I can't find my old backups

Question

Please forgive me. I don't know how to start a new question in the right spot. This is as close as i could find. My hard drive failed in my 2010 Mac Book Pro using Snow Leopard. I had been backing up using Time Machine to a Go Flex Home external hard drive. It connects to router using ethernet.  I replaced the hard drive in my Mac Book. Now I cannot see any of my old back ups in Time Machine.  I can find the hard drive, but it does not show any back ups. I know they are there because It shows the space taken up in the external hard drive.  I have been on the phone for hours with Apple and the manufacturer of the Go Flex. No one can figure it out.  Can someone please tell me how to find the back ups and restore my Mac Book Pro to it's former self.
Thanks!

Answer 1

pamela used to love apple wrote:
Thank you for your response Pondini.  I really appreciate it.  I have read your entire site
All 150+ pages?   
When the MB first starts and goes from the "Star Wars" display to the question of "Do you already own a Mac" and asks you if you want to transer "from a Time Machine to back up". I clicked on that choice.
That's a different option (and a different display) than the Full System Restore in my previous post.  It sounds like you installed OSX, and when your Mac restarted, you got the options from Setup Assistant.  That should work, if you can connect. 
It would not let me connect to my Go Flex. I ended up having to install the OS from the install disk, bypassing this back up choice and using "Do not transfer my information now". 
Ok, we can work with that, via Migration Assistant, but you'll need a few extra steps.
I figured out the problem with connecting to Go Flex Home external drive and can now connect, but it still does not show any Time Machine Backups.  Though the space taken up on that drive tells me they are there.
Correct.   As in my previous post, you won't see the backups of the new drive, but the backups of the old one are still there.
I shut down the MB and the external drive.  I connect the GoFlex external drive directly to the MB
If you mean via your Ethernet cable, that won't work.  It's still a network connection, not a connection to a normal "dumb" external HD, via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt.  OSX doesn't recognize it as a disk (because there's the NAS interface between them).
If that's not what you mean, please clarify.  You said you had a Seagate GoFlex Home, which according to this is a network drive: http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/goflex-home/ with only an Ethernet connection.
I have an additional Go Flex external drive that i back my iMac up to. If I do these procedures with that external hard drive, the iMac back ups to and it shows the iMac back up when I choose Select a Back up Source and log in. But nothing shows when i try to do this same procedure with the external drive I used to backup my MB. 
Is that an identical drive?  How is it connected (USB, FireWire, or what)? 
I can also go into Finder and connect to the external drive and it does not show any backups under Time Machine.
What does it show?  Can you post a screenshot -- that may clarify what we're looking at.
I have read somewhere ( I think on your site and others) that i must first start Time Machine and do one full back up and then the previous back ups will appear.
No, don't do that.  If you do that, you can't then use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to get at the original backups.
I have also been told (by a not so reliable source) that if I do a full back up of my new hard drive MB, then the old Time Machine back ups will no longer be accessible...ever.
No.  They won't be accessible from the Assistants, since they always use the most recent backups, but you can see and use them via other means.  But if you do a new backup, and TM does a full backup, they may have to be deleted soon to make room.
It does seem clear that the old backups are there;  unless they were hopelessly damaged by whatever caused your HD to fail, we should be able to restore your stuff.
Please clarify exactly what the Seagate device is, and any screenshots that may show what's going on.
Message was edited by: Pondini