I cannot restore my backups using Time Machine - please help!

My iMac has been returned from repair and as part of this was reset to its factory settings, depeting everything. I took backups using Time Machine to an external hard drive before it went off for repair, and after it came back I restored the data - so I thought. It seemed to work for a long time, but on completion no files had been restored, and all the backups from before the iMac went for repair are now inaccessible in Time Machine. However as far as I can see they are still on the hard drive however.
The iMac has since been backing up the now empty machine to this hard drive, over-writing the data, but I have now switched Time Machine off.
How can I restore my back-ups and recover my data please?
John Wood

'depeting' is a typo for 'deleting'. I don't seem to be able to edit this out above

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After clean install of mavericks - i cannot restore my backups on time machine (Mountain Lion)

the installation went perfect but during set up, mavericks could not find my time machine on external hard drive. i found a post saying that mavericks creates time machine files that conflict with my latest back up.
i can access my last back up using finder but that doesn't help get my applications/programs back. i've tried using migration assistant and it cannot find my time machine either.
does anyone know how to fix this?

'depeting' is a typo for 'deleting'. I don't seem to be able to edit this out above

HT203177 My backups using Time Machine to my Time Capsule worked fine until a week ago. Since then it gets stuck on "Preparing ...". I have left it preparing overnight and it doesn't get past this stage. What else can I do? Bob

My backups using Time Machine to my Time Capsule worked fine until a week ago. Since then it gets stuck on "Preparing ...". I have left it preparing overnight and it doesn't get past this stage. What else can I do?

Mavericks does really nasty stuff..
Try manually mounting the sparsebundle and extract the files you want.
Yet another Pondini reference. http://pondini.org/TM/15.html
We have avoided Mavericks you see knowing that it would cause these kinds of issues..
You never ever load a new OS without doing a disk image beforehand.. TM is not reliable enough or trustworthy to be depended on.
If none of the above work..
I would get a USB drive on the computer and install Mountain Lion or whatever OS you had before you unfortunately upgraded to Mavericks.. Then use TM from that decent installation but mount the sparsebundle and choose the backup from a date well before mavericks was installed.
Once you have extracted the files.. or even done a full restore you might be able to extract the files you want.

I recently upgraded my Macbook pro with a new Hard Drive. I then transferred the data using Time Machine. Now when I want to backup using Time Machine again, it won't do it as it did before to the same external HD. How can I get it to reconnect?

Purchased a new, larger solid state drive to replace my old drive. I installed OSX then I had Time Machine do it's magic.
Now when I want to do a backup using Time Machine, it tells me that the external HD is full. When I did so prior to upgrade, it would erase old backups and then do a new backup.
Please help. I am worried about losing files, and am tired of seeing the "Time Machine hasn't backed up in xxx days" Error Message.
Thanks.

it thinks yours is a new machine so it doesn't want to start deleting another machine's backups
see the bottom of this page
http://pondini.org/TM/19.html

I recently bought a WD My Book Live to backup using Time Machine, now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. The WD drive appears in the Finder, it doesn't appear as an option when setting up the backup disc in Time Machine.

I recently bought a WD My Book Live to backup using Time Machine, now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. The WD drive appears in the Finder, but it doesn't appear as an option when setting up the backup disc in Time Machine. Any ideas please?

" now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. "
Do you have a few words missing in the original question ?.
When i upgraded from LION to MOUNTAIN LION it made NO difference at all to my MyBook Live !!!
reading the original post again and again, do you in fact have two My Book Live units, an old one and a new one ?
tim

How do I restore the iMac using Time Machine?, How do I restore the iMac using Time Machine?

My Outlook 2011 shows no messages which started right after I ran SyncMate. I decided to restore my system using Time Machine, but that did not make Outlook show my emails. Outlook indicates that I have several messages, but none appear. Suggestions please.
CH

Thanks den.thed,
Apologies for not replying back sooner - I've been away.
Although your suggestion helped me in getting a copy of Lion that I could use, it didn't help with the restore from Time Capsule issue. I had to download the Lion app onto my MacBook & then transfer it across but it wouldn't let me upgrade my OS for some reason, so I ended up wiping the iMac completely and restoring via my Snow Leopard install disk. For some reason, this time, it let me have the option of using Setup Assistant to access the Time Capsule for a complete restore.
Now, over a week later, with various bits of tweaking and reinstalling some apps that didn't seem to come across, I have my system back.
Thanks for the help anyway.
Cheers,
Paul

HT201250 Can I do a backup using Time Machine on a server, or it needs an external drive only?

Can I do a backup using Time Machine on a server, or it needs an external drive only?

Time Machine can back up to a server. The drive or partition used still needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
(65169)

Why can't I restore backup using Time Machine and/or Disk Utility

Backed up my entire computer on a Buffalo Ministation as I need to install new OSX and don't want to lose any files. Tried the handful of options listed in Support to restore and nothing is working. Using Time Machine, the Restore button is greyed out so I can't select it. Using Disk Utility, when adding the source image, the Open button is greyed out so I can't select it. Please help.

Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Cannot restore a mailbox from Time Machine

On the recent Yosemithe I cannot restore a mailbox from my Time Machine backup. I proceed exactly as described in the Mail (Yosemite): Restore mailboxes and their content article. However, nothing happens after the process window completes. The restored content does not appear anywhere.
Any ideas?

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 obsolete version of Mail. In that case, you have to use an alternative method.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
          Services ▹ Open
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open. Inside it are subfolders representing your Mail accounts. The names refer to the email addresses you use.
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...
Choose Apple Mail as the format and 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 by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
          Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Restoring eMail messages using Time Machine?

My lady uses MS Office for the Mac and accidentally deleted email messages can these messages be restored using Time Machine?

If you know how to locate those files, see "Restoring data from Time Machine Backups" here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Restoring Safari Windows Using Time Machine?

I had a number of windows open in Safari for a research project. While traveling, I accidentally let my machine run its battery down and had to restart. I restarted in a hotel with an annoying internet login splash page so when Safari opened, all of my browser windows re-directed to the hotel splash page. On some tabs, I could navigate back to the page I'd had open but others were lost.
I'd like to restore the session I had open before my trip using Time Machine. I closed Safari, went to Library/Safari/LastSession.plist in Time Machine and restored the file from an earlier version. But when I opened Safari back up, my pre-trip session did not open. Instead, the session from right before I closed and restored opened. I tried restoring the entire Library/Safari folder, but still the same thing!
Though a relatively minor problem I had some important research articles open that will be a pain for me to find again.
Also, I can't understand what's going wrong. From everything else I've read, restoring the LastSession file should do the trick.
Any thoughts on where I might be going wrong / how to fix this would be greatly appreciated!

I have restored the same file (~/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist) from a Time Machine Backup. Then I restarted Safari and selected "Reopen All Windows from Last Session" from the History menu. That worked for me. I'm running Safari v6.0.5.
Does anyone know what the SessionState key is for that this file lists for each tab?
LastSession.plist lists for each previously open tab:
<dict>
          <key>AncestorTabIdentifers</key>
          <array/>
          <key>SessionState</key>
          <data>
          String of data          </data>

Cannot retrieve old backups from time machine

Two weeks ago I brought my iMac to the apple store for the hard drive replacement program.
I backed up everything before bringing it in and deleted most of my data.
When it came back, it looked exactly the same as how I brought in. (Most things were deleted.)
I tried to restore one folder to test out the function, and then I was off to work when I saw the files transferring.
After I finished work, the files finished transferring but when I go back into time machine, all my recent backups were from today and my previous backups were all gone.
Is there any ways to retrieve my old backups?
Some of my important files were only stored in this external hard drive...
Thank you...

Wimek,
According to this KB article (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760)
"When upgrading from one Leopard-based Mac to a new Leopard-based Mac, and you wish to use Time Machine backups from the previous Mac, make sure the computer name of the new Mac (in Sharing preferences) is the same as your previous Mac's computer name was when its Time Machine backups were made. Afterwards, if the previous Mac is still on your network, give it a different computer name."

Can restore completely by using time machine on an external hd?

I plan on getting a bigger hard drive soon so I just used Time Machine to set up and back up everything to an external hd. If I install a new hard drive will I be able to seamlessly restore off of that external hard drive?

Sort of. You will need to install the new drive and prep it:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Then begin installing OS X. You will have the option to restore the system from a TM backup.

Restore external HDD using Time Machine

Hello Apple users,
First let me explain my time machine set up so that you guys will be able to help me out. I've 2 external USB hard drives: one is 1TB and the other is 500GB. In the 500 GB USB HDD I store my main Aperture 3 library and other things like music, movies etc., and I use the other external hard drive to backup my files using Time Machine.
So after, I've backed-up my external hard drive as well as my mac using Time Machine, I can't access my backups in my external hard drive without connecting the 500GB hard drive. What I mean to say is that, when I enter Time Machine without connecting my 500 GB USB hard drive, I'm unable to see the files that are saved in the backup. Does that mean if my 500 GB hard drive goes kaput, I won't be able to restore those?
When I do connect the 500 GB hard drive, I can see the files that are stored there and the changes that took place using Time Machine.

Everything Time Machine

Restoring complete disk using time machine?

I am using time machine and need to restore my hard drive from a time machine back up. I have messed up the drive by draging things over.
I would appreciate any ideas. Thank you, Clare

http://pondini.org/TM/14.html

I cannot restore my backups using Time Machine - please help!

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