior
Does anyone have any (constructive) suggestions? This backup contains the usual personal documents & photos that we can all agree are most important, but also I have stuff pertaining to legal matters that I can not lose under any circumstances. Having invested $99.95 on DiskWarrior just really burns me up at this point because that was the recommended fix for this problem.
Any advice or assistance I can get from anyone would be deeply appreciated!

When I go into the "star wars" Time Machine screen, all the backups are blank & black. My Backups.backupdb folder has gone from 483Gig, to 4.72TB on a 2TB drive. When I use the finder to manually look in the Backups.backupdb folder, all the folders inside are alias' and when I double-click them, they say that the alias is broken, do I want to delete it or fix it.
I know that all the Backups.backupdb is just a database that links to the files stored on the hard drive, and I need a utility that will repair the links to each file. If no one has something that does this, perhaps this is a great opportunity for someone to create such a utility.
I'm going to try using Data Rescue to just restore the drive completely and pick through it manually.

Can iPhoto (or iPhoto Library Manager) identify thumbnails that no longer connect to a full image. I can restore these from Time Machine (I've done so for 3 images) but don't fancy manually clcicking on every photo in my library to find which need restore

I have been preparing photos for export and found some have a thumbnail but no image, only the exclamation mark upon selection. I have restored three 'broken' thumbnails via Time Machine. I want to indentify all the broken thumbnails so I can choose which to restore and also find them quickly in Time Machine. The only way I currently know is to select each thumbnail, individually, and see if it brings up the exclamation mark 'image'. Is there a way to find only the 'broken' thumbnails?
Thanks

I went to TM and "Browse Other Backup Disks", selected the USB drive used for TM, browsed for the most recent backup and, one by one, copied each of the folders within /Users/NAME in the TM backup to /Users/NAME on the freshly installed MBP hard drive. The folders I'm referring to are Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public. I overwrote the existing (empty) folders.
That's not how you restore. Might work for other material (pure fluke that,) but iPhoto is a database and the back up is stored in increments. Time Machine needs to reassemble it from the increments.
Enter the Time Machine interface, go to the Pictures Folder. Locate the iPhoto Library you want to restore and click restore.
Regards
TD

What has renamed my Time Machine backup partition?

I have no idea what has happened here, but between my last TM backup (which was Friday, June 29th) and today (July 2nd), my backup partition has been renamed from `Name` to `Name_1`. Log files do not show any system process that occured, and the drive sat idly in my desk over this time period. There is so much odd going on here:
1. Backups appear to be progressing as usual
2. `Name` is now a partition under /Volumes/ that is owned by root; I have full permissions to `Name_1`.
3. `Name` contains .Spotlight-V100 and nothing else.
4. Depending on whether I am using Cmd-I or Bash, I get different info as far as when each of these were created, modified, etc.
Plus a couple of other odd bits.
Anyone ever run into this? I have had multiple problems over the past couple of months since installing a new HDD (posted a question or two on this forum, did not get any responses). These problems seemed to largely resolve through a few means, and backups have been going relatively smoothly since. I am and have been using a WD My Passport Elite 500 GB to back up a late 2008 MBP running 10.6.8. Like I said, before getting the new HDD mid-May, I never had a problem. This is the oddest of them all for sure. Any help or insight would be appreciated (do I even need to worry?).
Screen shots below illustrate attempting to cd to the directory (using bash alias tmj "time machine jump" which should've taken me to the directory right above the incrementals) and finding it wasn't there, then being denied access through manual cd.
Finder windows show the discrepancy between a "normal" window (bottom finder) and one I opened after cd'ing to 'Cortical' (`Name`) using `open .` from the command line.

It doesn't show up in Disk Utility, and it is not discoverable from the Time Machine setup.
I've restarted, shut off and on, etc. It was displaying in the Time Machine list of discs but erroring out on actually doing a backup. I removed it to see if I could reconnect, but now I can't even find it.
All cables are plugged in securely.
My guess is this is the is related to the 10.9.2 update.
Any other ideas?

How do I restore time machine alias files cloned from broken hard drive

My external hard drive broke (a tiny transistor broke off after the drive fell two feet to the floor) so I purchased a new one and had the Geek Squad clone what was on my old hard drive onto my new one. I was using Time Machine to backup my files. My external hard drive had a much larger capacity than my macbook pro, so I deleted a number of the files saved on my Macbook Pro, knowing that I could access my files whenever I plugged my ext. hard drive in.
After plugging my new external hard drive into my computer, however, I am finding only alias files and I do not know how to restore my data so I can access all of the files again.
Does anyone know how to restore my time machine data from the cloned data I had transferred from my broken external hard drive to my new external hard drive?
Thanks!

morrisck wrote:
An update - I finally took both of my HDs in to an Apple store and they confirmed my fear: only alias files had been transferred from my old drive, meaning Geek Squad charged me $100 for 850 MB of unusable files.
That has been clear since early in this thread.
Geek Squad has agreed to retry the process
Why pay them to do what you don't need done??? Get a refund and buy an enclosure, which you should have anyway for backups.
but I'm now wishing that I had received more sound advice when I brought the drives into them in the first place.
Don't know who gave you that advice, but I sure wouldn't trust them with my data!
The Apple rep. informed me that my HD works perfectly fine and that it just needs a new enclosure (which I can buy for $20 online, as opposed to paying $100 for a data transfer).
Ummm, the action to take seems very clear to me . . . .

How does Time Machine handle alias files on the backup volume?

I have been trying to find some info on how Time Machine handles alias files on the backup volume, but can't find anything on that topic. Neither here in this discussion or at the Apple support pages.
My concern is if an alias file on the backup volume is backed up »as is«, or if it is resolved and the original file is backed up? The last would be most annoying as this will make the size of the backup much larger.
Even though I do not know of folders having been renamed (which will cause that folder and all its content to be backed up again) Time Machine often backs up a surprisingly large amount of data, so I suspect that alias files could be resolved.
Any info on this will be appreciated.

Alias files are NOT followed, AFAIK.
For more info on how TM works, see this ars technica review.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: joshz

Time machine local snapshot broken?

Hello everyone,
I've done a clean install by going into restore mode and wiping my HDD and installing mavericks. I can confirm that localsnapshot is broken on my Macbook Pro retina 15" and MacBook Pro 13". I have this exact same problem : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5424793
I am just curious if localsnapshot functionality works for you all. Could you post your test case by trying to enter time machine when your external drive is disconnected on any macbook or macbook pro.
Thank you.

Thanks for the input. I really hope apple figures it out at some point and provide a fix for everyone.

I have a new mac book pro/LION and can't access my back up data when I click on "enter time machine". I need the back up data that I could access on my old mac book pro (that is now broken). Tnx so much

I have a new mac book pro/LION and can't access my back up data when I click on "enter time machine". I need the back up data that I could access on my old mac book pro (that is now broken). I can only access time machine back up data that I've obtained since starting the new mac book pro. Tnx so much

Try doing a click-and-hold on the Time Machine icon in the Dock, then select "Browse Other Time Machine Disks".
By the way, you've been misled by poor field labeling on this forum into typing a large part of your message into the field intended for the subject. In the future just type a short summary of your post into that field and type the whole message into the field below that.

So, is Time Machine just broken in 10.5.2?

I know I'm in the minority here (although Macfixit has a bunch of people complaining as well), but ever since the 10.5.2 update, Time Machine has gone from rock solid to the flakiest feature of OSX since the days of 10.1.5. I've encountered pretty much every error you can think of over the past few days including:
1. My startup disk was showing up as the Time Machine drive (both the icon and in the pref pane)
2. I'm sometimes getting very slow backups (measured in KB!)
3. Time Machine is quitting out on me after it chokes on certain files (and when I omit those files, it chokes on another one)
I've done everything I can think of: reinstalled the full 10.5.2 update and the graphics update (for good measure), repaired permissions, deleted caches, ran DiskWarrior on everything, took my USB drives off the hub they were on, reformatted my Time Machine drives (loosing all my old backups in the process), and removed my SuperDuper clone from the Time machine drive, putting it back on its own partition.
I'm really at a loss, and I've submitted feedback to Apple, but everything was working fine under 10.5.1 and now with .2 it's all busted. What do you think, it Time Machine simply broken? Should I just turn off Time Machine until it gets fixed? My concern is that there is nothing to fix. That it's working fine for most people, and I've just been cursed.
Thanks for listening.

Barney,
The issue isn't with Time Machine backing up wireless to a NAS connected to a running workstation or server with open shared directory but with it not working when connected to a wireless router such as the Airport Extreme Base Station. As per Apple's online Time Machine documentation it states "Time Machine in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard can be used to back up to many kinds of Mac OS Extended-formatted drives, but it does not support AirPort Extreme's AirPort Disk feature. Time Machine can back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, or to a Leopard Server volume, or an Xsan storage device." Keep in mind though people were able to get Time Machine to backup to the NAS connected to the AEBS after entering the terminal command for Time Machine to use unsupported hard drives back when we used 10.5.1 but not since updating to 10.5.2. The reason people are upset is because Apple clearly advertised prior to Leopard's release that Time Machine would work over WIFI to a NAS connected to the AEBS but pulled that information just after releasing Leopard (Reference: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/26/appleyanks_wireless_backup_from_leopard_lastminute.html ). This was after several customers including myself had already purchased the AEBS with a NAS drive with the understanding from Apple that Leopard would support this set-up. Apple still has not fixed the issue and their only solution seems to be for customers to buy their Time Capsule which is just the AEBS with an internal NAS drive. I can't speak for everyone but I feel mislead by Apple which is frustrating because I didn't imagine they would pull something like this.

Currently have house wide wireless network and using external HD (USB) for time machine. HD broken. would Time capsule work with current routers etc or make them redundant?

I currently have a large house wide wireless network and I am using a dedicated Buffalo HD with USB for time machine. The HD has gone bad and can't be repaired. I am thinking of replacing it with a Time Capsule. Will this fit in with my current routers etc, render them redundent ? I THOUGHT THAT THE HD I BOUGHT WAS OF GOOD QUAILTY BUT IT HAS BROKEN AFTER 2 YEARS. HOW LONG CAN ONE HOPE FOR A TIME CAPSULE TO LIVE (USING QUALITY SURGE DEVICES ETC) ? Does one need to backup the backups?
ALSO: Is ther e any way to back up from Time Machine off site ( mobile me etc) in case the house burns down?

Steve M. wrote:
I know I should have redundant backups and should probably have a second external HD and eventually will.
Yes, that's best.
But for now, if I partition (I'm assuming I should) a new 1 TB external HD, how big should I make the TM partition vs. the SD partition at this point assuming I have under 100 GB on my internal Mac HD? Is this a feasible way of doing things here in the near term.
Your best bet is to make your TM partition 2-3 times the size of the amount of data you anticipate backing-up. Put it first on the drive; that way, later on you can delete the partition below it, expand the TM partition, and make a new, smaller partition for SD (or use the whole drive). See #1, #3, #5 and #6 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum, for details.
By the way, any recommendations on which peripheral HDs to consider? I was very surprised on a recent visit to my local Apple Store that they have a large stock of WD My Studio drives. I mentioned to an Apple sales person that I had always heard WDs were kind of a no-no among Mac users but she assured me the current crop of them were much improved. Any comment on that??
Most any drive will work with Macs, and Time Machine.
If you're going to put a "bootable clone" on it, be sure it's a bootable drive. Most PPC Macs can boot only from FireWire; most Intels can boot from F/W or USB. But some Western Digitals won't boot a Mac. Their list of which ones should and +should not+ boot: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787. But note the disclaimer that they don't support it +*at all.+*.
In addition, many of them have a built-in sleep mode that cannot be disabled, and sometimes interferes with Time Machine backups: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1376

Time Machine user interface broken after PowerMac G5 replacement

My PowerMac G5 tower recently experienced a disaster. I was able to replace the unit with a very similar unit, and moved in my hard drive. It's working great.
I've been using an external hard drive for Time Machine backups.
I decided after moving in to the "new" G5 to hook up my external drive and do another incremental backup.
I received the error messages that are associated with a different motherboard - the backups are associated with the old logic board's MAC address.
Apparently there is a relatively easy way to fix this with Snow Leopard and later - a terminal command called tmutil.
Not so in Leopard.
I found the following thread at Mac OS X Hints, and spent quite some time reading it: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101
I felt somewhat intimidated by all the tinkering with extended attributes, and opted to use a link from the thread which lead me to a script that would automate the process.: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20081216145458979
I ran the script, it gave no error messages, and reported that the previous backups had been succesfully inherited to the new computer and Time Machine.
I can now run Time Machine, it does incremental backups, and if I boot the computer from my Leopard DVD, I can do a full restore to various points in time.
However, the Time Machine GUI application is "broken". There is no past. The only time available is NOW, even though there have been 2 or 3 recent backups, and many before then. There is no way to roll back in time, choose a file or folder and restore it.
Summary: Time Machine is creating backups, and the Leopard DVD believes it could restore the whole hard drive with them. But the handy user interface is useless - for all users.
I am very close to doing a complete scorched earth reset and simply begin doing Time Machine all over again, just to get the user interface to work.
Any suggestions?

Gordon Henderson wrote:
Apparently there is a relatively easy way to fix this with Snow Leopard and later - a terminal command called tmutil.
Actually, not Snow Leopard. It's on Lion and later.
However, the Time Machine GUI application is "broken". There is no past. The only time available is NOW, even though there have been 2 or 3 recent backups, and many before then. There is no way to roll back in time, choose a file or folder and restore it.
Sounds like the hack is, well, like most, a faulty one.
It's barely possible it's somehow confused Time Machine into treating each backup as being on a separate drive, and only the most recent is connected. You might be able to see the old ones via the procedure in #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting, but that's not going to have the result you want.
I am very close to doing a complete scorched earth reset and simply begin doing Time Machine all over again, just to get the user interface to work.
That's probably best.

Using an external hard drive now my time machine is broken

Hi All,
i have an external hard drive now my time machne has overheated and failed
this works fine with time machine
Is it possible for me to backup my windows pc to this external hard drive???
thanks in advance
Jason

I guess the external drive is hanging off the Mac..
Getting access to the drive from PC should be possible.. you may need to move public directory onto the external drive and then set up permissions to do it.. I have not done it and simply would not do it.
External hdd are cheap enough buy one for the pc.. That is then formatted NTFS which windows is going to natively read.. this will be much easier if the backups are ever required than to use HFS+ formatted disk hanging off the Mac.
You can also get your dead TC fixed.
https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repairers

Web Sharing broken after Restore System from Time Machine

If you do a complete System Restore from a Time Machine backup, and had Web Sharing turned on, it won't work after the restore. The problem is the restore doesn't put back a folder for Apache logs. It should be in /var/log (or /private/var/log). Without the folder there, Apache won't start and you'll get an error when trying to access anything on the local website:
Safari can’t connect to the server.
Safari can’t open the page “http://localhost/control/” because it could not connect to the server “localhost”.
To fix the problem, use Terminal:
cd /var/log
sudo mkdir Apache2
sudo apachectl restart
Then Apache will be happy and you'll be back in business!

The problem has gone after updated to 10.9.4

Broken Alias in Time Machine?

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