Gaps in Time Machine

I've been trying to use Time Machine to recover something from December of last year, but there seem to be some large gaps in the timeline. It goes back daily for the past week , then skips right to the date of the last backup, offers a view of the day before that, and then skips all the way back to June of 2011. Is there a reason for this? Is it supposed to have gaps this large?

How much free space do you have on your Time Machine volume. Once it runs out of space, it starts deleting old backups to make room for new ones.

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Can't fully restore my Time Machine/Time Capsule Backup to my newly-wiped SSD/HDD

On receiving my leased, Bootcamp-enabled MacBook Pro, I saw that there were no installation discs for Windows or OSX, and that there were 2 partitions (or so I thought) for Mac and Windows: 375GB each. As I produce music using software in both OSs, I wanted to create a 185GB FAT-32 partition to store my sound samples, projects etc. I attempted to create this partition by resizing (halving) my Bootcamp partition in OSX Disc Utility. The first time I attempted it, resizing was possible, but after the new partition was created, I had problems booting and so had to edit my GPT in order to boot again. Once ‘fixed,’ (by deleting the new partition) I couldn’t resize the Bootcamp partition to fill the 185GB gap, and that 185GB was ‘lost.’ The Bootcamp partition was 375GB but its used space + free space added up to 190GB
So the other day, I tried to follow what I thought was a more logical approach, which I was *sure* would work. My plan was to:
Use Windows Backup (and/or Clonezilla, or Disk Utility) to store an image of my Windows partition.
Uninstall/wipe the Windows partition using BootCamp Assistant, creating 1 big OSX partition
Use BootCamp Assistant to re-partition the HDD for Windows, OSX and ‘shared,’ and then re-install Windows, leaving 175GB for shared music production files
Restore the image/backups (approx 70GB) and carry on as before.
During the process, I deemed that this wasn't possible on my system for a variety of reasons: My laptop already had 4 partitions (Windows Recovery, Bootcamp/Windows, Mac Recovery HD, and Mac) and my understanding is that the MBR of my SSD only supports 4 partitions in its Bootcamp + OSX-compatible state. I have never got this '5 partition' strategy working.
I was unable to restore my Windows partition after re-installing Windows via Bootcamp. As a solution, I then decided to wipe the OSX partition (at that point the only 'visible' partition on the disk) and in-place re-install Mac OS X, with a view to installing Windows after OSX.
Once I wiped my hard drive, however, restoring my files and settings, didn't work as expected. Time Machine backups etc were inaccessible after a normal re-install. Re-installing with file transfer at setup froze at the 10% mark, with an estimated 200 hrs to go. The option to try a full-system restore via Time Machine is greyed-out. Even the Migration Assistant failed at a similar point. On the occasions where it claimed to complete successful (most recent situation) it seemed to neglect files, etc., and I'm now stuck at this stage.
I can view files/backups in Time Machine but I can't completely restore my computer to the state it was on 18th May...and 11 days without a fully-functioning laptop is really annoying. I wasn't able to ‘clean’ *or* ‘in-place’ re-install OSX using my existing settings and so I'm frustrated that Time Machine isn't a flawless backup & restore process. Migration Assistant didn’t transfer everything. Can I get things back to the way they were?
Things that haven’t restored correctly:
None of my icon customisations at the top of the screen were there (DropBox, Evernote, Google Drive, Kuvva, the way battery icon was displayed
Safari: Top Sites, History, Plugins
Logic Pro: Downloaded sounds, presets (10+GB), recent items, plugin settings/AU manager
Mail: Settings (and I’m assuming, the downloaded/cached mail: 7GB)
Trash can: Empty
All recent item lists apart from cloud-based services like Evernote, Notes, contacts
iTunes library
Dock view and settings
Settings for most programs
And I'm sure there are more!

Thanks Pondini; I'd hoped you'd reply. I'm still getting used to this tech, no can't even quote here.
Pondini wrote:
AkaraE wrote:
Time Machine backups etc were inaccessible after a normal re-install.
If you mean you installed OSX and created a user account, then couldn't find the backups, that's because they're treated as being from a different disk, until you either transfer your data or do a manual "associatedisk". See the blue box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #19 for details.
Yet to try the associatedisk...didn't realise this was possible until reading your guides. The explanation makes sense now. On installing OSX it said transfers were possible after installation, so I put off transferring as the first 'restore' had frozen on 10%, thinking I'd do it afterwards.
Re-installing with file transfer at setup froze at the 10% mark, with an estimated 200 hrs to go
That sounds like damaged/corrupted backups. Try to Repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Yet to try...didn't realise this was possible until reading your guides
The option to try a full-system restore via Time Machine is greyed-out.
You mean, on the Mac OS X Utilities menu on the Recovery HD? I've never heard of that. That should always be selectable, so you can specify where the backups you want are located. Nothing happens when you click it? Can you click the other options there?
Even the Migration Assistant failed at a similar point. On the occasions where it claimed to complete successful (most recent situation) it seemed to neglect files, etc., and I'm now stuck at this stage.
Also sounds like directory or file problems on the backups.
This is just when I go into Time Machine/Star Wars. I can't just go to the latest backup and click "Restore" (which I assume would just restore my whole computer/HDD, although I have no experience in this). I can only select files and restore them individually.
Time Machine isn't a flawless backup & restore process.
There has never been any such thing.
I bought into the Time Machine 'hype' and thought it was an easy and reliable tool, but was a lot more difficult to do a full restore than I thought.
Trash can: Empty
Correct. Time Machine (like most backup apps) don't back up trash.
All the rest should have been backed-up and restored. Do you see them in the backups? What, if anything, was excluded from being backed-up?
As a non-native Mac user, I'm not sure where all these things are stored...perhaps in Library? I think that not having the full hard-drive just restore annoyed me...I felt that backing up my whole hard drive every hour should've allowed me to restore everything to as it was without a hitch, and when it didn't work I just tried a few things before posting on here.
If repairing the backups finds and fixes things, you might want to try again.
Gonna try now
If not, and if you can see the missing items via the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display), you should be able to restore them selectively.

How to stop Time Machine from creating entirely new backup of external drive?

I've included an external drive to be backed up into Time Machine. For a few days, the drive was disconnected, however, so only Macintosh HD was getting backed up. I recently re-added the external drive. However, now it appears that since the external wasn't included in the most recent backups, it's decided to re-backup the entire drive.
Is there any way to prevent it from backing up the entire external drive and instead just backup the changes made, or is that not possible because there is a gap in the backups made for the external?

First, the amount that TM says it's going to back up is not necessarily the amount it will back up. You'll only know that when the backup finishes.
I haven't tried this myself, but it may be that after you exclude a volume, TM loses continuity with the previous snapshot. In that case, future backups should be incremental, as long as you don't exclude the volume again.

Time Capsule and time machine with third party router

Hi,
This is the first time I use this site.
I have over three years old Mackbook.
APP has expired.
Now I want to know how to set up time capsule in a new environment.
I moved from Australian and Singapore.
I was using Time Capsule and Airport Extreme in Australia.
I have moved to Singapore.
I am using router provided by Singtell(Singapore Telecommunication). I do not have an Airport Extreme anymore. My housemate and I are using wireless internet-sharing. Needless to say that internet provider is SingTell.
Now I would like to know how to use time capsule and time machine with the network created with a router provided by SingTell.
What I did so far is;
Connected the time capsule to the power point.
Orange lamp lit and flashed for a few second and stop. Orange lamp stayed on.
Apple Utility does not recognise Time Capsule.
I prefer to use it wirelessly.
There are only two USB cable ports installed.
One is used to synchronize iPhone.
Other is used for a printer.
but if it is not possible, wired would be OK.
MacBook 13 inch 2.0 GH Late 2006
I hope that someone able to give me an answer for this.
Cheers,
morepubholidays

In this case the apple support people reveal a truly poor understanding.
You must bridge something.. you either bridge the TC.. which 90% of people do.. or you bridge the dsl router.. which some people do manage to do.. You will have to look that up for your modem and check with verizon if they support pppoe authentication.
IMHO just bridge the TC as you were told not to do.. as they are simply wrong about that.
If you already tried this and it didn't work.. try again.. it is the correct approach.
You have no choice. But this time let me suggest you do it using the 5.6 airport utility.. as the apple toyland v6 airport utility is likely half your trouble.
So here is how to get the utility into your computer.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.
For screen shots see this post.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0
Then open the manual setup on the 5.6 utility.. go to internet tab. Connection sharing.. off bridged mode.
Select this and update..
Then all your IP addresses will be wrong.. I suspect this is where things are going wrong.. and messing you up.
Once the TC is bridged.. turn off everything and restart.. in correct order.. modem.. TC.. client computers etc. 2min gap between each.

HT3275 I am getting a message that the backup failed because the "sparsebundle is already in use." My husband and I both have MacBooks that back up to one time machine. It is also our wifi router. I do not understand this message

I am getting the message that "the backup disk image '/volumes//data/ ---'s MacBook pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. ---"s is my administrator designation. I don't know what this means or what I should do. My husband and I both use the same time machine with our MacBooks. It is our router for our home network although for the most part our computers are separate. We share an email site, and some files. I am concerned that we are not backed up securely

Most common message in history of the TC.. something has failed to unmount.. Lion and esp. Mountain Lion are affected.
Simple way.. reboot the TC to lose the connections..
Might take a network reboot.
That means restart the whole network from off.. start in order, modem.. router/TC.. clients. 2min gap between them.
But from 5.6 utility you can disconnnect all users.
Read C12 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

In regard to Time Machine. I have two accounts one is an admin account, the other is a standard user account. When I implement Time Machine when I am logged into the Admin account, is the standard user also backed up?

in regard to Time Machine.
I have two accounts on one Macbook Pro running OS 10.6.8. One account is an admin account, the other is a standard user account.
When I initially implemented Time Machine I was logged into the Admin account. I allowed Time Machine to erase the drive and backup the computer. Is the standard user account contents also backed up?
Also after I completed the Time Machine backup session, I turned off Time Machine and removed the portable hard drive. I plan to return in to Time Machine after being away from the portable hard drive for approximately a month. After a short interruption of approximately one month, when the Macbook Pro is reconnected and Time Machine is turned back on, will Time Machine create a new instance of a backup? WIll the back up contain the standard user account changes?

Time Machine backs up by default all the user accounts.
When you reconnect the backup drive after one month, Time Machine will do an incremental backup and it might take a while minutes to hours depending on how much has been changed. With a gap of a month, Time Machine will have to do a lengthier than normal survey of both drives to see what has changed, so it might take some time preparing for the backup. The backup will include everything that has changed since the previous one.

How can I delete a Time Machine backup which did not complete?

I was running a Time Machine backup when the disc got unmounted. Therefore I know all of the data is not backed up.
I would like to delete that entry and rerun "Back Up Now" to start over.
I tried deleting the folder with the latest time stamp on the drive and ran "Back Up Now". There was a very small amount of data that it then backed up.
Obviously there is a large gap in manually managing this process and I would like to know the best fix.
Thanks in advance.

Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
tmutil compare | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear below what you entered.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.
Caution: Under some conditions, tmutil may falsely flag files as not having been backed up when in fact they have been. It can be confused by multi-linked files, or by files with a modification date earlier than the one in the snapshot. This will not be an issue for most users. If the results of the above procedure surprise you, inspect your snapshots directly.

Can no longer connect to Time Machine as a server

Have been using an external drive connected to the Time Machine to store my iTunes media files. All of a sudden, the computers on my home network can no longer access the drive as they now have problems connecting to the Time Machine server. However, the wireless router works just fine. Is anyone else experiencing this problem and if so, any advice on how to solve the problem? I can no longer access any of the content on the external drive through the Time Machine, although it appears in the Finder as a shared drive.

I presume you are on Mountain Lion.. it does have some network issues..
Try just rebooting.. and restart everything in the correct order..
Modem.. router/TC.. USB drive.. clients.. 2min gap between each.
If you still have issues do a verify of the drive.
See A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Error message from Time Machine : "Disk Image ... is already used"

Time Machine was working well till today. I receive an error message saying that the disk image «Volumes/Time Capsule/ ... sparsebundle» is already used.

It just means Mountain Lion is so stupid it cannot remember its own name.. let alone the TC or when it last connected..
Reboot the network to give it a swift kick.. restart in correct order.. modem .. router/TC... clients.. 2min gap.
See C12
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time machine error - the back up disk is not available. Time machine no longer backs up.

My time machine quit backing up 2 weeks ago. How can I fix it?

Did you try the simple stuff?? Reboot the TC.. next.. reboot the whole network restarting in correct order?? ie modem.. TC.. client computers.. with 2min gap.
No luck we need to know more..
What modem.. is it a router?
What TC.. what firmware.. how is it connected?
What OS on the computer?

Alum Mac Mini SLOW after restore from Time Machine backup of 09 Mac Mini

Hi,
I bought a 2010 Alum Mac Mini (2.4Ghz/2GB/320GB/OS10.6.4) a couple months ago, and I restored it from a time machine backup from my old '08 Mac Mini (1.83ghz/2GB/OS10.6.4). All data moved successfully, but this machine seems 2x slower than my old Mac Mini.
Issues I'm encountering include:
iDisk sync extremely slow
launching Apps slow
Trouble handling more than 3 or 4 open apps (Chrome, iTunes, Pages, Numbers)
Is it possible that this is an issue because of restoring from the backup?
Thanks in advance!
PS - I'm a fairly intermediate-advanced user, no programming background, but solid on most other things.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
If you still have the TM backup, I would suggest erasing the new Mac mini's HDD and doing a fresh install from its Install DVD and then do a migration of the TM backup rather than a clone. There is something in that clone that the new mini does not like.
You could also, as an alternative, try installing Mac OS X from the Install DVD over the top of the clone and see if it fills in the gap or corrects whatever the new mini does not like. This should not touch your data, just install Mac OS X Snow Leopard over the version already there. But you should always make a backup of anything that is not backed up.
Dah•veed

How do I Access purple backups from external hard drive for Time Machine

My hard drive crashed and I installed a new one.
Did internet recovery and upgraded to my previous OS.
I am trying to get my data but the backup is purple that I need and I cannot access it.
How do I do this.
Also if I did something wrong, how do I setup Time machine to restore my whole system and set it up so the backups are accessible instead of purple.
Thanks in advance.
I am using Mavericks
External hd connected with USB

donavonknight
Very impressive that it is that easy but trying to get my data is a pain.
Time Machine is a backup of your computer SYSTEM, not idealized as a data archive.
Consider other options for the future >
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
12. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]

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.

My Macbook pro Early 2008 is randomly slow at starting up and when I am backing up to my time capsule I am receiving the following message 'Time machine could not complete the backup. '' ''The backup disk image ''/Volumes/name time capsule/ my name MacBoo

My Macbook pro Early 2008 is randomly slow at starting up and when I am backing up to my time capsule I am receiving the following message 'Time machine could not complete the backup. '' ''The backup disk image ''/Volumes/name time capsule/ my name MacBook Pro (4).sparsebundle'' could not be accessed (error-1).
Problem started after deleting parrell desktop and window7 ?
Please help?

Look at the more like this column on the right.. this is the most frequently asked question in this discussion area.
Reboot the TC.. restart the whole network if the simple reboot did not work.. start in order. modem.. router/TC.. clients. 2min gap.
Read C12 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to time capsule-the backup disk is not available

Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to time capsule-the backup disk is not available

Reboot the network in correct order.. modem.. router/TC.. clients.. 2min gap.
This is just standard windows.. woops, Mac OS networking now.

Gaps in Time Machine

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