Can't access Time Machine files since upgrading to Mavericks

I have searched the community and found that people have experienced issues backing up to Time Machine since upgrading to Mavericks, but my problem appears slightly different from the ones I've found. I can see that my Time Machine is actually backing up since the upgrade as it was before the upgrade. The issue I'm having is that I can't access the backed-up files in any way.
When I try to open time machine it launches the "space view" with all of the historical tabs lined up for me to scroll through, but imediately closes that window and gives the error message: "Can't connect to a current Time Machine backup disc". It's so weird, because it says that there have been backups completed since the upgrade (most recently this morning). If it wasn't writing to the disc, it would have showed me an error of some sort.
What I am, specifically, trying to accomplish is that I need to restore some iTunes playlists that I somehow managed to delete this past weekend. I figured that I would easily be able to access the library file that contains the playlists from Saturday morning, when I KNOW that playlist was still there, and just restore it. Now that I am seeing that I can't access any of my time machine files, I'm realizing that I have an even bigger problem, and that all of my files are, essentially, going without backup at this time (assuming I can't access the files that have already been backing up).
If anyone has some insight as to how I can fix this problem, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi John, (The above was for your attention) I'm 72 and must've hit the wrong button!!!
I followed your instructions to the letter, but sadly, no success...all my backups are showing on the TM external HD, but I cannot access them after instsalling 'Mavericks'
I spent the entire day on and off the phone with Applecare (they are very nice, and I'm sure they know most of the stuff needed; but not this problem. They are phoning back tomorrow as the senior chap was not available.
I love my apple products, and like you, have been using their gear for well over 25 years...not studying the things, but using them all the way through.
My present Mac, a 24" iMac is nearly 7 years old, bought on December 11th 2007, and this is the first time I have had a significant problem, and never a virus..got bless em!. I bet there are not many Windows users around who can say the same!
However, if I cannot access my backups, I'm a bit lost, as all my accumulated stuff is there!
I guess the worst case scenario is that I revert to OS X 10.7.5, and wait 'til the bugs are ironed out in Mavericks....Ho Hum
Message was edited by: briinoz

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How can I access Time Machine files?

I installed an external 500 gigger external drive and dedicated it to Time Machine in June 2011. In October 2012 I upgraded to Snow Leopard and checked Time Machine only to find that all dates prior to that date were grayed out. I thus lost access to some important files since the automatic back-up began anew in November 2012.
The Finder indicates that the external drive contains over 100 GB of saved files which must be the ones under the grayed-out dates. There are no photos or movies on the Time Machine drive as I am using another external for those. I have used every trick and tried every advice given in this forum including a Utilities-Repair of that drive - to no avail.
How can I regain access to the contents hidden under the dates which do NOT light up when I pass the mouse over them?

I suggest you read Pondini's Time Machine articles; http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

Can't Access Time Machine Files

Ok so last night I did a complete backup with Time Machine on an external HD...I made sure one the backup was done that it had in fact did a complete back up. I was able to scroll through the previous backups of everything...Mail, iPhoto etc. It was all there.
The reason I did the backup was I wanted to reinstall Snow Leopard. So once I got the OS reinstalled I went to access my Mail, iPhoto on the Time Machine backup so that I could have my pictures, emails back but it won't let me restore them. I can see the different backups and the time stamps etc. but it won't let me click and restore.
Am I missing something here? Did I do something wrong?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

cplume wrote:
Ok so last night I did a complete backup with Time Machine on an external HD...I made sure one the backup was done that it had in fact did a complete back up. I was able to scroll through the previous backups of everything...Mail, iPhoto etc. It was all there.
The reason I did the backup was I wanted to reinstall Snow Leopard. So once I got the OS reinstalled I went to access my Mail, iPhoto on the Time Machine backup so that I could have my pictures, emails back but it won't let me restore them. I can see the different backups and the time stamps etc. but it won't let me click and restore.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Most likely, when your Mac started up again after erasing and installing OSX, you set up a user, rather than letting +Setup Assistant+ transfer everything from your backups. So now you have a user that isn't the same as the one that "owns" the data in your backups.
Your best bet is probably to start over: erase the internal HD again, install OSX again, and when your Mac starts up again, transfer everything from your backups. See #19 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for details.
Why did you want to do this? If all you want is a fresh copy of OSX, you can just install it, without touching anything else.

I had to change my Hard Drive, now I want to work on files in iWeb, but can't access Time Machine before yesterday. The dates are there on the right hand side but are greyed out before yesterday when I changed my HD. How do I access anything from before.

I had to change my Hard Drive, now I want to work on files in iWeb, but can't access Time Machine before yesterday. The dates are there on the right hand side but are greyed out before yesterday when I changed my HD. How do I access anything from before?

Start with B5/6 in the 1st linked article.
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Can I access time capsule file without using imac

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From a time machine backup? No. If you mean just a regular file stored on there? Not directly. There are a couple of apps out there where you can indirectly get to a file but it's a pain. If you have need of accessing a file both from the mac and the iPad then I suggest DropBox. You get 2GB free and it's a good way to share information between machines and devices.

Can't access Time Machine settings when AirPort (WiFi) is on.

Problem:
My iMac (2.66 MHz Inter Core Duo) with 10.5.8 needs an upgrade to Maverick...it is connected to my home network with AirPort
I have a NAS on my home network (Verbatim MediaShare 2TB) wired connected, which I have had working as a drive for TM-backups. It stopped working with TM about 1,5 year ago, did never figure out why, backups just failed.
Now I want to get it going again for a fresh backup prior to the OS upgrade.
The issue I am facing now is that I cant access the settings for the backup drive in TM settings as the AirPort is on.
I need AirPort on to be able to mount the drive of the NAS, but then I cant access TM-settings. If I switch of AirPort temporarly to access TM-settings the drive which I need to select is dismounted.
I am kind of stuck. Why is this happening?
BRG
/Johan

BDAqua wrote:
Got me really confused, sorry...
Can't access Time Machine settings when AirPort (WiFi) is on.
the NAS Volume for backup "COMPUTERSBACKUP$" can be mounetd as it should when AirPort is on.
Hi, label explains the problem pretty much...
That is: The dialog in TM where the disk for TM to put backuped data is not accessable when the iMac has connection to my home network. The button is there, but when i press it notheing happends. If i deactivate the network interface, the dialog opens.
I hope this claryfy my problem.
BRG
/Johan

I am unable to access my Bank website since upgrading to Mavericks (Safari 7)

I am unable to access my Bank website since upgrading to Mavericks (Safari 7)
I get the following error message in Safari before I even have the opportunity to
connect to my bank's website.
It works fine in Firefox and Chrome.
Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.tdbank.com/" on this server.
Reference #18.a555ee3f.1382720248.13b74953

I experienced the same problem where by I could not log into my Nationwide Bank account when I had upgraded Safari to the latest Version before Mavericks 6.1.0 on OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.5. I believe.
I already had Trusteer Rapport installed as recommended by banks.
Some Banks worked but Nationwide skipped the log in page and kept taking me to a page about Cookies telling me I needed to enable them but they were enabled. I just could not get into the Log In Page. Incidentally the Nationwides Cookies screen shot is of an out of date Cookies setting page - it is now under privacy in Safari preferences.
I then installed Rapport again when it popped up as an option and bingo I could get to the Log In page.
Took the plunge and upgraded last evening to Mavericks
Same probelm occured cannot Log In to Nationwide.
I have just stopped Trusteer Rapport and thank goodness I can get into Log On again.
However when I logged out and tried to open another site Safari crashed with the following error message
"safari quite unexpectedly while using trf.dylib plug-in"
Chose Reopen and safari opened Ok
I googled the message and that got me here - seems it is Trusteer Rapport
So someone needs to sort this out I guess Trusteer I guess?
Hope this is helpful
Cheers
John

Can't access Time Machine backups through GUI

Here's what happens when I tried to access Time Machine backups. This description is when I try to "browse" backups from within iPhoto. I believe that a similar thing happened when trying to look directly after opening the Time Machine from within the Dock:
The window goes to the center of the screen (smaller than normal) and the top menu bar disappears (you can see the desktop through the empty translucent bar). Nothing else happens. You can't apply expose hot corners or activate the dock.
It looks like maybe the Time Machine layout is TRYING to activate (as in the original demos), but doesn't complete. There is no timeline of windows or the sidebar timeline.
Any ideas what I need to do to fix this? Once it happens, the only way that I can back out (since the Dock is inaccessible) is the hit the escape key a couple of times.

When I do it from within iPhoto, I'm not getting the multiple panes or the forward backward arrows. All I get is the first/current frame in the centered pane.
Here is a screenshot of iPhoto before I select "browse backups":
[IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m29/teacher24_70/MiscScreenShots/iPhoto-1.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a screenshot after I select "browse backups":
[IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m29/teacher24_70/MiscScreenShots/iPhoto-Brows eBackups.jpg[/IMG]
By the way, I don't use Mail.app, so I can't really test it through there. Is there another Apple app that has this functionality built in?
-(.)^(.)- wrote:
Hmmm... not exactly sure what you are trying to do with Time Machine. If you are in iPhoto, you will see the folder you are viewing. For example, I can view my Last Import folder for Aug. 20. Now I can clip on the pane behind it and go back in Time to what my Last Import Folder on, say, Aug. 13, one week ago. Obviously, I will be viewing photos I Last Imported as of Aug. 13. I can also click on the forward and back arrows on the right side to view on a different date. Sorry, not that comfortable posting personal pics to show you what it should look like, but I hope this description helps.
Using Mail as an example is much simpler as the Inbox will change on a daily (even hourly) basis. In the case of Mail, if you start deleting mail on Aug. 20 from the Inbox and suddenly realize you deleted something you didn't want to, simply click the TM icon and you will be in a TM interface. Go back to the dated backup BEFORE you deleted that email and RESTORE it. It will restore it into a NEW TM folder to indicate this is a restored mail. Use the gear icon on the top when using Finder to restore files.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: teacher24_70

Is there a way to access Time Machine files associated with an old user name?

My iMac was running super slow and there was a bunch of programs, etc. that I wanted to get rid of anyway so I thought I would do a "clean install" from my Snow Leopard disc. I moved items on my desktop to my Seagate external drive and then unplugged it. I have had Time Machine saving to it for a long time so I was confident I could just move a few items (pictures, music, etc.) back on to my hard drive when the install was completed. To my surprise, when I went to Time Machine I found the items I had moved from my desktop but no earlier versions of my other files.
In researching this issue a little bit, it appears that perhaps I created a new user name when I did the install and that my historical items are likely still on the Seagate but stored somewhere associated with my old user name. I understand that if I can change my user name back to the original that I may be able to access the items and transfer the items I want. To compound the situation, I have no idea what my old user name even was.
Does this make sense to Mac experts out there?
If so, is there a way to see the old user names and access the Time Machine files?
I've been avoiding telling my wife that I may have lost all our kid photos so I'm desperately hoping someone can help.

The problem is that Time Machine detects your new OS X copy as a new Mac and it doesn't let you access to your backups. To access to them, see > http://pondini.org/TM/E3.html
Another option would be to access to your backups manually. Open a Finder window, select the Time Machine drive in the sidebar and go to Backups.backupdb > your computer's name > one of the backups > your partition's name, and copy the data you want

How can I access Time Machine backups after doing an erase/reinstall of Mavericks?

I recently did a complete erase of my hard drive and re-installed Mavericks. I chose to start clean rather than use any Time Machine back-ups. I used the same external hard drive for my new Time Machine back-ups. Now I cannot open any back-ups/items prior to the re-install via Time Machine. They are listed along the right hand sidebar in Time Machine (star wars view) but will not open when clicked on.
Some files I can access if I go to the actual backup folder - ex a Pages doc BUT ff I try to open the iPhoto library from the back-up folders stored on the external drive, I get the following error message -
I cannot open the iPhoto "package" to access individual photos from these back-ups.
So - how can I get Time Machine to allow access to the pre-install back-ups??
thnx
Message was edited by: Rant&Raver
corrected some spelling errors!

To restore the library from your TM backup follow the instructions in this screenshot.
If you want to restore all of your Home folder documents you can use Migration Assistant.

Can't Access Time Machine Backup Files After Reinstall

I just completed a clean reinstall of Mountain Lion. Obviously I've missed some important step(s). When I enter Time Machine, I can see that there are older back ups by the dates on the right hand side of the screen, but they are greyed out. I'm confident the files are there, the issue is being able to access the files.
I've seen some notes about "reassociating Time Machine" with my "new" computer with some terminal commands, but I get lost with the instructions I've read and it sounds like if I do it wrong there is a pretty good chance I could really cause some damage. For the time being, I've turned off TM, but the dirve is still mounted and available.
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Can anyone access time machine backup files by connecting to time capsule by ethernet cable?

I operate an imac connected to a time capsule. It works great. My internet is connected to the time capsule with an ethernet cable and I access the internet on my imac using an ethernet cable connected to the time capsule. I can also connect to the time capsule using wireless.
A colleague of mine wants to connect to the internet and because of location issues the only convenient way is to let him connect to my time capsule using an ethernet cable. He can access the internet fine and he uses a windows PC. Now my question is, will he be able to access my time machine backup files if he connects to my time capsule using an ethernet cable? I have not given him my password.
Any help will be appreciated. I want to help him get online but I want to make sure he cannot access my time machine backup files.
Thanks

There are actually 3 passwords on the Time Capsule - assuming it has the same setup as my Airport Extreme Base Station.
One password for the WiFi connection.
One password to access setup of the device
One password for access to the storage drive - most people leave the check-box to just use the base-station setup password again.
And, as I said before, you also have the option to encrypt your TM backups. So even if somebody runs off with the device and breaks in to the disk, it will all be garbage without the TM password.
This is the screen as it is on my computer:
As you can see, to access my drive I have it set to use the device setup password.
Here is a screen shot of the other options:

Since replacement of logic board I can not access Time Machine backups.

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I had my logic board replaced
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Can't access Time Machine backups on Yosemite

Hi guys
I'm having some trouble with TIme machine. I did a clean install on my mac. Upgraded it to Yosemite. I could then access my backed up files (although Apple hides most of it for any reason). As soon as I chose the same external hard drive to again be my Time Machine backup drive, all the older backups got unaccessible. When I open Time Machine I can see my older backups but they won't show any files. If I manually look for them in Finder I am locked out.
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Can't access Time Machine files since upgrading to Mavericks

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