Time Machine backup not recognized?

I have a Time Machine configured drive that I have been using since 2010. I recently tried connecting it to my Airport Extreme backup over the air. It worked, but very slowly so I attempted to connect directly to my iMac again. Now Time Machine wants to backup my hard drive all over again. I can still access old backups, but it will not continue using the file on the drive. How can I reconnect the backup database to Time Machine?

The format of a network backup is different from that of a local backup. They're not interchangeable.
The backups you made on the AirDisk are unreliable. I suggest you put that drive aside and start a new backup set on another, locally attached, external drive. When you're sure you'll no longer need the data on the first drive, erase it and start over. You need more than backup anyway.

Similar Messages

Recovered Time Machine backup not recognized..

This is a strange situation/horrible situation to explain. We had one of our iMacs lock up unexpectedly, and on restart it just hung all the time. We booted from the Snow Leopard install disc, ran Disk Utilities verifying/repair option which noted the drive had serious errors. We do use Time Machine on an external drive, but unfortunately the last backup performed was ".inprogress" as it was tagged. To add more problems, the entire TM backup folder (..all of it) was trashed/deleted and we had to recover the entire contents via recovery software (which took forever sadly).
With the contents recovered completely (luckily) we decided to move forward. We formatted the hard drive/installed OSX again on the iMac and went to restore using the Restore from backup function on the installation disc. However, when we pointed Snow Leopard to the external drive it did not recognize the TM backup. We tried the Migration assistant as well, and no luck, simply won't see the TM backup (even though the backup folder and all its elements seem to be all there).
We can see our files buried in some folders in the backup, as well as images, but replacing those manually I'm sure will run into permissions issues. We're open to suggestions at this point as this iMac served as a media server for us.

RavenMac wrote:
To add more problems, the entire TM backup folder (..all of it) was trashed/deleted and we had to recover the entire contents via recovery software (which took forever sadly).
That recovered some files, but they're no longer in a form that's recognized as Time Machine backups, so you won't be able to restore/recover them normally. See the blue box in [Data Recovery|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Recover.html].
We can see our files buried in some folders in the backup, as well as images, but replacing those manually I'm sure will run into permissions issues. We're open to suggestions at this point as this iMac served as a media server for us.
Are the recovered files on a separate HD? If so, right-click it on your Desktop or Finder sidebar, and select +Get Info.+ See if the +Ignore ownership on this volume+ box at the very bottom is checked. If it is, you should be able to copy the recovered files. If not, click the padlock, enter your Admin password, then check the box.
Figuring out what and where they all belong (and which version is the most recent) will not be easy.
Once you get this sorted out as well as you can, consider keeping "secondary" backups. What happened to you is quite unusual, but obviously possible. See #27 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 this forum) for some suggestions.

Time Machine Backups Not Recognized When Drive Added to Airport Extreme

Since January, I have been taking backups of my Mac Pro with Time Machine and a SimpleTech external drive plugged into a USB port.
Recently, I purchased an Airport Extreme router and decided that plugging the SimpeTech drive into the router would provide access all the times. After plugging the drive into the router and providing the correct password, Voila!, instant access.
Later, when it became time for the next scheduled backup, initially TM could not find the drive. No problem... in TM preferences, the SimpleTech drive was listed as available, and so it was a simple matter to telling TM to use that drive.
So far, so good... but now the issue.
Instead of creating the next incremental backup in the set, Time Machine created a new folder and started taking a full backup of the entire HD as if it were the first backup being taken. Incidentally, the name of the computer in the original backup set was "Ron's Computer". Now, TM says that it is backing up "Ron's Computer 78989018975923789637289795278957928". Obviously, I would like TM to continue taking backups of "Ron's Computer" using the original set of incremental backups.
Have I incorrectly added the drive to the network?
Was there something I failed to do in the TM setup?
I interrupted the full backup assuming that (a) it could not be merged with the original set of incrementals and (b) I would not/should not do so anyway.
Anyone else have this issue? Resolution?

I commented on another thread and came to a surprising revelation:
Time Machine backups are created differently depending on if the target drive is connected locally or if it is connected as a network attached storage (NAS) device.
Your initial backup was via a local HDD. Once connected to your AXBS, TM treats your external HDD as a NAS. Now TM will create a sparsebundle backup which is DIFFERENT than your initial local backup. It cannot add to your first backup even though it's right there on the drive. I believe you can still access the backups (ctrl-click the TM icon -> Browse other TM disks). If the old backup doesn't have too much important info, just continue with the new backup as the wireless backup option is functional. I don't know if the old backup will be deleted without warning if space starts to run out, though.
If you are intent on continuing with the old backup (January is a long time), check out these links (not really for the faint of heart):
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7860904&#7860904
http://rolf.haynberg.de/?p=83
Good luck and welcome to Apple Discussions!

Time machine backups not recognized

Ok, first off. I have read and searched as much as I can on here. But I'm confusing myself. So I'm going to ask and hopefully get a clearer idea of what to do.....
Here's my setup, iMac with a networked external hard drive.
So I have don't backups since oct 15th, even restored files once, everything worked great.
Well since I had to transfer a large file to the drive I connected directly to the iMac via Ethernet, much faster than over wireless. I've done this many times with no issues. Everything works fine once I go back to wireless.
So I disconnected from the iMac and connected back to wireless, time machine didn't want to find the drive and asked if I wanted to eject it, so I did and figured I'd just reconnect once the drive came back up. Once again, like I always have.
When I did this, this time it said there were no backups done and it tried to start a new backup to that drive, I stopped it.
Well now I can not find any of the old backups on that drive, but the drive does show 1TB of time machine backups on it. So they are there, but every time I try to connect that drive, it only sees the attempted backup it started today and I can't get any of my old files from previous backups.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Haha, yeah I am doing that as your replied. No luck yet.
http://Pondini.org/TM/17.html is what I'm trying. I'll check your link next.

Why is Time machine backup not working after Mavericks upgrade?

Why is Time machine backup not working after Mavericks upgrade?

I had the same problem due to the Fire Wire port. Apple tested it told me it is OK!, I tried a new cable, and have tested both ports on my back up device. I find it strange that as soon as I installed Mavericks. The drive does work using USB. It could be a coincidence, I don't absolutely know at this point, my back up drive ports could stop working, but I doubt it!

HT3275 Time Machine backup not completed because "the backup disk image ....sparsebundle already in use"

Time Machine backup not completed because the "backup disk image"/Volumes/Data/MacBookAir.sparsebundle" is already in use. ??

Reboot the TC.. this is most common issue since Mountain Lion.
Look at the More Like This just on the right column.

Cant access time machine sparsebundle - "not recognized"

Here is the situation: My wife's MBP was recently reformated at an Apple Store to resolve some performance issues. She has been running Time Machine backups for a few months now, and ensured before the reformat took place that a backup was performed so that all files would be recoverable. I'd like to now selectively recover files from that backup (itunes, mail, documents, etc).
Here is what I've tried
(1)
First, the "normal way" doesn't work: I enter TimeMachine and can see all the old backups in the timeline on the right, but can't browse back to them. Oddly, the newer backups (since the day it was reformated) are there with grey ticks and dates and are browsable - the older ones are visible in the timeline in purple, but I can not click on any of them. Despite the grey, I'm fairly certain that these recent backups are being stored remotely.
(2)
So, I tried to connect to the drive directly and open the sparsebundle file. Double-clicking this file does not work. It tells me that the disk image couldn't be opened because it's not recognized. I can right click and "Show package contents", which shows the band folder and other seemingly useless stuff.
(3)
I tried repairing the file using DiskUtility. I drag the file into the DiskUtility sidebar, and click repair. It returns very quickly w/ no error or status. I look at the logs and it says:
Unable to attach “XXXX’s MacBook Pro.” (not recognized) (XXXX is my wife's name, removed for privacy )
(4)
I tried mounting the sparsebundle file using the command line:
$ hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite /path/to/backup.sparsebundle (again, /path/to/backup.sparsebundle was replaced w/ actual path and file name)
it returns:
hdiutil: attach failed - not recognized
(5)
I hold down alt/option while clicking on the time machine icon and click Verify. That seems to run fine and reports no errors!
This is my first time messing with this stuff, other than configuring the machines to backup to begin with.. so I feel like I must be doing something wrong.
Here is what is especially weird: my Macbook Air also has time machine on and is backing up to the same drive. I can view *all* my old backups (purple or grey) by "entering" time machine in the interface... but have all the same failures on steps 2-4 above. In otherwords, I can't open it's sparsebundle either, despite no indications of any issue in the "starwars like" GUI interface.
I've dug through the forums, and read through a lot of Pondini's posts/troubleshooting guides on the subject. I'm getting nowhere.. any help?
Thanks!
-Ben

Benjamin192 wrote:
First, the "normal way" doesn't work: I enter TimeMachine and can see all the old backups in the timeline on the right, but can't browse back to them. Oddly, the newer backups (since the day it was reformated) are there with grey ticks and dates and are browsable - the older ones are visible in the timeline in purple, but I can not click on any of them. Despite the grey, I'm fairly certain that these recent backups are being stored remotely.
Yes, the white/gray ones are "Local Snapshots" stored on the internal HD, and the pink/purple ones are on the external drive.
The reason you can't see them normally is, the internal HD was reformatted. That gives the drive a new UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier), which OSX uses to keep track of drives, and means it's treated as a different disk for most purposes. If the data is put back properly, Time Machine should automatically treat it as the same, but sometimes it doesn't.
See if you can view the backups from the MBP via the procedure in #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting
(2)
So, I tried to connect to the drive directly and open the sparsebundle file. Double-clicking this file does not work. It tells me that the disk image couldn't be opened because it's not recognized.
That usually means it's damaged.
I tried repairing the file using DiskUtility. I drag the file into the DiskUtility sidebar, and click repair. It returns
very quickly w/ no error or status. I look at the logs and it says:
Unable to attach “XXXX’s MacBook Pro.” (not recognized) (XXXX is my wife's name, removed for privacy )
So does that.
(4)
I tried mounting the sparsebundle file using the command line:
$ hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite /path/to/backup.sparsebundle (again, /path/to/backup.sparsebundle was replaced w/ actual path and file name)
it returns:
hdiutil: attach failed - not recognized
And that.
(5)
I hold down alt/option while clicking on the time machine icon and click Verify. That seems to run fine and reports no errors!
That's pretty strange. Are you doing that from the MBP? If not, it may be verifying the wrong sparse bundle.
Here is what is especially weird: my Macbook Air also has time machine on and is backing up to the same drive. I can view *all* my old backups (purple or grey) by "entering" time machine in the interface... but have all the same failures on steps 2-4 above. In otherwords, I can't open it's sparsebundle either, despite no indications of any issue in the "starwars like" GUI interface.
There are two rather important tidbits you haven't mentioned:
* Exactly what are you backing-up to? It doesn't sound like a Time Capsule, as you mention that you "tried to connect to the drive directly".
* What version of OSX are both Macs running?

Time Machine Harddrive not recognized from Airport Extreme anymore

I've recently updated my Mac Book Pro (Mid 2010m 8GB) to OS X Mountain Lion. Already before I used an external Harddrive attached to Airport Extreme (Airport Utility 7.6.1) for Time Machine Backups. The Backups worked well, even after Migration to OS X Mountain Lion (10.8).
The Haddisk had always been visible from the finder and even an jailbreaked Apple TV. But this changed just yesterday with Finder and Airport Utility just not able to recognize the Harddisc anymore. I tried several things including:
- unplug the Airport Extreme for 1 hour from AC
- Reset/Restart Airport Extreme via Airport Utility App
- Reset Airport Extreme to factory settings and starting over with configuring the network again
- Turn off/on the respective Harddisk
Neither action was successful so far - while the drive can be accessed via direct USB connection still. The respective drive is Mac formatted (journaled) and - as already mentioned - had been working in this setup all the time (1 year at least).
Thank you very much for any hint/tip helping me to solve the problem!
Robert

Almigurt wrote:
Hi Pondini,
I've seen this before - but TM used to work for me this way very well.
That's kinda the point -- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
However with my question it is not about Time Machine - it is about why my Harddisc is not anymore recognized by my Airport Extreme base station. It had been working since more than one year now - and then all of a sudden Airport Extreme stopped to show me the drive.
Try repairing it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Note that you have to repair both the disk and the sparse bundle the backups are in, separately.

10.5 Time Machine backup not visible in 10.6 Migration Assistant

Hello everyone,
Helping my not-so-tech savvy auntie move over from her old 5,1 iMac to a newer 8,1 MacBook. Her old iMac has a Time Machine backup on OS 10.5.8. I plugged in the Time Machine to the new MacBook (which is on a clean install of OS 10.6.8) and for some reason the Migration Assistant is not picking up the Time Machine in the "Select Your Disk" section. All I can see is the MacBook's internal HD. The Time Machine backup is showing up in Finder, however the disk's icon is yellow, not Time Machine green.
I'm a bit stumped - can someone please advise? By all indications, a 10.5 Time Machine backup should be able to restore to a 10.6 system. We are visiting for the weekend and I really would like to get her up and running before we leave tomorrow.
Thanks!
VIkki

Yes, that's option B as she still has the IMac but I'm curious as to why the TM backup isn't working - just in case I need to do this on another machine down the road, it would be nice to know what's going wrong with the more convenient TM restore option.... Thanks!

Why does power nap time machine backup not work on my August 2012 macbook pro retina?

Hello. I got a MacBook Pro with retina display in August of this year 2012. I have done the SMC ? firmware update and I have 10.8.2 installed on my machine. Power nap still doesn't seem to work. I have the button in energy saver preferences and I have clicked it so it looks like power nap should work. When I am running Time Machine backup with the time capsule and I close the lid (plugged into power) it appears that no progress is made when I reopen the lid. I have closed the lid with activity monitor running and with network displayed. When I reopen the lid it may take up to one minutes to come out of sleep. When it does come out of sleep I can see that there has been no network traffic. Eventually, time machine backup resumes and I can see several megabytes per second. When I closed the lid overnight, just to make sure backup didn't restart after lid closing, I saw that no progress had been made in backup when I reopened the lid.
What options are left if I already have 10.8.2 and I have done the required firmware? One person has mentioned a clean install but I really don't like to have to reenter all the different passwords and all the different preferences again unless that's absolutely necessary. Are there any other options left to try before a clean install?
One other bit of information. I have filevault turned on; however, it looks like others have a working power nap even with file vault enabled. If this is not an option, the power nap button should be grayed out when the machine is in filevault.
Thank you for any help.

Yeah I still have the same problem BTW; it still does not work.
The second I open the lid and take it out of sleep mode, it starts to backup automagically, but when it's sleeping EVEN when it's connected to AC power, TM backups do NOT work to my OS X Server.
I don't understand what the problem is here.
I didn't before but I do have FileVault turned on now -- should that make a difference?
In either situation it didn't work, but now that I think about it, I could understand why it wouldn't backup while asleep. Apparently the encrypted volume will stay encrypted during sleep and even at the lock screen; it's not until you open the lid and log in from the lock screen that it will unlock the encrypted boot volume.
But even still, I did *not* have FV turned on before, and this still did not work.
Is there some third party solution that can do what I want this to do?
Here's my use case:
1.) I have a mac mini at home that I use when I'm at home; it runs OS X server.app (bought and paid for) and has TM server turned on.
2.) I have a laptop that I mainly use at work and I don't use at all when I come home (ie. when I'm ready to head home for the day I close the lid and don't open it until I'm back at work the next day, but the laptop does come home with me every day).
What I want to have happen is this:
1.) The minute my laptop enters my home wifi lan (even though it's still asleep with lid closed) I want it to automatically backup the boot drive.
I thought that's what Power Nap was supposed to do, but then I found out that in order for this to work, you have to be connected to AC power; so then I tried that -- ie. every day I come home, I put my laptop in a docking station that has AC power, but TM backups while lid closed / sleeping STILL do not occur!
Thanks for your help everyone...Looking forward to a solution that works.
EDIT:
I found this thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4158709
"It looks like Power Nap doesn't perform Time Capsule backups when the MacBook Air screen is closed."
So apparently that is yet *another* requirement to get powernap working. The lid can not be closed.
What is the difference between sleep with lid open and sleep with lid closed!?

External hard drive time machine backups not mounting

I have used Seagate 500.11 external hard drive as a backup location for the time machine for over two years. I just got a message that it had not updated in over thirty days. It is not listed on FInder, but it is listed on the disc utility. The Time machine backups are grayed out on the disc utility screen and cannot be mounted, even after the repair and verification tests said that their volumes were ok. What should I do?

Time Machine does not create bootable clones. It does not even create a bootable backup. If that's what you prefer then do not use Time Machine.
If you use Time Machine then you must allocate at least twice as much space for the backups than the capacity of the drive you are backing up. A 2 TB backup drive would be suitable for a 1 TB main drive or smaller.
If you plan to create a bootable backup, then partition the backup drive with one partition the size required for the clone. Then use the other partition for you additional storage neeeds.

Time Machine Backup Not Working - Please Help!

Hey everyone - first post here, please help! I'm having trouble with TM. Here are the messages from Time Machine Buddy:
Starting automatic backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: AD5C219F-0EC8-32C3-B827-2FF171A4AE46 eventDBUUID: 68A67596-22DD-4FB5-AA49-390E857688E1)
Backup content size: 166.93 GB excluded items size: 34.36 GB for volume Macintosh HD
Found 842174 files (132.56 GB) needing backup
160.14 GB required (including padding), 824.43 GB available
Copied 74.41 GB of 132.56 GB, 693114 of 842174 items
Copied 130.6 GB of 132.56 GB, 728437 of 842174 items
Copied 731588 files (130.76 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Backup canceled.
Starting manual backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: AD5C219F-0EC8-32C3-B827-2FF171A4AE46 eventDBUUID: 68A67596-22DD-4FB5-AA49-390E857688E1)
Didn't get valid migration dates.
Found 842174 files (1.87 GB) needing backup
3.9 GB required (including padding), 692.16 GB available
Copied 85694 files (1.71 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD
Will copy (41.8 MB) from Macintosh HD
Found 430 files (42.2 MB) needing backup
2.23 GB required (including padding), 689.79 GB available
Copied 5022 files (46 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Created new backup: 2012-10-09-015038
Copying OS X Recovery set
Starting post-backup thinning
Error: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-50 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -50.)" (paramErr: error in user parameter list) deleting backup: /Volumes/Time Machine Back
I tried to back it up the first time, and it was taking forever, so I stopped it, and then started a new backup. Can someone let me know what to do so I can be comfortable knowing the machine is definitely backed up?
Thanks!

The indication that the backup completed successfully is the best evidence that it did. If you want something more explicit, you can proceed as below.
Launch the Terminal 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. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo tmutil compare
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Time Machine Backup Not Accessible

Hello all,
Just had a computer die on me (HDD went bad) and took the oprotunity to upgrade, but my time machine backups are acting weird and I cannot get to my data. My setup is:
Dead computer: OS X 10.6.8
New computer: OS X 10.8.3 (maybe 10.8.5, reinstalled today and it took 4 freaking hours to d/l the OS. Sure miss those OS DVDs...)
TM backups: Going to the second HDD of OS X Server 10.7.5 over ethernet
Other cmoputer: OS X 10.8.4 (my laptop I used to try and view the TM backups)
First thing I did was use migration assistant on the new computer to move everything over from the old computers TM backup... and that did not go well. Files were missing, and the computer acted sluggish and displayed anomalies such as the menu bar at top vanishing until the desktop was clicked, and other weird little things. Thought: okay, must be the jump in OS versions. No problem, I'll do a fresh install.
So now I have decided to access the dead computers backup using TM from another computer. First problem: nobody has permissions to access the sparse bundle on the drive. Fixed that with the Admin account on the server, adding my u/n as having read/write access.
Now I can mount the sparse bundle, and I see all the folders are there, and some files. I do the "Browse other backup disks..." from my "other computer" on the network, and it gives me the option "Browse dead computer on ..." Click that and into space we go... and all I see are my files, on my local computer. Same thing happens when I use the server itself to try and view the sparse bundle.
I figure this is something weird with using the network and decide to try something else. I reformat another HDD connected to the server via FW800 as a case-sensitive drive, open up the sparse bundle, and copy the root folder onto the drive. Took a few hours, got one -50 error message (but it didn't stop the copy) and just tried to access it using "Browse dead computer on ..." and again, it shows me the local files. It doesn't display any of the TM backups from the dead computer.
What's going on here? Durring the OS install, I can pick the "restore system from TM" and it will find the TM server, I enter the u/n and p/w of the dead computer, and it prompts me to pick a TM backup I'd like to restore from. Likewise from migration assistant, it sees the TM backups just fine, and it "works" to an extent (in that it copies most of my files over. From what I recall, migration didn't prompt for a day to pick, it just copied probably the latest backup, which I bet wasn't complete due to the dead computer kicking the can for whatever reason. Moot point though). Is a OS version conflict preventing me from viewing a backup created with 10.6.8? Would a computer running SL be able to view the TM backup properly? (...I thought I tried this, can't recal now. But I can try at work again, I do have one last SL machine on the network).
Anyway, what other options do I have to view the data? At this point, I feel like I'm stuck rooting through the backups folder and hunting for files to copy over manually, which I know isn't prescribed practice.
Thanks for any input.

You can try a cloning program so that you'll have multiple backups which can help in a situation like this.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Commonly Used Backup Methods

Time Machine backup not complete?

I've had Time Machine running now succesfully for a while.
HOWEVER ... a week ago my machine all of a sudden came to a grinding halt, with the internal HD becoming unresponsive.
After a lot of checking for solutions online, I've decided to erase the HD, and restore a former system thru TimeMachine.
The internal HD is still not functioning properly, but when I start up from an external HD, I can see it in Finder. When I check the contents, however, it does not seem to contain my applications!
I thought TM was supposed to make a full system backup?
Or maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?
Also, it now takes AGES for a folder to open on the restored drive. Is this normal?

TC-Productions wrote:
I've had Time Machine running now succesfully for a while.
HOWEVER ... a week ago my machine all of a sudden came to a grinding halt, with the internal HD becoming unresponsive.
After a lot of checking for solutions online, I've decided to erase the HD, and restore a former system thru TimeMachine.
Exactly how did you do the restore?
The internal HD is still not functioning properly, but when I start up from an external HD, I can see it in Finder. When I check the contents, however, it does not seem to contain my applications!
I thought TM was supposed to make a full system backup?
Or maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?
Since there's a problem on the internal, don't trust anything you see there. When you start up from the external, use Time Machine to see what's on the Time Machine backups, via the "Star Wars" display. Unless you excluded the Applications folder via TM Preferences > Options, it should be there.
Also, it now takes AGES for a folder to open on the restored drive. Is this normal?
If the drive is failing, don't count on anything being normal!

Time Machine backup not completed with error "The disk was not ejected probably..."

I have been using an UBS 3.0 capable external 2.5" hard drive from Lacie to backup my old 21.5" iMac for the last 2 years without problem.
Recently I bought the new late 2013 27" iMac running 10.8.5 and try to migrate the data from the Time Machine backup without success. After a while, Mountain Lion complained with the below error and only data before this message appear were migrated. When I connected the same disk back to my old iMac and ran disk utility, everything looks fine and I was able to complete the TM backup. Eventually, I managed to migrate the data using network copy, instead of TM backup.
Now that my new iMac is back online and I tried to setup Time Machine backup using the same 2.5" Lacie drive, the same error message appeared again in the middle of TM backup (after 3 minutes).
Wonder if anyone ran into the same issue and if there is an issue with the UBS 3.0 port on the new iMac, or there is a work around to this problem.
Any help or pointer would be highly appreciated.
Cheers,
Richard

The system is losing connection with the drive for some reason, likely because the drive is losing power and unmounting, but there could be other reasons as well. Do you have access to an external power supply for the drive? If so then connect tthat so it is not relying on the USB bus power to keep the drive running. I have also found this to happen with some USB 3.0 enclosures, and it appears to be a compatibility issue with them and Apple's USB 3.0 drivers, so another option is to get a USB 2.0 hub and use that for the connection. Things will not run at USB 3.0 speeds, but the drives will not continually disconnect.

Time Machine backup not recognized?

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