How can I salvage a defective Time Machine?

I had a major system failure with multiple kernel craches that wiped my system disk.  No errors reported when I tried to rebuild it from the Time Machine, but I only recovered about 10%.  When I opened Time Machine, there was a list of backup dates going back 3 months in red type, but when selected, only one worked, the rest did nothing.  The TM disk array is 8TB, and Disk Utility showed 1.7GB free.  I tested the disk with both Disk Utility and Tech Tool 7, and both said it was OK, no errors.  Is there anything I might try to recover my TM file.

I just finished the (A4) procedure, but nothing changed.  The HDD still shows 6+TB of data, the TM shows a month's worth of backup's (in red characters), but those pagers can't be accessed.
There is one anomaly that started after  bringing  up an old system disk  clone... the Finder keeps resetting, about once every 30 seconds.  I figure that there is a bad start-up file, but so far can't find it.        
As to Kernel panics and corrupted   HDD's.       I've seen this before when it's a hardware event that crashes the system.  In this case I was trying to use an old 10.6 driver for a Firewire-to-SCSI adapter.  I don't know what it is about Firewire on the Mac, but I had a similar crisis about a year again, triggered by messing with a Firewire device.  You'd think I'd eventually learn...

Similar Messages

  • I have just started using Time Machine. I was thinking about deleting old E-Mails on my Mac to clean. Does Time Machine back up the E-Mails , if so how can I find them in Time Machine ??

    I have just started using Time Machine. I was thinking about deleting old E-Mails on my Mac to clean. Does Time Machine back up the E-Mails , if so how can I find them in Time Machine ??

    If you back up your mac before deleting your emails, Time Machine should back up your e-mails.
    I never tried this so i'm not sure to find them in Time Machine. To browse in your backups simply click the Time Machine icon in your dock. In the right bar, you can select an backup. Than you can browse in finder, in your backkup.
    EDIT: Just browsed and CT above was right. This topic might help you:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/20154303#20154303

  • HT3275 how can i retrieve information from  time machine if my computer has less storage capacity? How can I access data that is on my time machine but can not be copied to a computer with less storage capacity? I used to have 180 GB, now I have 128 GB.

    how can i retrieve information from  time machine if my computer has less storage capacity? How can I access data that is on my time machine but can not be copied to a computer with less storage capacity? I used to have 180 GB, now I have 128 GB.

    Plug an external drive into the computer and use that to expand data onto.
    http://pondini.org/TM/16.html

  • HT201250 How can I exclude mail from Time Machine backups?

    How can I exclude mail from Time Machine backups?

    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
    Mails are stored on ~/Library/Mail, being ~ your user folder. As you are running Snow Leopard, it's easy to exclude your mails from your Time Machine backup.
    Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and add ~/Library/Mail to excluded items, so the next backup won't include mails. Note that you have to go to your user folder, in order to access to this directory

  • TS1211 I lost one calendar from my Mac Osx 10.5.8 system on G4 how can I find it from time machine backup?

    I lost one calendar from my Mac Osx 10.5.8 system on G4 how can I find it from time machine backup?
    Can someone help me with that pls !!!!!!

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5176639

  • How can I restore agenda from time machine

    How can I restore agenda from time machine

    I have no clue what you mean by "agenda," but any file that Time Machine has backed up can be restored using instructions you'll find on this page:
    http://pondini.org/TM/15.html

  • How can I read document in time machine?

    Lost income tax record in TurboTax, put it in the trash after I filed it. I would like to know if I can recover it from the deleted trash or from  time machine?

    Mary,
    OS X Yosemite: Restore items backed up with Time Machine describes how to recover a file from Time Machine.

  • How can i recover mail from time machine

    i upgraded from lion to mountain lion few month ago. i have been backingup to time machine since day one.
    last week, formatted my mac, i tried to recover my mail by using time machine, it did not show up any date for recovery. 
    it there a way to import back these mail? or is there a way to recover it?

    Although you can restore messages from a Time Machine snapshot within the Mail application, it generally won't work with messages that were saved by an older version of Mail. In that case, you have to use an alternative method.
    Triple-click the line below to select it:
    ~/Library/Mail/V2
    Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
    Services ▹ Reveal
    from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder selected. Inside that folder are subfolders representing your Mail accounts. The names refer to the email addresses you use. Decide which ones you want to restore messages from.
    Enter Time Machine and scroll back to the snapshot you want. Select the account folders you want and then select  Restore ... to... from the action menu (gear icon) in the toolbar of the snapshot window. Restore the folders to the Desktop, not to their original location.
    From the Mail menu bar, select
    File ▹ Import Mailboxes...
    Import from the mailboxes in the folders you restored to the Desktop. The imported messages will appear in a new mailbox. Move the ones you want to keep wherever you like and delete the rest. Then delete the folders on the Desktop.
    *If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). In the Finder, select
    Go ▹ Go to Folder...
    from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

  • Moved to Lion and all folders in mail disappeared. How can I restore them from Time Machine?

    When I moved to Lion I had to reconfigure my mailbox and all previous folders disappeared. How can I restore them? I have backip of everything in the Time machine but cannot find the folders and do not know how to import them when I do.
    Thank you so much

    Se the blue box here:
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/15.html
    Regards,
    Colin R.

  • How Can I Erase Files From Time Machine ?!

    After or while installing 10.6 I had a problem with MAIL which caused my old mail to duplicate itself ... many times. So those files ended up being many Gigs. I didn't realize this so Time Machine backed up those super swelled folders! It filled up my 1T back up HD.
    I know have a 2T HD that I want to use as my new Time Machine HD, but I would first like to get rid of those giant old Mail folders.
    How can I accomplish that? Since they are back up files I can't seem to just delete them ...

    See #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

  • How can I delete all the Time Machine backups to make room for more? And how do I force the trash to empty?

    I moved a bunch of my husband's files from his Macbook (which is dieing) to my iMac.  I created a user for him on my iMac so he'd be able to keep his stuff separate from mine.  All is working great except my Time Machine is now unable to backup.  The total of used space on my hard drive (including the recently added user's files) is about 420 GB.  The amount of capacity of my external hard drive is 999GB.  I think Time Machine failed because there was all of a sudden so much more data and a new full backup would be more than the unused capacity of the HD?  Regardless I don't need any old backups.  I have all my files and all his files.  So I moved all the backups from the external HD to the trash.  Apparently that's a no no.  I can't fully empty the trash now and that is making my iMac crazy slow. 
    1) Can anyone tell me how to force the trash to empty?
    2) Is there a way to delete the whole external HD and start over with a new full backup via Time Machine?  In Disk Utility I try to erase the partition and get an error "Volume Erase failed with the error: Couldn't unmount disk." Then I try to Unmount it and get another "Unmount failed. The disk Backup iOmega could not be unmounted.  Make sure that all applications and files are closed on this disk." I turned off Time Machine and tried again but with the same errors.
    The external HD is called iOmega.  It only connects to the iMac with USB.  Any help is much appreciated!!!!

    Try this instead:
    Drive Partition and Format
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. Select the backup volume from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
    4. Click on the Erase button.
    You will need to reconfigure Time Machine preferences for the backup.
    FYI: Never remove Time Machine backup data except through the Time Machine application. If you aren't sure about using Time Machine then visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things related to Time Machine.

  • HT201250 How can I restore files using Time Machine to a new external drive?

    I need to restore all the files on a failed hard drive—upwards of a terabyte of data. How can I instruct Time Machine to copy the files to a new external hard drive? Thanks!

    Hold down the option key and select
              Browse Other Backup Disks...
    from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. The menu icon looks like a clock running backwards. If you don't have that menu, open the Time Machine preference pane and check the box marked
              Show Time Machine in menu bar

  • How can I "Put Back" a time machine backup from the trash to my external hard drive?

    Basically what happened was I accidentally put an older time machine backup from my external hard drive into the trash on my macbook. Since then, time machine has made new backups onto my external hard drive. How can I either "Put Back" or replace the deleted backup back into my hard drive?
    Whenever I try to move it it says "A newer item named “Backups.backupdb” already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the older one you’re moving?" I click replace and after a few minutes of loading, it says "Cannot replace. An item named "" already exists."

    As long as you don't delete the trash, the files should be recoverable.
    I suspect using the Put Back command could take a long time, so be patient.
    If your Time Machine backups are mixed with your daughter's backups you might want to buy a larger drive and move the Time Machine files to the new drive.
    Regarding missing photos in iPhoto...There might be options to rebuild/recover that data from iPhoto rather than trying to revert to a Time Machine backup.
    Check out this third party app, iPhoto Library Manager. It has a demo.
    http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/
    Options for a larger drive.
    I like the Seagate USB 3.0 Backup plus drives. Works on USB 2.0 ports. They come formatted for PC but easy to format in Disk Utility.
    I don't recommend Western Digital because of the boot problem with some of their drives.
    LaCie makes good drives.
    All Mac formatted drives will cost more and it’s easy to reformat with Disk Utility. Do not use the software that comes with the drives. It’s recommended that you use Apple’s Disk Utility.
    Prices vary but this gives you an idea of what you’ll find. As you notice the second and third TB is usually only $15 more per TB. Normally, you’ll find these prices but right now the 1T is more than the 2T
    Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 $85
    Seagate Backup Plus 2 TB USB 3.0 $99
    Seagate Backup Plus 3 TB USB 3.0 $115
    I have seen the 3T on sale for $99.
    Locally, Best Buy seems to have the best prices.

  • My Macbook Pro will not boot up.  How can I get to the time machine back up?

    When I turn on my Macbook Pro, it gets to the gray screen with the Apple logo and the spinning beach ball and stays there.  I use Time Machine with a Seagate external harddrive to back up my files.  I at first thought recovery meant using Seagates's Replica software, so I followed the instructions, inserting the recovery CD and booting up to the C drive.  The Seagate tecnical support person informed me that I was in error and that because I was using Time Machine, the Replica recovery CD would not be useful to me.  Now I have two problems.  I can't boot up, and I can't get the Replica CD out of the C drive.  So I have several questions.  How do I remove the CD?  There doesn't appear to be a place to use the old paper clip method.  Once I've removed the CD, how do I reinstall the OS?  I don't seem to have a hard copy of Mavericks that should have come with this laptop.

    historyrocks wrote:
    How do I remove the CD? 
    Restart, hold the mouse button down as it boots, it should be ejected.
    historyrocks wrote:
    Once I've removed the CD, how do I reinstall the OS?  I don't seem to have a hard copy of Mavericks that should have come with this laptop.
    Lets take this step by step…
    Once the disk is ejected see if 10.9 can boot normally.
    If that fails let us know what happened.
    Power off & disconnect your Time Machine disk and any other external disks just for now (so we know it is safe & not causing this issue).
    Reboot & hold alt - it will take you into the 'boot picker' it will list all available boot disks. Make a note of how many disks appear and what the names are - let us know here.
    You could try picking the 'recovery partition' if available. That should eventually show you a screen where you can select Disk Utility in the list of options…
    In Disk Utility select the 'boot disk' – this is usually the item above 'Macintosh HD' (or whatever your boot disk is called).
    Select the 'First Aid' tab
    Repair any disk damage that is reported via 'verify'. Then select the 'Macintosh HD' & repair the permissions too.
    Recovery mode explained…
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
    If you have no recovery partition you can use 'Internet recovery mode' (Command+Option+R at startup) - this downloads enough to repair & install 10.9. Try to use an ethernet connection for the internet - it can be many times faster & more stable than wifi.
    Once that completes reboot, hold alt & select your main boot disk (maybe Macintosh HD) if it is available.
    The recovery partition can also be used to download & install 10.9.3. However you should probably see what state the Mac's boot disk is in. It's possible that erasing & reinstalling is the only option. If you go down this route you can restore the Time Machine backup, but it's better to see if it can be fixed first.

  • How can I tell if my Time Machine backups are encrypted?

    Hi - I would really appreciate it if someone could help me find out if my Time Machine backps are actually encrypted.
    I know that there is an 'encryption' option when choosing a disc for Time Machine to backup to, but the problem is I cannot remember whether or not I actually ticked it (as it was a couple of years ago).
    Other info that might be helpful:
    - The disk I use Time Machine to backup to is actually a Apple Time Capsule
    - I do have FileVault2 enabled on my mac
    - I have never encrypted the Time Capsule disc itself (via Disk Utility or anything similar)
    - One possible clue might be: When I go into Time Machine preferences, and click on 'Select Disk...' (as if to choose another disk to back up to), and select the disc that Time Machine currently backs up to (i.e. the Time Capsule disc), it does show an 'Encrypt backups' checkbox at the bottom of the window... however this checkbox is unchecked and also greyed out.
    Thanks in advance
    a_quinn

    a_quinn wrote:
    - Because I originally created this Time Machine Backup (to the Time Capsule) back in my 'OS X Lion' days,
    I wondered; you posted in the Mountain Lion forum, but your profile still says Lion.
    that means that my backups now (and moving forward) will continue to be un-encrypted
    Correct (as of now, anyway).  You cannot encrypt existing network backups.  I doubt that will be available in the future, and would take forever. 
    - The only way to encyrpt my backups now, moving forward, is to remove this Time Capsule disc (from Time Machine Preferences), and start all over again ensuring that I check the checkbox next to 'Encrypt Backup' when selecting the Time Capsule's disc to backup to.
    Well, in theory it's possible, but would take forever, squared. 
    You could archive the TC's contents to a USB drive connected to it, per #Q6 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule). 
    Then delete the original, start a backup with encryption, and as soon as the encrypted sparse bundle is created, cancel the backup.
    Mount the sparse bundle, open the disk image, and delete the Backups.backupdb folder inside it.
    Connect the USB drive to your Mac, mount that sparse bundle, open its disk image, and copy the Backups.backupdb folder to the one on the TC.
    Depending on how large the sparse bundle is, that could easily take a couple of days, at least, even connected via Ethernet.
    Just for testing one day, I encrypted a very small set of existing test backups on a F/W 800 drive - 6 dated backups using a whole 12 GB.  Took an hour.
    An alternative would be, just do the "archive" and keep the USB drive "on the shelf" for a while.  You can always connect it to your Mac and access those backups via the Browse Other Backup Disks option. 
    Trying to keep a couple of years worth of backups usually isn't a good idea.  It's a very complex structure, so the odds of damage increase, it takes much longer to populate the TM browser, and it works slower and slower, and if you didn't need something for 6 months, are you really going to need it in 2 years?

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