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

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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 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

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.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

How can I force Time Machine to use existing backup sparsebundle files?

I backed up both my OSX Mountain Lion MBP and MacOSX Snow Leopard iMac to the same USB Disk. I then plugged this USB Disk into my Time Capsule, and configured Time Machine in both macs to use it through the network. But Time Machine insists on creating new backup sparsebundle files, ignoring the existing ones. How can I force Time Machine to use the existing backups.backupdb sparsebundle files instead of creating new ones?

How can I force Time Machine to use the existing backups.backupdb sparsebundle files instead of creating new ones?
You can't. Time Machine works differently over a network than it does with a locally-attached drive. What you could do is delete the folder named "Backups.backupdb" at the top level of the volume, which contains the backups you made via USB. You should then be able to backup to the same sparsebundle locally and over the network. But I wouldn't recommend doing that. Certainly don't do it unless you have at least one other complete backup (which you should have anyway.)

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.

Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
          Destinations:
                    Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 999.86 GB
                    Total number of backups: 64
                    Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
                    Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Too small
                              Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
          /sbin excluded from backup!
          /usr excluded from backup!
          /System excluded from backup!
          /bin excluded from backup!
          /private excluded from backup!
          /Library excluded from backup!
          /Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy

Can I access time capsule file without using imac

can I access time capsule file without using imac

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.

How can I store time machine backups on Amazon Glacier?

Hello,
How can I use time machine to backup my mac and have the time machine files stored on Amazone Glacier? upload is easy but I wonder how to restore a backup on Glacier to the mac.
Thanks.

You need to create the sparsebundle on external drive.. then copy it to the cloud store area. You cannot directly backup TM to the cloud.
And please note.. sparsebundle is a single file.. if a small file inside it corrupts.. the whole thing is corrupt. It might be repaired perhaps but any failure is far more serious than a failure in a simple backup.
I still think TM is unsuitable. You are far better using a software that can rsync to backup.. ie CCC.

How can I change time machine settings?

How can I change time machine settings? I only want Time Machine to backup my Home Folders and the items on the desktop. Currently, it's backing up more files which overwhelm my backup drive. How do I get it to back up Home/Desktop ONLY?
knarfrh60

Also, see selecting items to exclude from the backup here...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
You may also find this Link of interest...
Time Machine Tutorial

I have converted a pdf to word. How can I access the Word file from my online account?

I have converted a pdf to word. How can I access the Word file from my online account? When it says 'download the converted file' I choose a location on my PC and click, but nothing happens. It seems that it can only save the converted file to my online account. I went to my online account but I see no way to look for the file

Hey Fabrizio,
You might need to sign up at "https://cloud.acrobat.com/exportpdf" using your Adobe ID credentials to convert your PDF file to Word.
Do you get the 'download' prompt?
Also, you can find the converted files by clicking at the 'Files' tab.
Please try the same using a different browser and check.
Hope to hear from you.
Regards,
Anubha

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

It must have found the old backup corrupt.. so you will more than likely have little choice. You can archive off the old backup if it is still useful.
You can also verify it. See A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
He also has some info on this problem. eg C13.

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

How can i access filename from file (sender)

hi All,
can anybody tell me
how can i access filename from file (sender)?
thank u
swari

See:
"SAP NetWeaver XI: Variable Substitution with Adapter-Specific Message Attributes via DynamicConfigurationBean"
SAP NetWeaver XI: Variable Substitution with Adapter-Specific Message Attributes via DynamicConfigurationBean
"Accessing Adapter-Specific Attributes through User Defined Function"
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/70c89607-e4d9-2910-7280-f6746e964516

How can i use time machine with a network drive

I have a Western Digital Net N900 wireless router with a 2TB internal H/D. How can I get Time Machine to reconize it?

Relying only on TM to me is iffy but I would bet you have clones in addition to TM like I do. I agree with everything you said but to the OP question, it is possible. A time capsule or AEBS+HD are pretty similar but one is officially supported while the later is not.
Since I'm rambling a bit I will add this. I only use TM for the times I delete something and then wish I had it back. All my restores or migrations are done from my clones. One clone is made weekly and is a snap shot of my system. One clone I keep remotely located and is updated monthly.
My system:
Internal 1TB
Ext HD1 2TB (1TB data, 1TB clone)
Ext HD2 2TB time machine backup (internal + HD1 data, not the clone)
Remote 1TB clone
I'm fully redudant with my method and it has saved me before.

How can I access Time Machine files?

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