Some files in Time Machine are being locked

I run Mountain Lion 10.8.4 on a Mac Mini 2012. Over the past year or so (dating back to my older iMac mid-2010, after which I transferred the data to my current Mac Mini), I've noticed that most of my files in Time Machine are getting locked. The files on my Mac are not locked, but the backed-up versions of the files are locked. The icons have a padlock icon on them. This is NOT due to the "auto-lock documents" feature, since this no longer exists in Mountain Lion.
For instance, my Firefox profile is a good example. Here are two screenshots:
1. Screenshot of my Firefox profile. Everything looks fine.
2. The same profile, except the latest Time Machine backup.
These locks appear in every single backup I have, up until the oldest one. I ran "Repair disk" on Time Machine, which took about 30 minutes, and then made another backup, and this time the newest backup did not have any locks—but all the older backups still had locks. I found this a bit strange, because why would a backup I made AFTER running "Repair disk" be fixed, but the older ones remained unaffected?
Anyway, I hoped that this would fix the problem, but every time I do this, a few weeks later, the problem re-occurs.
So, is there anything more permanent that I can do?

Hey man,
Some things I'd be looking at trying is:
---> Reset ACL's
Boot to Recovery -> Utilities -> Terminal
Then enter the following command to open the Reset Password Utility:
resetpassword
Then select the volume (normally Macintosh HD)
Choose the user account in the "Select the user account:" pop-up menu
Click Reset (ignore all the 'enter new password for user' sections and just click reset at the bottom after selecting the volume and the user
Once that is done, quit Terminal and the Reset Password Utility
Open Disk Utility
---> Verify/Repair Disk + Permissions
Click Macinosh HD on the left of Disk Utility and then click Verify Disk at the bottom right, if it comes up with green text in the white box saying 'The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK', then you DO NOT need to click Repair Disk, if it finds any errors, you should click Repair Disk
Afterwards, you should click Verify Disk Permissions, once that completes click Repair Disk Permissions (Click this regardless of what Verify Disk Permissions says)
Once that is done, I would follow HT2409 and do a Spotlight Re-Index
Attempt another backup and see how you get on
Regards
MiiCK

Similar Messages

  • HT201250 all my recent files in time machine are locked

    Please explain how to assign function keys in OS 10.7.4. there is no function key (F1, F2, etc) option in the keyboard system preference pane. has it moved? I am using an ancient iMac Fruit keyboard attached to a Late 2010 Mac mini.F11 and F12 keys work.

    Obviously the above question is not the one I am trying to ask. This too is a result of the recent restore (Sunday, the 19th) from Time Machine that I attempted. Anyway, when I try try to restore, say, my iPhoto Library, all the folders from Frisay, the 17th (and beyond) under my User are locked, so I cannot get into the User>Pictures folder to restore the iPhoto Library. This is also the case on numerous files and folders on my Time Machine Backup drive. Any suggestions?

  • I upgraded my macbookpro hard drive to 1 TB then migrated my files from time machine. I'm now locked out of the computer because the password is not the same as my usual one and one that was years old and not retreivable. How do I work around this?

    I upgraded my macbookpro hard drive to 1 TB then migrated my files from time machine. I'm now locked out of the computer because the password is not the same as my usual one and one that was years old and not retreivable. How do I work around this?

    Whether or not you are able to recover the data off the drive yourself will depend on if the drive suffered any impact damage in the crash. You can buy USB SATA or IDE adapters (Intel and almost all G5 use SATA) that will let you connect your hard drive to a computer (like a flash drive) to see if you can recover the data. If the drive has suffered physical damage if may not mount.
    If you know someone who has one of these adapters you could try using theirs, otherwise you could buy one but you take the risk of the data on the drive being non recoverable. Regardless, both are much cheaper than $1699!
    (Alternatively, if you know of someone with a Mac Pro or PowerMac G5 they may be able to install the drive in their machine and try to boot from or mount it and copy the data off.)

  • I'm having some difficulty with Time Machine.  It appears to be deleting backups from random dates on my external hard drive.  I am not deleting them.  Are they hidden and how do I prevent this from happening?  Can I retrieve them?

    I'm having some difficulty with Time Machine.  It appears to be deleting backups from random dates on my external hard drive.  I am not deleting them.  Are they hidden and how do I prevent this from happening?  Can I retrieve them?

    ... I didn't know that Time Machine was more a last resort back up instead of main back up.
    Don't rely upon Time Machine to the exclusion of all else. I compliment Time Machine with a periodic "clone". TM is much better than nothing, but it's a safety net, not a hammock
    Here is my understanding of Time Machine's file deletion algorithm, distilled from Pondini's FAQ, Apple's KB articles, and my own observations.
    Time Machine deletes ("thins") files from the backup disk as follows:
    Hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first backup of the day
    Daily backups over 30 days old, except the first backup of the week
    Older backups get deleted when Time Machine requires space and you deleted them from the source disk.
    Therefore, assuming TM has been performing at least one backup per day, backup files will remain available:
    at least thirty days, if they existed on your Mac for at least a day
    until you run out of space, if they existed on your Mac for at least a week
    In addition to the above, Time Machine always keeps one complete copy of your source disk so that the entire volume could be restored if necessary. Any files that remain on your source volume will be present on the TM backup, no matter how old they are.
    If you are using 250 GB of space on your source disk, its Time Machine backups are likely to require at least twice that much. A good estimate of the minimum required backup volume size would be about three times the size of your source disk - 1.5 TB in your case.
    A more thorough explanation would require Pondini since he has plumbed Time Machine's mysteries far more than I have.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

  • HT1277 Mail has gone crazy. Header's and messages are mixed up. New Mac Book Pro. Migrated files from Time machine running snow leopard. Reinstall or new computer needed?

    Mail has gone crazy. Header's and messages are mixed up. New Mac Book Pro. Migrated files from Time machine running snow leopard. Reinstall or new computer needed?

    Ok; I'm not sure what you're doing.    36 hours is rather long.  Seems like a new migration.  Not what I intended.
    Here's what I intended: from the newly-migrated and apparently-corrupt environment, create a new user, not related to any existing user, nor any migration-created user, or any other user for that matter.  That is, use  > System Preferences > Users and Groups, authenticate yourself by clicking on the padlock, and then click the + and create a wholly new user.  Then log in under that user and establish the mail access.
    36 hours?  I'm wondering if there's an error or an exceedingly slow network here?  Or a really, really slow disk?  Or a sick backup?  (WiFi isn't the path I'd usually choose, either.)
    Failing the attempted second migration, I'd try a different tactic.  Does your existing (old) system work?   If so, I'd bypass the backup and connect an external (scratch) USB disk drive to the (old) sstem and then boot and use Disk Utility booted from the installer DVD disk or boot and use Disk Utility from the recovery partition or booted from a recovery partition created on some other external storage (details here vary by the OS X version and what hardware you have), and perform a full-disk backup of your original internal disk to (scratch) external storage.  (Make sure you get the source and target disks chosen correctly here; copying the wrong way — from the scratch disk to your existing disk — will clobber your data!)  In esssence, this will clone your existing boot disk.  Then dismount the (formerly-scratch) external disk, transfer it over to the new system, and use it as the source of the migration, by performing a fresh OS X installation on the new system.
    Target Disk Mode is also sometimes an option for accessing the disk for a migration, but that requires the right cable, and requires systems that have the same external connection; newer MacBook Pro systems use Thunderbolt for this, and older systems tend to use FireWire.  And I'm guessing you don't have compatible hardware.
    The details here can and do vary by your OS X versions and your particular Mac systems — if you'll identify the specific models and hardware, somebody might be able to better tailor the above (fairly generic) sequence to your particular configuration.

  • How best to save photos?  I want to protect my photos (15,000 of them) by putting them on a portable drive and storing it in my safety deposit box.  Is it better to export them all, drag the Photo file, use Time Machine – or are there better alternatives?

    I am a 'newby' to the discussion world.  Hope I am doing this right.  How best to save photos?  I want to protect my photos (15,000 of them) by putting themon a portable drive and storing it in my safety deposit box.  Is it better to export them all, dragthe Photo file, use Time Machine – or are there better alternatives?

    Welcome to the discussions! You can use Time Machine and I would also recommend for you to manually copy your iPhoto Library (on your Pictures folder) to an external drive/thumb drive so you can restore it from there should you loose your TM backup. Exporting them from iPhoto would not preserve the libraries' integrity neither your originals, should you choose to edit them in iPhoto.
    Regards.

  • HT4847 my backup file is too big?  how can i change some of the items that are being backed up to decrease size?

    my backup file is too big?  how can i change some of the items that are being backed up to decrease size?

    In iPhoto, Select All the Photos you want to move... Then goto  > File > Export >
    Choose the settings as seen here
    Click Export and select your External Drive
    Best to create a Folder to put them in... and away you go...

  • Cant access some of my files in time machine- says I dont have permission to view them.

    Hi, I cant seem to find some of my older files in time machine. Says I dont have permission to view them. I recently had a new hard drive installed in my Mac and had all info restored to it then did a time machine back up onto my WD drive. Time machine window still seems to have the earlier dates and windows but I cant acces them. Anyone got any ideas how I can safely get them back? Thanks D

    nastassjasouthend wrote:
    I' ve been working in FC10
    Specifically. what version number?
    Russ

  • HT201250 Can I restore photo files from Time Machine without the use of an external drive?  I'm trying to restore lost photo files and I see them listed in Time Machine (without use of an external drive), but when I try to restore I get a error code 36.

    Can I restore photo files from Time Machine without the use of an external drive?  While I was transferring photos back and forth from a thumb drive something went haywire and my IPhoto was wiped clean!  When I click on Time Machine I see all the dated pages (without an external storage drive connected), go back to a date where all my photo files are there, click "restore", and I get the message:  "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in file cant be read or written (error code - 36)"

    Thanks so much Terence.  I tried some of the fixes from that page, but then discovered the suggestion to compress the Time Machine Back up of the original library and transfer it as a zip back to my computer as detailed here:
    http://pondini.org/TM/E9.html
    That worked like a charm.  I really appreciate it. 

  • How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks

    How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks. I know the data is there but seems unaccessable because I may have changed the Computer or Owner name. Is there any way to fix that now?

    Hi Linc,
    my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
    When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD.  February 7th  2014 was the date of the clean install.
    These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
    Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
    Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
    I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
    Sigi

  • I can't restore 'library' with support files from Time Machine

    backup - I can't restore 'library' with support files from Time Machine - Ask Different
    Due to an accident, my entire applications folder with all the support files, including plists and caches got deleted.
    I tried restoring by files from the most recent Time Machine backups but I cannot retrieve my applications with the support files.
    I even tried it with migration assistant on a new image.
    Is this impossible?
    Must I start from scratch?
    Details of the ‘accident’
    I was using this app called ‘AppCleaner’ that also automatically deletes related support files which are normally left behind if one simply trashes an Application.
    In the search view, I typed the app name and I selected all the apps in the results using Command + A. Unfortunately, this selected every single Application in the Applications Folder in the background and I trashed and deleted all files.
    Anyway.
    I tried to restore the applications and library from my Time Machine Back-ups but failed to do so because I didn’t have enough space to restore. (I have a 11inch Macbook Air 2012 64GB SSD
    When I tried to restart in recovery mode, I had the same problem, I was disallowed the option to restore using my time capsule backups because my SSD didn’t have enough space for the backup.
    I then tried to restore it to a totally different but new image on a 64GB USB3.0 Sandisk USB Stick, but the process stopped after hours of being stuck around 30.4 percent and the computer was unable to boot, leaving me with a persistent verbose message suggesting it couldn’t identify the os, kernel or anything.
    I finally tried restoring the state using migration assistant on the very same SSD that had my files missing. This happened successfully and I have all my applications in the applications folder.
    But now I have 13GB free (I had 2GB before) and all my application support files, saved states, preferences, caches and customizations are gone.
    Basically, it feels like I just got a new macbook with my documents and itunes folder loaded on to it.
    How can I get my apps back to the pre-deletion state or is this impossible? Do I have to start from scratch? I thought my Time Machine Backups would restore it to exactly the same state, am I wrong?
    Screenshots:
    Message was edited by: Arsenenger

    Can you simply navigate to your Time Machine backup with the Finder? Treat it like an external hardrive and just look for your old Applications folder. /Applications/
    Also, quite a few apps put config and support files in ~/Library/Application\ Support/
    So you may be able to get the files from there as well.

  • Why can't I restore a file from Time Machine?

    I purchased a new Macbook Pro a month ago. I migrated all my stuff from my previous Macbook that was running Maverick. All went well. However, I was looking for a particular file. Apparently I had removed it from my old Mac at some point, but I found it in Time Machine. My backups are on an external hard drive. Again, I can see the file in Time Machine, but I can't seem to do anything with it.
    To that end, I see two files: one has shows the file size, and the other (same name, file type, etc...) says "Calculating size"...forever.
    Thoughts? Suggestions?

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
              View ▹ Show Log List
    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
    Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the restore operation again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
    Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

  • Restore some application from time machine problem.

    Hi Everybody,
    I just restored my MBP from Time Machine, everything went fine. But I feel my MBR start up much slower than before. So now I want to do a clean install Leopard.
    I would like to ask you guys who experiences in Time Machine that after installing Leopard, I want to restore some applications from Time Machine such as MS office, Wow, Photoshop...Will they fully function if I restore from TM?
    I acknowledge that some applications are like packages so after installing in Mac OS, they are actually located in different places in the system. Whereas others is like small application so we just copy and use. So if big applications as packages, I can not just copy from TM and put it in my new Leopard to use, can't I? If I can't, so is there any ways I can copy it back and use?
    I am so confusing about this and I hope very much that somebody could help me out this problem, I would greatly appreciated.
    Thank you.

    +I just restored my MBP from Time Machine, everything went fine. But I feel my MBR start up much slower than before. So now I want to do a clean install Leopard.+
    Wait on the erase and install. Launch Disk Utility which is in the Applications > Utilities folder and Verify your disk and repair permissions. If Verify shows any errors boot from the Leopard install DVD by holding the "c" key down until the spinning gear appears. Pick a language and choose Utilities > Disk and run Repair until no errors appear. Repair permissions.
    If that doesn't work try resetting the PRAM which quite often fixes slow boot times.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
    +Would like to ask you guys who experiences in Time Machine that after installing Leopard, I want to restore some applications from Time Machine such as MS office, Wow, Photoshop...Will they fully function if I restore from TM?+
    I don't know about Wow but Photoshop and MS Office install too many files in too many places for it to be practical to restore them from Time Machine backups after doing an erase and install. You need to reinstall those from the original disks for those applications.

  • Some Tips: Using Time Machine with your AEBS disk

    Have you installed the Airport Extreme Base Station new firmware to 7.3.1? Have you tried to plug in your Time Machine disk to the AEBS and can't get it to back up? Are you seeing this error message: "backup disk image could not be created"?
    Well, I don't pretend to be an expert, but after reading through some of the posts here and a bit of trial and error, I found a way to make everything work. Maybe this will work for you, too.
    First, I have not found a way to maintain my existing Time Machine backup when plugging the disk into AEBS. I had to start a new backup from scratch once everything is working. (More below.)
    The first thing I did is I went to Library -> Preferences and deleted the file com.apple.TimeMachine.plist This clears out Time Machines "memory" of your previous use of the disk. If you don't do this, you will probably get an error like the "backup disk could not be created."
    Second, with my Time Machine disk still hooked up to my computer directly, I formatted the disk. (Utilities folder -> Disk Utility -> Erase) You may not need to do this if you drive has enough space, but mine didn't. When I tried erasing the disk remotely (when it was hooked into the AEBS), it wouldn't erase the old file. I got some error message, but now I don't remember what it was.
    Anyway, then I hooked my disk up to the AEBS and restarted my computer (which may or may not have been necessary). Then I opened AirPort Utility, clicked to highlight my base station, then clicked Manual Setup. In the Disks window, under File Sharing, I clicked Enable File Sharing and selected "With AirPort Extreme password" from the drop down menu. I don't know if this was necessary for Time Machine, but at least I know that my wife and I can both access the disk from our own computers. I let AirPort Utility apply those settings and restart my AEBS.
    Then I opened a Finder window, and from the Sidebar clicked on "Base Station" under the Shared tab. My Time Machine disk was there, and I double-clicked it to mount it as one of my drives. With the Finder window open, I selected Preferences from the Finder menu, and under the General tab, I clicked "Connected servers" to make sure that my drive appears on my desktop just like my Time Machine disk used to.
    Then came the fun (actually boring) part: I opened System Preferences and went to Time Machine. After deleting the plist file (above), Time Machine started like the first time. I selected my AEBS-mounted disk and had it do the backup from scratch.
    Regarding how long it takes to do the first backup, I can tell you this. My wife's MacBook backed up entirely wirelessly, and it took 17 hours to make the first backup pass of about 45 GB. I hooked up my MacBook Pro directly to the AEBS with an ethernet cable (and turned off my AirPort connection) and made my first backup pass of my 110 GB in just under 8 hours. So ethernet is definitely faster for making the original backup file, and if you can get your AEBS and Mac in the same space just for that period of time, I highly recommend hooking them up directly. Granted, my wife's MacBook is a little older than my Pro and has less memory; but still, it's not that much different for it to have been about four times as slow as mine.
    Once my Pro finished its original backup, I unplugged the ethernet, re-established my AirPort connection, and now Time Machine is working brilliantly. I don't even notice that it's running, and over the 802.11n connection, it doesn't seem to slow down my Internet connectivity at all.
    Hope that's helpful to everyone.

    Hi.
    I just upgraded my MacBook Pro and Gigabit AEBS. I want to use the 'named user id and password' option for the AirDisk, but can't seem to add the mounted disk to Time Machine. (I have a few systems here, and I'd like each one to have their own login & password to the AirDisk.)
    Has anyone had any luck using Time Machine in this fashion?

  • Is it possible to delete files from time machine?

    Is it possible to delete files from time machine? I had a drive crash, restored the files to a new drive, and now the old versions and the new versions of the files are both backed up, taking up a mountain of drive space. Do I just have to wait 'til the drive gets full and then tell it what to delete first?

    Hi, I need help in a related problem. I have 500gb time capsule. I needed larger hard drive, so I now use TM to back up to a different 1tb hard drive. So I don't need the TC as a TM back up device. But I want to use the TC's hard drive as an extra external hard drive. I deleted the files that were on it. but it still shows it has a sparsebundle file with a size of over 400gb ( probably the size of the old backups). When I use disk utility to try to erase it, I am not offered the erase tab. This "disk" does show on the desk top as a mounted disk (I think) with only 53 gb free. How can I set this up so all the disk space is free and I can use it for storing files, not as a back up? Thanks

Maybe you are looking for