Time Machine and OS X Server

I was wondering what others results have been with this combo; I recently attempted a Time Machine recovery of a backup made of an OS X Server 10.5.4 drive and discovered that while the backup appears to work correctly and the restore brings all directories and files back, the server services won't work. I found that of the services I use (AFP, DNS, VPN, iCal, Web, SMB, and Open Directory), none of them would start or operate as expected. It was only after doing a fresh install that I was able to get the services to operate. The server also operated correctly after restoring from a disk image made with NetBoot.

you should post this in [OS X server forum|http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=96]. and please mark your post as a question when you are asking something.

Similar Messages

Time Machine and Windows Home Server 2011 - Why no worky? (Original WHS worked fine)

So I've had an original WHS (HP Mediasmart) for years, thought it was time to upgrade...built a new server using WHS 2011 and everything on the windows side works great.
I'm not a mac guy, so only mac in the house is my GF's which had no trouble backing up to my previous WHS mediasmart using time machine, it was perfectly happy with it.
With WHS 2011, it seems to absolutely hate it; but it REFUSES to give an error. Just goes to "preparing" for about 2-3 seconds then immediately back to "next backup at X time".
I've done the tweaks in terminal to allow it to use network drives for time machine (which I didn't have to do when it was backing up to the old mediasmart, so I'm assuming maybe the mediasmart installer for OSX did that itself?)...The mac sees the server, sees the share, I can copy data to it and from it, just time machine refuses to use it (it allows me to select the share as the backup drive, just doesn't actually backup to it).
I've also tried creating custom sparsebundle files in terminal per some online guides/how-to's to get it to work...no go...used the wired ethernet ports mac address and tried it with the wireless ones too...neither worked.
What am I missing here?
It's Mac OSX 10.5.8

Mcdonsco,
Have you reviewed the logs on the computer you are trying to backup? What does it say in the console?

Time machine and network file server

Hi,
Is it possible to set up the time machine to a network file server which my macbook is able to see and use? Right now, time machine is limited to be used with a delicated external HD or another Mac...
It would be convenient to share files between my 1st mac and other windows PCs.

armyedwrd wrote:
I believe I can do a work around by simply sharing my External HD so that that can happen. It's just very awkward to navigate to that shared drive each time we access it. If I had separate backup HDs for each MAC, I think I could use the TC as a media server (at least that's what I get from the marketing material here ).
You might want to try one of the workarounds in #Q3 of Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.
Have you ever used Time Machine Editor? Is it worth downloading and using?
It's not recommended; Time Machine usually works best the way it was designed. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #13.

Can Time Capsule be used as a time machine on a Windows Server. Is this possible, and how do i configure this?

I like to use the new TC in my office as a time machine on a Windows Server. Is this possible, and how do i configure this?
In fact my plan is to make the first back up by connecting to the server via an ethernet cable, but thereafter i like to bring the TC to my home and perform the incremental backups over the internet. This is for safety reasons, in case for example the office is broken into, or flooded, or fire (god forbid).
I sincerely hope it is possible, and not complicated.
Alternatively i would not mind replacing our current Windows server 2003 with an Apple server, but all computers in the network (except mine) are Windows 7 or 8. Would it work?
Thanks in advance.
Paris

I will consider the WD My Cloud device.
It is a NAS.. it is designed to provide a cheap centralised file storage.
What is NAS?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage
A file server like windows uses heaps of power to do very little.. in your setup.. In most setups like SBS it will do exchange server and provide a heap of useful connectivity to your clients.
Since you are not using the windows server in anything but simple file serving you can replace with a NAS..
Problem with the TC is, it is a router with a hard disk inside.. designed specifically for Time Machine.. it fails to provide what a NAS does.. easy access to any clients, local or remote.. TC is designed by apple for apple and the rest of world is not really invited to the party.
It provides no backup.. no data protection.. and is so specifically apple orientated I do not think it works at all well with windows.
For a simple example.. windows will have file issues with large files.. because it is only NTserver FAT32 to windows.. bad luck if you have large files.. !!
Plainly if you use active directory in windows that facility is gone.
I just like Apple products, find them more stable than Windows and easier to use. Plus i can access the server from home if it is an Apple Server.
If you only need remote access for yourself that is fine.. too bad for the windows clients I guess.
Or you open it up to the world and bad luck for security.
Apple do not design for mixed environment.. in fact with the TC there is no provision for windows access officially at all.. so anything you do is a fudge.
You can use the TC for your Mac backups within the network.. that is fine. Apple provide no software at all to help with your windows clients.

Time Capsule both: Time machine and file server

Hi!
We have 3 macs that has access to a Time Capsule we use just as a file server.
Now, I'll like to do backups of all the data, and I was thinking about using Time Machine in all the computers to backup in Time Capsule.
My question is, can I use Time Capsule as both? With Time Machine and also as a file server?
Thanks,
Júlia

Time Machine can be used to backup your Macs to the Time Capsule. You set this up on each Mac by opening System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock and then opening Time Machine to select the Time Capsule as the destination for backups.
Time Machine will keep separate files for each Mac on the Time Capsule and your regular files on the TC will be left alone. Ideally, Time Machine needs about twice as much space for each Mac to allow for a good history of future backups.
Backup each Mac one at a time since the first backup will copy everything from the Mac over.
Things will go 3-5 times faster if you connect the Mac to the Time Capsule using an Ethernet cable for this procedure.
Once the "master" backup is completed for each, you can switch back to wireless to backup incremental changes since these will only take a few minutes on average.
As you know, Time Machine cannot be used to backup the regular files that you already have on the Time Capsule disk. If you need to backup these files, post back for a few suggestions on applications that can handle this task.

New user needs help with time machine and mac server.

I am a new mac user and got a new mac mini running server. I have time machine enabled on the server and a back up folder created. My macbook will not see the server when trying to set up time machine from the macbook. What am I missing? Thanks.

Unfortunately even though Apple had touted the AEBS USB2 HD use with TimeMachine (TM) they pulled it from the Leopard TM feature list about 1 week before releasing Leopard GNBuild 9A581.
At this time Apple does not support use of the AEBS USB HD for use TM.
I strongly suspect we will see this feature return in one of the next two updates Apple releases for Leopard.
In the meantime be patient and I don't recommend you use a hack to circumvent the current TM limitation.

Time Machine and Leopard Server

I'm trying to verify the Time Machine works on Leopard Server sufficiently enough to be a reasonable backup vehicle for the Leopard Server to an external backup drive, for example.
I have read many posts where Leopard Server can act as a Time Machine Server for workstations, but my main interest is in using Time Machine, running on the Leopard Server to back up that Server.
My guess is that it will?
Thanks in advance for everyone's input.

Timemachine is not supported for "ADVANCED" Server set up but the SIMPLER setups YES. There are also settings for backing up network computers as well as backing up the server.
Supposed in Advanced not all system files are backed up. There are a number of threads regarding this in the Server section of the discussions.

LabVIEW Run Time Engine and ActiveX Automation Server

Hi,
I have a question related to LabVIEW Run Time Engine and ActiveX Automation Server:
We have a tool developed in LabVIEW and TestStand. End user interface is a LabVIEW GUI (it's an executable) which executes TestStand sequences. Some TestStand sequences call lower level LabVIEW VIs.
Everything works fine with LabVIEW installed, but I was wondering if I could run this tool on deployment machine with only LabVIEW run time engine installed. We are using LabVIEW 6.1 and with only the run time engine installed, I get the error message: "Unable to launch the 'LabVIEW.Application' ActiveX automation server ".
BTW, we are planning to upgrade the versions soon.
Is it possible to make things work only with the run time engine?
Thank you.

Thanks for the response, Brian.
I did upgrade to LabVIEW 8.0 and TestStand 3.5. Everything works fine on the development computer where LabVIEW and TestStand is installed. On the target computer in the lab, I installed LV RTE 8.0 and TestStand 3.5, and now when a VI is called in a sequence file, I get the following:
RunState.PreviousStep.Result.Error.Code -18002
RunState.PreviousStep.Result.Error.Msg "LabVIEW: The VI is not executable"
So, the executable opens and works fine (which means that the LV RTE is installed properly), but when a sequence calls a low level VI, it does not make it through.
comments/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

How do i use airport as both time machine and hard drive? currently on Yosemite 10.10.1

how do i use my 3TB airport time capsule as both time machine and hard drive? currently on Yosemite 10.10.1.....Many Thanks.

Choose Computer from the Finder's Go menu and double-click it. If needed, use the Connect to Server command to log into it.
(119763)

Time Machine and Time Capsule don't seem to work well together?

Reposted.
I get the feeling there are some serious problems with the combination of Time Machine and Time Capsule.
This is extremely disappointing, as the idea of a centralized backup device on the network (instead of disks attached to each and every computer we have running Leopard) seemed like such a good idea and a good way to supplement our tape-based backup that takes place with Retrospect.
In reality, it's a disaster on both Intel and PowerPC systems. All systems and the Time Capsule are fully up to date with software updates from Apple. I have two 1TB Time Capsule units. It goes something like this:
1. I have a few systems (mainly Intel) that work perfectly with the Time Capsule. There are no complaints and no issues at all. These systems just quietly run their backups as they should. They are the definite minority--maybe one or two have worked properly.
2. I have some systems that complain from time to time (mainly PowerPC) but will back up with a little encouragement. These too are the minority.
3. And finally, I have systems that are nothing but pain. These are both Intel and PowerPC systems. They are also the majority of the systems I have. The most common problem is sudden loss of the credentials needed to access the Time Capsule hardware--a user will be going along about their business when the Mac OS asks for the Time Capsule user name and password--after it's already been supplied and backups have been running. This should simply never ever happen.
Another charming behavior I've seen is corruption of the sparse disk image file that each computer creates on the Time Capsule. Time Machine will complain that it can't perform the backup, and examining the disk image file with Disk Utility shows it to be severely damaged. Turning off Time Machine, deleting the corrupted sparse image file, and starting over fixes it. For a while.
Finally, there are the machines (again, both Intel and PowerPC) that just can't seem to actually get through the first backup run. They either go so far and can't continue, or never actually manage to get started. I've checked the disks in these computers and found no problem with the hardware or file system. The installations are fresh and fully up to date.
Meanwhile, I have computers running Leopard with directly attached disks configured for use with Time Machine. One is a QuickSilver that isn't even officially supported by Leopard, with a Firewire attached disk. It doesn't skip a beat. The other is an Intel Mac mini being used with Mac OS X Server 10.5.4 and a USB external hard drive. These machines just do their thing, and I never have to babysit them.
These problems with the Time Capsule have been so severe that I've just given up on most of the computers and shut off Time Machine entirely. We have tape backups that run over the week, so it's not a huge loss. But that's not what really made me throw up my hands and say "enough"...no, that was the speed. Even with just one computer backing up to it, the Time Capsule seemed terribly slow. Watching the progress indicator was just painful.
I put in a word about all of this to my independent Apple dealer, and they say I'm definitely not the first to complain about some or all of these problems. In fact, they told me they were going to set up a test lab in their shop to see if they could duplicate these findings. I have no doubt that they can.
There are a total of seven computers backing up to one Time Capsule. They all store maybe ~40GB worth of data including the OS. There are about six computers on the other. Because of the way the network is laid out, the Time Capsule is connected to a Gigabit switch (and that is the only thing it's connected to). It cannot be used as the router, although I know Apple suggests this. The Airport section is disabled--I have no need or desire to use it. Some computers link up at 100 megabits, others at 1 gigabit. There are no network problems--we have no problems moving large amounts of data across the same network to our tape backup machine.
Is anyone else seeing these kinds of problems? Am I doing something wrong or expecting too much from Time Capsule?

I may be on to something. The Time Capsules I have live in a telephone equipment room that is indoors but not directly air conditioned or heated. It doesn't ever get too hot to be comfortable in there--the highest I've ever seen the temperature was 80 degrees (F). Most of the time the temperature is between 60-78 degrees.
I happened to touch one of them the other day while it was in use, and I noticed that the casing was hot to the touch...not dangerously so I suppose, but much hotter than I would have expected.
So I turned a small fan on both Time Capsules and have left it running. And I've noticed that not only do backups seem to complete more quickly, the reliability is also better. I am going to try some of my most troublesome computers once again just to see what happens.
I know there is a fan pointed at the hard drive in the Time Capsule, but I can't see how it does much in the way of cooling things down. In my opinion, it's just surrounded by too many heat producing devices to do much good...after all, not only is there a 7200 RPM hard disk in there, but also a 500MHz Marvell processor and radio set.

Mail deleted a current inbox and restored an old deleted inbox. It won't restore from Time Machine, and I'm missing archived emails from the old account. I'm pretty sure there is other stuff missing, but it's hard to tell. Any ideas why it would do this?

Our Mac was working fine last Monday, then Tuesday morning one of our current inboxes was gone, and an old, archived inbox was restored--twice. Other than some trouble-shooting on Tuesday, we've pretty much left things alone as we were busy doing other stuff.
I tried restoring the files from Time Machine, but it didn't work. I followed plisk restore instructions--nothing. It's a mess. We have no idea what would have caused this. We're above average users--we weren't mucking about with anything. It was just so strange.
I went back into Time Machine, and it just makes no sense that I can't restore anything. We're now missing important emails--nothing too tragic, but still a pain in the butt. Thankfully the current inbox that was somehow deleted had a back-up on our email server, but the archived/deleted inbox file that was magically restored had all the archived emails that we kept deleted.
Any ideas would be wonderful.
Thanks!

Hello,
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If 10.7.0 or later...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partition & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk.

Why can I no longer backup to Time Machine on OS X Server?

We have a Windows Server and a Mac Server. The OS X Server is basically only for backups from workstations via Time Machine and as a Software Update Server.
I can no longer backup from my MacBook to the Server. If I try to add the location again in Time Machine Prefs, it asks for username and password. I try my AD account, but it fails. Guest doesn't work either. Any suguestions? When I set up the Time Machine service on the server, it was very easy. What did I miss?

You have to enter the name and password of an administrator on the server.

Time Machine Service Page in Server App says "Error Reading Settings"

I have a Mac Mini running 10.8.3.
For some reason the Time Machine Page in the Server App refuses to work properly. If I reboot the server it looks fine for about 10 minutes. It displays the backup location and the list of individual backups. Then I get this message:
25/03/2013 14:37:51.673 Server[286]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7fdc1b2445e0 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
Also the Time Machine page in Server Apps is blank apart from "Error Reading Settings" and the slider at the top says Time Machine is off.
However Time Machine does work for some clients.
Anyone got any idea?
I think it started having problems when I got a "The network confirguration has changed" alert.

Hi Linc Davis
here are the logs from reboot to failure to load:
26/03/2013 16:57:50.256 servermgrd[1379]: [1379] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 16:59:55.633 servermgrd[1527]: [1527] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:01:58.077 servermgrd[1546]: [1546] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:04:03.937 servermgrd[1561]: [1561] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:04:05.220 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4620f20 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 17:06:07.359 servermgrd[1666]: [1666] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:06:07.829 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getBackups' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac480f000 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:18:51.737 servermgrd[1678]: [1678] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:18:51.777 servermgrd[1678]: [1678] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:20:55.346 servermgrd[2846]: [2846] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:20:55.381 servermgrd[2846]: [2846] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:22:57.682 servermgrd[2861]: [2861] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:22:57.683 servermgrd[2861]: [2861] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:22:58.114 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4836250 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:25:00.016 servermgrd[2872]: [2872] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:25:00.135 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac494c120 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:26:02.690 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getBackups' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4826a80 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:33:51.868 servermgrd[2886]: [2886] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:33:51.901 servermgrd[2886]: [2886] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:35:54.539 servermgrd[2932]: [2932] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:35:54.580 servermgrd[2932]: [2932] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:37:56.926 servermgrd[2947]: [2947] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:37:57.424 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac472ad50 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:39:59.284 servermgrd[2958]: [2958] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:40:01.135 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getState' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4657ce0 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:42:04.286 servermgrd[2973]: [2973] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:42:04.322 servermgrd[2973]: [2973] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:45:20.502 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getState' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac43f84a0 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
27/03/2013 11:56:52.191 servermgrd[110]: [110] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
27/03/2013 11:58:54.217 servermgrd[371]: [371] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out

Interaction of Time Machine and cloned backups.

I am not sure how TM works so perhaps someone can explain what is going on here. I use TM to back-up my internal disk plus external firewire and external USB drives. The TM drive is a dedicated 1TB Lacie Firewire. In addition I keep a clone of my start-up drive (CarbonCopyCloner - CCC) on a weekly basis.
Everything works swimingly but here's the question: I recently had to restore the start-up drive after a crash by restarting and restoring from the clone. That worked OK but then TM, on its next iteration, copied the whole drive (100GB) even though the vast majority of files were the same and unchanged. Is this normal behaviour? If so, I will be using up my TM filespace PDQ.

I found this http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=4387985 which says:
"Well thank me later I got it working fellas. It was there in front of our faces with the exception of doing a chown and chmod.
Someone else please confirm I will post steps.
1) disconnect airport disk and plug into computer as a USB drive directly.
2) Set up time machine to use this volume.
3) In terminal cd to volume "cd /Volume/HDD"
4) In terminal "touch .com.apple.timemachine.supported" this will create an invisible file.
5) In terminal "sudo chown root:admin .com.apple.timemachine.supported"
6) In terminal "sudo chmod 1775 .com.apple.timemachine.supported"
7) In terminal "ls -l -a" the .com.apple.timemachine.supported file should be -rwxrwxr-t
8) eject disk, unplug from mac, plug into Airport.
9) mount at mac using connect to server in finder (command k) and afp://airportname.local./HDname
10) see if time machine now sees the drive and tries to use it."
Also, this http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=4388264
" A simpler method....
I also got Time Machine working over AEBS but with a much simpler method.
1. Connect your USB disk directly to the Mac
2. Set up Time Machine and let your initial backup run
3. Eject the disk and connect to the AEBS
4. You need to 'touch' the disk by opening it in Finder, then Time Machine realises where it is and carries on.
Works for me on my iMac (wired) and Macbook (wireless to AEBS) - TM keeps the backups tidily with separate directories for each machine.
Still have an issue with my Macbook - it doesn't see the disks after sleeping.
Obviously Apple need to fix this - it shouldn't need me to view the disk each time so that TM can see it, and it should enable direct access to new disks via AEBS."

What am I doing wrong in Time Machine and Mail?

Hello,
I've been trying to switch my Mail from POP to IMAP. I've almost got it finished, but I lost a few messages in my inbox when I deleted them from the server (thought they would stay in Mail, guess I need to get used to IMAP). I went to Time Machine, found the messages from a few hours before, highlighted them, and clicked the Restore button. Time Machine scrolls back to the latest window, then Time Machine closes and I'm returned to Mail, no mailbox selected. When I check the Inbox, the restored messages aren't there. I check the Recovered Messages mailbox in On My Mac, I even check the Deleted Messages box On My Mac. I can't find the restored messages anywhere. I can't seem to figure it out, I must not be thinking clearly, and I need someone's help to point me in the right direction. The messages are safely in Time Machine, and I can't get them to come back.
Thanks for helping me out with this,
Jess

Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.
Back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
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. Paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.
A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:
          Envelope Index
          ExternalUpdates.storedata
Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.
Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.
Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

Time Machine and OS X Server

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for