Time Machine ate two years

I checked and double-checked before installing Mavericks that all my data was safely on my external hard drive. Now, after installation, I go back and find there's nothing there between November 2012 and when I started the upgrade, two days ago. Is there any way to retrieve all that precious data?

Just before downloading Mavericks, I thought I was going to have to take my machine into the shop. I trashed all my data, because I'm in South Africa where crime is rife and I didn't want anyone getting into my stuff. I checked Time Machine beforehand and satisfied myself that the latest backup was completely up to date.
Then someone advised me to upgrade and I did so—stupidly, as it now turns out, leaving my external hard drive connected to my Mac.
So yesterday, upgrades complete, I entered Time Machine and found no data between just before the upgrade, when all the data had been trashed, and November 2012. This morning, it showed data for a single day in late March, which I immediately used to restore from. I restore the only way I know how: by entering Time Machine, opening the date I want (or in this case, the only one I could find), selecting the item/s I want to restore, and clicking "Restore".

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HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro. I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive? If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

Time Machine mixed two backups

We have two Macs (call them a.local and b.local) sharing one Time Capsule. We've been using that system for two years without a problem.
Just to be prudent, I delayed the upgrade to Maverick until the .1 release came out. We upgraded to Maverick last week.
Hovever, Time Machine now backs-up both Macs to the same .sparsebundle (call it a.sparsebundle).
How can I restore order in this confusion?

Start with A4 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Time Machine creates two sparsebundle backups on network drive, then questions their validity

Time Machine first creates a sparse-bundle backup on the network-drive, called xxxxxx MacBk.sparsebundle, which appears to be at or near the full qunatity of data being backed up (about 65Gb).
Then a message appears saying something like the Identity of the backup disk cannot be confirmed, has it been changed (don't have the exact wording before me), and asks me to confirm whether I want to continue using that disk.
When I look a this disk, I see the first sparsebundle that was created, xxxxxx MacBk.sparsebundle, at about 65Gb, and then a second one, called
xxxxxx MacBk.sparsebundle1, which has just started to be created, and is perhaps a few hundred Mb.
The TM message asks me to confirm whether I want to continue using the disk, which it regards as suspect ( I am not asked to confirm the sparsebundle itself, there is no option for that).
If I click yes, the TM then reports that there isn't enough room on the disk to create a backup, so presumably it is still ignoring the first sparsebundle and trying to create yet another.
I have tried deleting the smaller sparsebundle, and trying backing up again the same, with the same effect (not enough space reported)
I have also tried deleting all sparsebundles and starting again with the backup, and then the problems of two sparsebundles reappears, so back to square one.
I am backing up a 13" white macbook, using OS 10.6.8. and a hard-drive connected to an imac, which is connected to a brand new Airport Express base-station router . The macbook is connected to the router via Mains Internet , not wi-fi.
This system has worked very well for me for several years, first with a Time Capule, then an old Netgear router after the TC broke, and never had problems. A couple of weeks ago I switched to the new Airport Express base-station, due to unrelated problems with the old router, and now have this problem.

Denis77 wrote:
One evening about 8 I came to the the computer to find a dialog box indicating that it was backing up something over 800,000 files, about 60 GB and counting; Time Machine indicated a Latest Backup at 3:30 that afternoon. No unusual events that afternoon to set things off track, as far as I know. It was creating a new sparsebundle as Pete A indicated, same name with a <space> "1" added. Unlike his experience, however, deleting the newer sparsebundle does not provide access to the older one.
Any ideas how to redesignate the older sparsebundle as the real backup? The Mac is not seeing it now, which is why it keeps starting a new one. Since this is apparently a baseline snapshot, I would like to get my backup history back.
Most likely, the old sparse bundle is corrupted, and Time Machine can't use it. Try repairing it, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
If it can be repaired successfully, Time Machine may continue using it.
If it can't be repaired, or TM won't continue using it, there's not much you can do. Keep the old sparse bundle for a while (you may be able to browse and restore from it, per #E2 in the Troubleshooting Tip. Once you're sure you don't need the old set (or Time Machine runs out of room and has to start deleting backups from the new set), delete the old sparse bundle via the Finder.

Can I use Time Machine on two different Hard Drives?

Hi, I have a Time Capsule on which I make my Time Machine back up every time, but I also want to back up all my data on another external HD using Time Machine as well... how can I do that? Thx

Alfonso, let me give you a warning. What you want to do should work, but does not work well for me. Here's my story:
I have Time Machine (TM) backing up a MacBook Pro to a Time Capsule (TC) on my home wired network. First backup (BU) took 24 hours. Subsequent incremental backups were very fast and convenient. All was working well.
About 6 weeks setting up TM/TC, I had to take my MacBook in for repairs. Being paranoid, I wanted a second backup, so I connected the computer to an external LaCie drive via FW800. Second BU also took 24 hours, even over the MUCH faster firewire connection. That really hacked me off, so I got CarbonCloner and made a bootable image on another external LaCie drive over FW800. That took only 2 hours.
I got the computer back from Apple after repairs and directed TM to start backing up to the original TC drive (no changes to the drive during repair). The TM software decided it had to do another initial backup! As I write this, it's been running 36 hours and has completed only 19 of 76 GB. This is MUCH MUCH worse than the first initial backup.
I want to like this TM software because of the convenience, but it is really crap and unusable in my opinion. With my setup, I simply cannot switch to a second backup drive without triggering another lousy initial LONG BU process. Frankly, I really regret buying TC and trying TM.
I used to use Retrospect with great success with the two external LaCie drives, but they went into the toilet when EMC bought them and spun them out. The quality of the software has really suffered and it is very buggy now.
So, unfortunately, it looks like my best strategy is to use CarbonCloner and the two LaCie drives.

Time machine on two remote computers

I'm trying to set up Time Macine on two Macbooks, using one external hard drive. One is a work laptop and one is a personal laptop. They do not share the same network. How do I get access privileges for what's backed up on my work computer when I'm on my home computer? It won't even give me the opportunity to put in my password, it just says I do not have privileges. Help! Thank you!

Is it possible to have a hard drive connected to one computer physically backing up on Time Machine and have another computer wirelessly connect on the same network and have its own Time Machine backups on that hard drive?
Yes. I have an iMac with an external drive connected. The iMac is connected to the network via Ethernet. My wireless iBook connects to the network and uses the iMac's external drive as the destination for it's Time Machine backup.

Time Machine with two computers - "You do not have sufficient access privileges"

I am currently running an Intel-based iMac at home and was recently given a new Intel-based MacBook Pro to use for work. The iMac at home is running Leopard and the MacBook is running Snow Leopard. After I loaded all of the necessary files from the home computer to the work computer (using the files on my external that I use for time machine backups), I decided to use the same external hard drive to use as the Time Machine for both computers. However, now whenever I try to access the Time Machine Backups from the opposite computer, I am told that I "do not have sufficient access privleges." E.g., when I try to open the TM MacBook files on the iMac or vice versa, I recieve this message. Opening the files that were backed up on the same computer is no problem.
Any thoughts? Thanks!

kabbydriver- No, no, no, no no! Do not screw around with permissions on the sparse bundle or the mounted disk image. Dude, this is the third bad advice from you I've read in the last hour. Isn't it enough that one of your responses violated the forum terms of use and had to be deleted? It's time to give it a rest; come back another day.
UCOdoublebass- You need to create a different Time Machine backup for each Mac. Two Macs cannot backup to the same Time Machine backup image. Read this to get started learning about your options:
http://www.macworld.com/article/131841/2008/01/multiplebackup.html

Why does Time Machine make two copies when backing up

I use Time Machine to back up to an external harddrive and it is duplicating files, how can I fix this?

Daisy Duke is a third party software app I bought on App Store that helps to find easily find files that you no longer want or need and delete to create more HD space. I don't believe that I reformatted the source volume, is there a way to check for that. I have been doing some research that talks about multiple users, DD did show me the files under two different users and I wonder if it showing me the file but is not really on there twice. As you can probably tell by now I can get around a computer for personal use but do not have much hardware or software experience.

Can Time Machine combine two HDs into one big one?

I know Mountain Lion added the ability to use multiple HDs simultaneously (I have done this). As it stands, it just rotates among the different HDs each time it does a backup. Is there a way to have OSX combine two HDs to make a 'virtual' bigger HD?
The reason I ask this is because my existing iMac has a 1TB internal hard drive. I have two external LaCie drives of 2 TB each that I use for Time Machine. I'm planning on getting one of the new iMacs and custom-ordering it with a 3TB internal drive. Obviously a 2TB drive won't fit, but if OSX can combine the two HDs virtually, it'll end up with a 4TB volume, right? Can it do that?

A hardware RAID is as reliable as the hardware. I believe the LaCie product you mention is a hardware RAID. I have no opinion of its reliability, and I don't know whether you can configure it as a mirrored RAID.
Maybe I should clarify. I see no reason to use a RAID for backup unless you need the space. If you need a 6 TB Time Machine volume, you have to use a RAID -- striped, not mirrored. For the safety of your data, regardless of the amount, you need redundant backups, not RAID. That is, you should have at least two independent backups, at least one of which is off site at all times.

Time Machine data 1 year old???

Hi
I had reason to reformat my Mac mini yesterday (trying to install BootCamp).
I checked time Capsule prior to doing this to check that there were recent data back ups.
Since there was, I put the Snow Leopard Disk DVD in and went to disk utility to format the drive. After that I went into Time Machine to restore the data, the newest was Dec 2009. I then used the Snow Leopard DVD again to go into Time Machine so see where all of last years data went, the nearest again was Dec 2009!! This was the month I bought it and conected it up to my Mac Mini.
What has it been doing for the past year? have I missed the purpose of having Time Capsule/Machine??

laurynsausage wrote:
Hi
I had reason to reformat my Mac mini yesterday (trying to install BootCamp).
I checked time Capsule prior to doing this to check that there were recent data back ups.
Exactly how did you do that? From the "Star Wars" display?
Since there was, I put the Snow Leopard Disk DVD in and went to disk utility to format the drive. After that I went into Time Machine to restore the data, the newest was Dec 2009.
Do you mean you selected +Restore System From Backup+ from the Utilities menu, per #14 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum)?
If so, and all you saw were 2009 backups, click the "pop-up" menu in step (g) there, and see if there's another entry that, when selected, shows the recent backups.

Time machine ate my homework

My Time Machine latest backup didn't appear and only ones from 2012. I restored from on a year ago cause I had wiped my system and had no choice. I then went into time machine and saw my lat bk up.. Great but why can't I restore the whole drive?? Please anyone

In the sidebar of a Finder window, select the icon representing your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) At the top level of the volume are folders with these names, among others:
Applications
Library
System
Enter Time Machine and select the most recent snapshot, which is behind the frontmost window. Are those folders present in the snapshot?

Using Time Machine with two external hard drives

Hi. I use Time Machine to back up the hard disk on my MacBook Pro onto a Western Digital external drive. For secure storage of family photos and things we don't want to lose, I would like to do the following:
For a week or two, back up my MacBook Pro onto a Western Digital drive. Let's call this WD Drive 1. Then walk downstairs and put WD Drive 1 in a fireproof safe. For the next week or two, back up my MacBook Pro onto a different Western Digital drive. Let's call this WD Drive 2. Then put WD Drive 2 in the safe, take out WD Drive 1, and use WD Drive 1 as the back-up medium for the next week or two. Then keep alternating between WD Drive 1 and WD Drive 2 every couple weeks. This way, I will always have up an to date back-up on the WD drive that is connected to the MacBook Pro, and I also will have a two-week old back-up on the WD drive in the safe in case of a fire or something.
Can Time Machine be used in this manner, alternating between two different external back-up disks? Will Time Machine "know" when I change external drives and manage all back-up files appropriately?
Thank you!

pomme4moi wrote:
Can Time Machine be used in this manner, alternating between two different external back-up disks? Will Time Machine "know" when I change external drives and manage all back-up files appropriately?
Yes. Each drive will have an independent set of backups; and each will be a complete "snapshot" of the way your system looked at the time of the backup.
When you swap drives, the first backup will be somewhat longer, and may involve a "deep traversal," while Time Machine "catches up" with all the changes since the last backup to that drive.
And try not to go too long between swaps; it's undocumented, so we don't know the exact parameters, but after at least 10 days (apparently), Time Machine may do a new, full backup instead of an incremental one of changes only.
And you only need to worry about Time Machine deleting old backups if you've deleted the originals from your system; TM will never delete the backups of anything that's still there.
But . . .
As MusicWind says, thats' probably not the best strategy. One of the reasons you want dual backups is because no hardware is perfect -- it all fails, sooner or later, right? Similarly, no app is perfect, either. The "works" of Time Machine are more complex than most backup apps; it's pretty reliable, but if you're going to have dual backups, you're probably a bit safer with a different app for your secondary backups.
I don't know about SuperDuper, but CarbonCopyCloner does have an "archive" feature, where it will keep copies of things you've deleted. I've never used it, so don't know just how it works.
Also see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.
p.s.: Don't try copying Time Machine's dated folders; you'll get a complete copy of your entire system.

Time Machine in two locations?

Can I set up TimeMachine to do separate, full backups on two different disks?
I was thinking of having one TimeMachine disk at home and another at the office. If I could use both, it would give me backups at two different locations.
Could I create TimeMachine 1 and TimeMachine2?
or
Can I set up different locations?
Ric

It will not do two separate backups on two currently attached disks. For that your best bet would be to set up one drive for TM and then clone it to another drive. However, from your description of having one at the office and one at home it will work, you'd just have to switch between the drives manually when you plug the second drive in. Currently TM saves info about the backup drive so if you plug a second drive in it wont automatically discover and back up to the drive, but you can designate this in the Time Machine preferences. The scenario would be when you get to each respective location and plug in the drive at that location, you'd have to open time machine preferences and select that drive.

Time machine on two HD

Hello, is anyone using Time Machine, for the same (say) iMac, on two drives? I'd like to have one TM backup on my new upcoming NAS (Synology), always updated and another, for the same iMac manually updated on an external 1TB drive (or on a Time Capsule, in case). Is it possible?
Thank you for your attention.

You might find this article interesting:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57497132-263/how-to-use-multiple-disks-with -time-machine-in-mountain-lion/
Hope this helps

HT3275 time machine takes 30 years to backup

I have used the Time Machine successfully for many month. Then a month ago something went wrong and every time i back up it went into a non-stop loop.
1. I erased the axulary HD
2. formated the axulary HD
3. I erased everthing from it and simply clicked on "Enter Time Machine" It automatically formated the HD and let me know the first backup will take 30 years
4. Again I erased everthing from it and clicked on "Enter Time Machine" It swung into action and let me know that the first backup will take 5,600 days.
and it goes on like it ever since.

This is a known problem on OS X 10.7.5 which was fixed by a release this afternoon by Apple. Do a Software Update or you can pick it up off the Apple download site.

Time Machine ate two years

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