My old files disappeared using time machine
I backed up my Macbook Pro 3 weeks ago using Time Machine. Today I went after old files (more than 4 years) and they weren't there. Did TM erase my files?
As Martin says, Time Machine is not a permanent archive.
It will delete it's copies of things that are no longer on your system, sooner or later. Depending on when backups were done, that may be in as little as 24 hours or as long as there's room on your TM drive.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #20.
Similar Messages
-
How Çan I Recover Files Without Using Time Machine?
Before Time Machine, you used to be able to recover files using, I think, one of the utilities.
Now if you search for "recover files" in Help, all the options involve using Time Machine with and without Spotlight.
I don't have a backup drive to use Time Machine yet but I would still like to try to recover an accidentally deleted folder.
How can I do that now without Time Machine?Basics of File Recovery
If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.
If you empty the Trash the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When you delete files you erase only the directory entries, not the files themselves. However, the space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten with recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
There has never been file recovery software in OS X. Recovering deleted files is not the same as restoring files from a backup. The best way to prevent losing a file is to maintain a backup. Obviously you aren't doing that, so you should consider adopting some kind of backup plan.
Basic Backup
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
8. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
9. Data Backup (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete FireWire drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver. -
How do I recover my files after using time machine restore?
Hello guys! I have been using Time Machine to back up my Macintosh HD into an external disk in August this year. Considering the limited storage of my external disk, I have excluded all of my photos and musics to be backed up. Today I got some problems of my system and started using time machine to restore my computer to the state of August. After restoring, I found all of my photos and musics and other important files which have been excluded to be backed up by time machine are missing. What a disaster. Is there any way to recover all the missing files? Or is it possible to undo today's time machine recovery? Many thanks in advance!
many thanks for your reply. But for the current matter, do you have any other great ideas for me to take back all of my missing files. I will definitely buy a lager storage disk to back up all the files. But how could I solve the current issue? I have already tried the software you mentioned in the lien, it seems no help. Thank you anyway!
-
HT1553 Can I restore only the system, leaving other files untouched, using Time Machine? (OS 10.5.8)
The last time I restarted my Mac, Bluetooth was gone. I want to restore my system, but leave all other files and applications untouched. Is that a possibility using Time Machine?
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update. -
Keep old files only on Time Machine, delete off main computer
How can I delete my backed up files which are currently in the "Time Machine" off my computer? I don't need them on the computer, only in Time Machine.
To be clearer, Im worried if I delete them off the computer, Time Machine will also delete them..and I need to keep them.
If this is not possible then I will no longer use Time Machine, but instead manually back up my files.
Thanks in advance!!mikebikeboy wrote:
How can I delete my backed up files which are currently in the "Time Machine" off my computer? I don't need them on the computer, only in Time Machine.
To be clearer, Im worried if I delete them off the computer, Time Machine will also delete them..and I need to keep them.
That's correct: if you delete a file from your HD, Time Machine will eventually delete it's copy. It is not intended for long-term, archival storage.
If you think about it, it's actually been doing that for as long as you've run TM: it only keeps it's hourly backups for 24 hours, then deletes them, except for the first of the day, which becomes a daily backup. Those are kept for a month, then deleted, except one per week, which is kept as long as there's room.
If this is not possible then I will no longer use Time Machine, but instead manually back up my files.
That's an option, of course, but you'll lose the advantages of TM.
You might separately archive those files, to CDs, DVDs, another partition on your TM drive, or a separate drive, or via MobileMe's Backup app to iDisk, or something like Mozy to their server.
You could use one of the "clone" apps, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to archive them to another disk or partition automatically. They're mostly used for bootable clones (identical copies of your HD), but can also be used to backup selected folders, with an option to archive changed or deleted versions. CCC is donationware, SD has a free version, but I think to do the archives you need the paid version at about $30. There are others, as well. -
I have 1052 files found in the 'entries' folder as above, but can only recover 105 of them. The attached image shows info for 2 files dated October 22 and 23 2011 which I can recover, but the two files dated October 20, 21 are not recoverable.
http://cl.ly/image/3p120U3C0k2MThomas - You are awesome - THANK YOU!
I did exactly what you said (CAN"T believe an Apple Genius did not know this) and I think all of my events got restored.
However, it duplicated all of the calendars - I have 6 (one for each family member plus an extra called home that we all have to do). Not sure if I did something wrong, but do you have any ideas?
Also, the time setting must be wrong b/c I have events from 2008 showing up in 2012 - same day and time as the old sessoin - just out dated. Do I need to manually change all of this? Should I delete the Calendars folder again and try again?
Also, I read some where about deleting a iCal cache file. Do I need to do this?
I TRULY appreciate you taking the time to help people in this forum. I have spent hours the past two days trying to figure this out. Plus, now I need to figure out about upgrading my Office for Mac b/c I didn't realize I lost Office 2004 when upgrading to Lion.
Thank you for your time and support!
Lori -
iLife apparently was installed on the iMac at the time of the purchase. How do I get the program back on the machine. The Apple "Genius" at the Apple Stpore advised me to go to the iTunes store and get a download. How do THEY know that I have iLife? If the store in fact did install the program at purchase how do you get a copy to reinstall on the machine?
LarryiLife is preinstalled on all the Macs. If you purchased iLife in the App Store or your computer came without DVDs, open App Store > Purchases and download the applications. If your Mac came with discs, insert the Applications DVD and install iLife applications
-
Recovery using time machine impossible. No permission !
I'd like to recover one application from the hard disk where I save regularly my files / applications using time machine.
Result is : you do not have the permission. Recovery is impossible.
What to do ?
Help - Thanks
MarcDo you have more than one user account?
If so, try doing the restore from a different one.
If not, there are some items even an Admin user doesn't have permission to. They're mostly system files, but it's possible some applications are protected, too.
What apps or files are you having trouble with? -
I have chosen to fil migrate from old ibook to new MacBook Pro using Time Machine after establishing admin account. I now have two admin. accounts and wish to delete the later one and transfer files manually. I am worried I will loose both accounts. ??
Use the Office for Mac and ignore using Parallels for that. If you have PC only apps you have to run that are MS Windows only then consider Parallels. Just transfer your main PC, using Migration Assistant. If you don't know how then simply read over Pondini's article called Lion or Mountain Lion Setup Assistant tips and look for the section on migrating from a PC. Millions have done what you are about to, it's far from leading edge these days, if you go to an Apple Store to purchase they will offer this as a service, something you might be interested in.
-
Purchased a used macbook pro with Mountain Lion. My old Mac runs Snow Leopard is backed up to Time machine. How do I register the operating system to me and how do I use Time Machine to move my files to the new used computer?
If you look at the User Tips tab, you will find a write up on just this subject:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4053
The subject of buying/selling a Mac is quite complicated. Here is a guide to the steps involved. It is from the Seller's point of view, but easily read the other way too:
SELLING A MAC A
Internet Recovery, and Transferability of OS & iLife Apps
Selling an Old Mac:
• When selling an old Mac, the only OS that is legally transferable is the one that came preinstalled when the Mac was new. Selling a Mac with an upgraded OS isn't doing the new owner any favors. Attempting to do so will only result in headaches since the upgraded OS can't be registered by the new owner. If a clean install becomes necessary, they won't be able to do so and will be forced to install the original OS via Internet Recovery. Best to simply erase the drive and revert back to the original OS prior to selling any Mac.
• Additionally, upgrading the OS on a Mac you intend to sell means that you are leaving personally identifiable information on the Mac since the only way to upgrade the OS involves using your own AppleID to download the upgrade from the App Store. So there will be traces of your info and user account left behind. Again, best to erase the drive and revert to the original OS via Internet Recovery.
Internet Recovery:
• In the event that the OS has been upgraded to a newer version (i.e. Lion to Mountain Lion), Internet Recovery will offer the version of the OS that originally came with the Mac. So while booting to the Recovery Disk will show Mountain Lion as available for reinstall since that is the current version running, Internet Recovery, on the other hand, will only show Lion available since that was the OS shipped with that particular Mac.
• Though the Mac came with a particular version of Mac OS X, it appears that, when Internet Recovery is invoked, the most recent update of that version may be applied. (i.e. if the Mac originally came with 10.7.3, Internet Recovery may install a more recent update like 10.7.5)
iLife Apps:
• When the App Store is launched for the first time it will report that the iLife apps are available for the user to Accept under the Purchases section. The user will be required to enter their AppleID during the Acceptance process. From that point on the iLife apps will be tied to the AppleID used to Accept them. The user will be allowed to download the apps to other Macs they own if they wish using the same AppleID used to Accept them.
• Once Accepted on the new Mac, the iLife apps can not be transferred to any future owner when the Mac is sold. Attempting to use an AppleID after the apps have already been accepted using a different AppleID will result in the App Store reporting "These apps were already assigned to another Apple ID".
• It appears, however, that the iLife Apps do not automatically go to the first owner of the Mac. It's quite possible that the original owner, either by choice or neglect, never Accepted the iLife apps in the App Store. As a result, a future owner of the Mac may be able to successfully Accept the apps and retain them for themselves using their own AppleID. Bottom Line: Whoever Accepts the iLife apps first gets to keep them.
SELLING A MAC B
Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
side.
4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
sure to opt for that.
Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
4. Install OS X.
5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
6. Shutdown the computer.
B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
it is three times faster than wireless.
1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
Utilities window appears.
2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License. -
How can I restore files from my old iMac to this new purchased MacBook Air? I am using time machine backup in my old imac.
Hi,
Try Target Disk Mode
OS X Yosemite: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
There is also Migration Assistant.
OS X Yosemite: Transfer your info from a computer or storage device -
Hi There,
I purchased a new MacBook Pro Retina 15". Since I am using MacBook Pro and I uses Time Machine for backup files and program. Store saleman tell me I can retore my existing program and files from old MacBook Pro to new MacBook Pro computer. After files transfer it seem to be OK. But only Aperture has a problem when every time I open Aperture to edit photos, MacBook Pro ask me to key in the Aperture Serial Number that made me so inconvinent. Did any one have meet this problem and can someone teach me how to fix it, Thanks.
NelsonEither the license files were not transferred or it has to be relicensed.
Remove and then re-install aperture. On an rMBP this should take only a couple of minutes. -
Just got a new MacMini. Migrated files using Time Machine. However, now, on Launchpad, I see several Firmware updates that were relevant for the old machine, but not for the new one. How do I get rid of these updates? They won't delete!
Only thing I can think of is trying this Lion trick...
http://www.cultofmac.com/106030/how-to-nuke-lions-launchpad-and-start-over/10603 0/ -
I recently took my imac in for a recall on the hard drive, they replaced my hard drive, i used time machine to restore all my files. Now when I turn time machine on it says back up failed not enough space, it is not overwriting old back ups. Why? Please help
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
-
I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?
Use Migration Assistant on your new Mac:
Click Continue:
On the next screen, choose your Time Machine backup disk.
Don't bother to migrate Applications unless you know they will work on your new Mac. For example, PowerPC applications won't work. Just migrate your user account which will copy all your photos, music, movies, and other documents.
Note: you will not be able to migrate the information to same account in which you are already logged in. Migration Assistant will tell you that and recommend what to do. It can migrate the information to a new account, but you will have to give it a name you might want to change later. One way around this is to create a temporary account, log in to it, and run Migration Assistant which will replace your normal account. Then, log out of the temporary account, log in to your usual one, verify everyting works as you expect, and delete the temporary one.
All this can be avoided when you set up a brand new Mac by running Setup Assistant which essentially does the same thing to create your new account, but most people are too excited to do that and elect to migrate later.
Maybe you are looking for
-
In the previous version of Firefox, I could go back to a previous webpage by clicking on a part of the Back button which brought up a list of recently visited sites, and by clicking one of these, could jump straight back to that page. This facility d
-
What is the significance of data collection nad search help exit field ?
Dear Gurus I know i am asking very basic quetion of abap but sdn is the only source to learn sap for me.I want to thanks you all for your kind support. i read most of the post related to search help and trying to create one. for elementary search
-
When I get a new USB headset, how do I set up the voice so that it is optimal?
I have a Mac Mini desktop computer and don't know how to make sure my sound is set up and optimized when I get a new headset. Would someone please tell me how to do this?
-
[taskflow, train]Giving name to train stop
Hi, how to give a name to a stop, when train is dropped in the UI ? Fred
-
Hi , I need your help in implementing a workflow which uses a Listener. Listener should be able to find a newly added node or page to path /content/usergenerated/comments folder. Once a new comment node /page gets added to the above mentioned path,